Instructional Technologies, Inc. announced that its Pro-Tread driver training is now available via smartphones and tablets, to go along with access on computers and onboard devices from PeopleNet, Omnitracs, and Rand-McNally.
Clients can access Pro-Tread on smartphones and tablets starting Nov. 1.
“Whether a fleet issues company-owned mobile devices, or expects drivers to bring their own device, smartphones and tablets have been adopted faster than anyone could have guessed,” said Dr. Jim Voorhees, President and CEO of Instructional Technologies, Inc. “And the most important asset a fleet has is its drivers’ time. By letting drivers take lessons on mobile devices at a time that’s convenient to them, a fleet is spared the expense of classrooms, traveling training personnel, and non-driving hours for drivers. Drivers appreciate the flexibility to get the training done when and where it makes the most sense for them.”
On Nov. 1, ITI plans to go live with its top 20 lessons, which account for about 80 percent of the lessons taken over the past year, Voorhees said.
Some of the advances made to support Pro-Tread Mobile are:
No Fast-Forwarding: To finish the lesson, drivers have to watch it. If they try to scrub forward, an alert pops up, tells them to stop, and sends them back to the section’s start.
Full Pro-Tread experience: Mobile is not a “lite” version.
Phasing out Flash: In 2005, ITI moved away from computer-based Tread-1 and launched Pro-Tread on the Internet. Adobe Flash provided a way to have animation with low bandwidth. The Apple iPhone didn’t support Flash, and Adobe’s own support flagged. ITI started planning a move toward HTML5 and CSS.
Universal experience: Rather than going the expensive mobile app route — supporting apps specific to Android, iOS, Microsoft, BlackBerry, etc — ITI went for a browser-based experience. It will also improve the experience for users on EOBR web browsers, the company says.
