When management of Tradewinds Logistics evaluated electronic logging devices, they decided on a platform that drivers could not remove from trucks easily.
“This was just to minimize loss and theft,” says Benjamin Ramsay, vice president of technology for the Indianapolis-based truckload carrier. Ramsay also is co-founder of ELDRatings.com, a website that provides expert guidance and user reviews of ELDs.
“Looking back, I’m not sure how much difference it really made on that front, so in hindsight I might have valued the freedom to roam a little more highly,” he says.
The benefits of a mobile ELD platform include drivers taking pictures of defects for vehicle inspections and capturing images of proof-of-delivery documents. The same mobile hardware could support signature capture or accident reporting, among other functions.
Drivers would have visibility to their hours-of-service duty status and functions and could log “on duty” to attend a safety meeting.
While there are benefits to mobile ELDs, there also are tradeoffs. Increasingly, ELD suppliers are able to give fleets the flexibility to use a combination of tethered and mobile applications to have the best of both worlds.
Why leave the truck?
