Rand McNally has unveiled Rand McNally Connect, a new software platform designed to allow seamless integration between the company’s FleetWatcher Web portal and third-party applications. Rand McNally Connect is being showcased at the Truckload Carriers Association’s 74th Annual Convention.
The company says that when combined with its mobile communications systems, TruckPC and TND760 Fleet Edition, Rand McNally Connect allows commercial transportation management software to pull through diagnostics on vehicle performance, driver behavior, hours-of-service status and e-mail communication. Integration partners using Rand McNally Connect will be provided a Software Development Kit as part of the program.
According to the company, here are some of the ways that integration software will be able to use the data provided using Rand McNally Connect:
• Maintenance platforms will be able to use vehicle fault codes in real time to troubleshoot or diagnose more serious issues, and to provide instruction to the driver on next steps. Vehicle fault codes include items such as tire pressure, engine temperature, break pad wear, oil pressure and more.
• Fuel tax applications will be able to use the miles-by-state capture to assess tax liability more accurately; and
• Dispatch software will be able to match a load to a trailer, a trailer to a truck and a truck to a driver more accurately based on the driver’s HOS availability, the position of the vehicle and the destination of the load.
Rand McNally currently is working with customers implementing Rand McNally Connect with TMW Suite/Total Mail and TMW’s TruckMate. “Rand McNally has historically partnered with a wide variety of service providers in the commercial transportation industry,” says Dave Muscatel, chief executive officer of Rand McNally. “The Rand McNally Connect SDK decreases the development cycle for integration by 60 to 70 percent, reducing costs and increasing speed to market for our partners and our customers.”
