Qualcomm Inc., a provider of integrated wireless systems, applications and services to transportation and logistics companies, and Forward Air Corp. announced that its FAF Inc. 850-truck owner-operator fleet has adopted Qualcomm’s Hours of Service (QHOS) electronic onboard recording (EOBR) application for electronic driver logs. Forward Air has reported a 16 percent improvement in their BASIC Driver Fatigue score since its transition to electronic logs.
A Qualcomm customer for 18 years, Forward Air provides time-definite ground transportation and related logistics services to the air cargo and expedited less-than-truckload industry through a network of terminals located on or near major airports in 84 cities in the United States and Canada. The company’s fleet is made up almost entirely of owner-operators.
Qualcomm says QHOS is fully compliant with the hours-of-service rules and regulations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and is available for use with the Qualcomm Mobile Computing Platform 100, 110 and 200 (MCP100, MCP110 and MCP200). The application is designed to help fleets maintain regulatory compliance, improve safety and reduce potential inaccuracies and the risk of violations associated with manual logs.
“With Qualcomm’s Mobile Computing Platform 110 equipped with the Hours of Service feature, we fully expect driver fatigue scores to improve further over the next six months,” says Loretta Miller, vice president of safety for Forward Air, based in Greeneville, Tenn. “We have increased our administrative and operational efficiencies, gone green by eliminating paper and assured that our drivers are complying with FMCSA regulations on driving hours. Our drivers have found the process eliminates form and manual errors and provides them quick information on their available hours, allowing them to plan their trips more accurately and have audible warning notices when reaching their hours of service limit.”
In 2008, in anticipation of possible federal mandates, Forward Air began converting the onboard technology of its fleet from Qualcomm’s OmniTracs mobile information system to Qualcomm’s MCP110, which is engineered specifically to optimize transportation company operations. With the adoption of QHOS on the MCP110, Forward Air took a proactive approach to implementing technology to help improve safety and compliance.
“Forward Air has embraced Hours of Service and rolled it out fleetwide to all of its owner- operators, a segment of the market that has been slower to adopt EOBRs, which further illustrates Forward Air’s industry-leading commitment to safety,” says Tom Flies, senior director of product management for Qualcomm Enterprise Services. “Their experience can serve as an example to other fleets of how QHOS not only helps improve safety and regulatory compliance, but also delivers measurable return on investment in just a short period of time.”
