Technology news and briefs for the week of Sept. 25, 2022:
Safety Cloud integrates hazard data with Drivewyze
Drivewyze, the largest public-private weigh station bypass network in North America, and HAAS Alert have partnered on connected truck safety solutions.
HAAS Alert’s Safety Cloud will be integrated into the Drivewyze Connected Truck platform to deliver digital alerts about vehicles and equipment to commercial drivers through the Drivewyze in-cab application.
“Maintenance, emergency response, and work zone events can often place vehicles and equipment in situations that can be hazardous to both workers and drivers,” said Drivewyze CEO Brian Heath. “This collaboration will give commercial truck drivers added reaction time to slow down and move over when approaching roadway operations, helping to avoid potential crashes.”
Safety Cloud integrates hazard data directly from roadway vehicles, equipment and partners and will share this information with Drivewyze in real-time. Drivewyze will notify approaching truck drivers in advance through visual/audible in-cab alerts.
It takes 66% longer for a truck to stop compared to a car. Vehicles and equipment deployed on the roadway for maintenance work, emergency response or work zones represent real challenges to government agencies due to the higher crash and fatality rates associated with these operations.
This collaboration allows transportation agencies to expand their highway safety programs into the cabs of trucks, communicating advance awareness to potential risks.
Convoy introduces new capabilities
Digital freight network Convoy has introduced a new approach that provides shippers with a new level of depth and insights into their freight.
Convoy’s Hi-Fi Visibility provides detailed, real-time updates across trailer pools and shipments hauled by Convoy-connected carriers as well as robust analytics to improve supply chain health.
These capabilities are enabled by Convoy’s app use – with carriers using Convoy's app 97% of the time at every step of the job – powering its base of more than 400,000 connected trucks, allowing Convoy to collect massive data sets and pair them with machine-learning models to help shippers improve their freight operations.
Capabilities include hi-fi shipment tracking within Convoy’s online shipper platform that provides real-time shipment status updates and delay alerts, including more than 30 detailed reason codes, allowing Convoy to communicate more granular status information. Shippers can extend this visibility to their customers and partners through shareable tracking links.
Advanced insights and benchmarking tools that help shippers identify opportunities to save costs and improve operations are also part of the new capabilities. A new interactive insights dashboard visualizes trends for more than 40 metrics per shipment, delivers helpful context on facility performance through written driver reviews and provides benchmarking data that compares key metrics against other facilities across Convoy’s network.
In addition, there is a facility dashboard that gives shippers the precise GPS location and status for their Convoy Go drop trailers, plus trailer availability data. Also included are TMS integrations and APIs that extend Convoy’s Hi-Fi Visibility offering into the tools that shippers use every day. Recent integrations include live tracking within the Flexport platform with more coming soon.
Central to Convoy’s Hi-Fi Visibility offering is its load execution platform – a set of machine-learning models and process automation that enhance the data collected through the company’s GPS-enabled app with real-time data from other drivers, trailers, facilities and lanes. These models update every five minutes, improving the accuracy and visibility into ETAs, shipment status and shipment delays when they occur. In addition to providing visibility benefits, the platform also predicts supply chain disruptions and allows Convoy’s team to respond in real time to events like driver cancellation, eliminating logistical hassle and operational costs for customers.
These capabilities are accessbile through TMS integrations, APIs and Convoy’s shipper platform at no additional cost.
Trucker Path partners to offer insurance for truckers
Trucker Path, a mobile app for North American truckers, and nationally licensed insurance agency Smart and Simple Insurance Development (SASid) have partnered to make it easier to obtain reduced rate health and life insurance for Trucker Path users.
Through its partnership with SASid, Trucker Path is offering app users access to a range of insurance options at reduced rates. The programs from major insurance carriers include short term health, major medical, accident, dental, vision, telehealth, prescription drugs and life insurance. Support is available through a call center dedicated to Trucker Path users. Those participating in any of the health plans receive a free drug discount card.
Users receive a free first two months of Telehealth service, making attending appointments easier by using a smartphone, tablet or computer to communicate with a health care practitioner – a significant benefit for truck drivers who are often on the road and away from home for long periods of time.
“As truck drivers continue to support our economy, having the ideal health, life and other types of insurance at an affordable price is essential,” said Greg Hellmich, vice president of insurance at SASid. “In addition to offering Trucker Path users a complete line of products and services, we will provide access to efficient, user-friendly tools so they can build insurance plans that are specific to their needs.”
