Omnitracs discusses new product announcements at TCA convention

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Updated Mar 28, 2014
Omnitracs’ new tire pressure monitoring feature alerts driver and back office to critical tire issues.Omnitracs’ new tire pressure monitoring feature alerts driver and back office to critical tire issues.

Omnitracs made several major announcements at the 76th annual Truckload Carriers Association’s annual conference in Grapevine, Texas. CCJ sat down with Vikas Jain, the company’s vice president and general manager of software as a service to discuss the new offerings:

 

Tire pressure and fuel monitoring alerts

Omnitracs now offers Tire Pressure Monitoring, Trailer Tire Inflation Alerts and Exact Fuel applications on its Mobile Computing Platform 50.

TPM displays a graphical tire health indicator that codes the severity of events, making it easier to identify which tires are having issues and improve tire maintenance. The application offers configurable alerts that can be sent to drivers and company personnel through the host software, SMS and email.

TTIA notifies back office personnel of tire inflation events and configurable alert notifications based on frequency, duration and type of event—allowing fleets to determine what constitutes a critical or non-critical event. TTIA also provides supporting data for generated alert events including alert labels, vehicle ID, time, location, vehicle speed and more.

“Tire costs are the third highest expense for trucking companies,” says Jain. “With the addition of TPM and TTIA, fleet managers can better enforce proper tire health across their fleet, which will reduce expenses, help avoid accidents or blowouts and reduce fuel consumption.”

Omnitracs’ new Exact Fuel application, also available on the MCP50, monitors and transmits real-time fuel level details directly to fleet managers, allowing them to monitor fuel purchase events and potential fuel theft.

“OEMs are starting to communicate fuel information on the vehicle bus, and we capture that information and make it available to our customers,” says Jain. “If the truck is stationary and you see a fuel decrease, it detects it and alerts the back office.”

 

NaviGo 5.1 coming to MCP110 and MCP200

Beginning this summer, Telogis’ NaviGo 5.1 in-cab navigation will be available on the Mobile Computing Platform 200 and 110 (MCP200 and MCP110). Jain says the enhanced application will deliver improved driver safety, productivity and fuel efficiency benefits to shared Omnitracs and Telogis customers.

NaviGo 5.1 offers near real-time navigation information and will include driver alerts when he has entered an area identified by the fleet to require special attention, pop-up speed alerts when drivers exceed posted speed limits and lane guidance with better visual representation of complex highway exits and intersections.

“Telogis’ NaviGo 5.1 is a major overhaul of the navigation application with a completely new user interface,” says Jain. “The new visuals mean no more guessing which lane they should be in when approaching an interchange.”

 

New ALK route guidance apps coming to MCP 50, MCP110 and MCP200

Jain also announced ALK Technology’s RouteSync and CoPilot FleetPortal applications will be available this summer for ALK’s CoPilot Truck on-board in-cab navigation software for the MCP50, MCP110 and MCP200 platforms to improve route compliance and reduce operational costs.

RouteSync integrates with the fleet’s back office and onboard systems to ensure consistency between the planned route in the back office and the navigated route in the cab. Drivers receive and follow the planned route from the back office and are provided with voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions via the MCP so they can better adhere to the planned route. These features allow fleets using ALK’s CoPilot Truck and Omnitracs MCPs to improve route compliance, reduce non-revenue mileage, and create operational consistency among variables such as planned versus actual miles, driver pay, billing, load planning and fuel tax reporting.

“RouteSync allows you to enforce a planned route in the back office,” says Jain. “Without RouteSync, there can be a variable between planned and actual routes.”

The CoPilot FleetPortal application allows fleets to visualize routes and generate fleet-wide reports on vehicles’ compliance to planned routes. By allowing fleets to analyze their route compliance data and measure driver performance, CoPilot FleetPortal helps carriers better identify driver coaching opportunities that can lead to reduced fuel usage.