The vehicle tracking and telematics industry has progressed in recent times to be something of a complex offering and fleets wanting so much more should take a close look at HaulTech.
That’s because the firm now offers what it calls ‘smarter integration’ and a product that not only involves tools to monitor and improve driver behaviour and vehicle tracking but also live instant camera reporting too.
Launched at the 2015 Commercial Vehicle show, this cost-effective solution will relay live camera images from any vehicle incident.
As we have highlighted before on commercialvehicle.com, this development of adding in-vehicle CCTV is growing in popularity.
However, most applications are quite pricey but the HaulTech offering may be attractive for those firms wanting a cheaper solution.
HaulTech says its solution is radically different in that instead of feeding video footage from an incident via a SIM card it uses the capabilities of the SmartWitness KP1 camera.
Driver behaviour data and vehicle tracking information
The system is also set-up to deliver excellent driver behaviour data and vehicle tracking information.
The firm’s commercial director, Clare Armstrong, said: “Hauliers are looking for help in managing incidents with their drivers and vehicles, and how performance monitoring and tracking can improve a firm’s bottom line.”
She said their system constantly monitors the vehicle’s location and the driver’s behaviour and will highlight issues with speeding, harsh braking and cornering.
Clare added: “For many hauliers this basic information is all they need to manage their operations and customer expectations so why have a separate device with the complexity cost that incurs?”
One of the big advantages in using the KP1 camera is that it compresses 20 seconds of video into a clip that’s just 150kb in size – which has little effect on while data allowances.
In addition, when the camera is activated it will record 20 still images which are then dispatched immediately to HaulTech’s TrakMan Live platform.
HaulTech alerts customers to incidents immediately
The customer also receives an immediate alert of the footage and they can then replay it back for review.
One of the bonuses here is that the client does not have to log into a separate website to view the footage and they do not have to wait for a driver to report an incident.
In addition, they also don’t need the vehicle to return back to base so the memory card can be analysed.
The HaulTech offering starts at £19.95 per month which includes the TrakMan Live platform, airtime and hardware.
The firm has more than 10 years of experience in developing logistics software solutions and they work closely with transport professionals to ensure they deliver what the industry wants.
Their telematics solution not only gives immediate location co-ordinates for vehicles and trailers but also the estimated time of arrival for customers.
Telematics: capturing vehicle and driver performance data
In addition, the system also captures vehicle and driver performance data – and this includes tachograph data – live and this is displayed on the user’s screen. This data can be viewed on any computer with internet access.
The firm offers a number of other integrated software solutions, including a traffic analysis system which will calculate various costs for the load and the fuel used to deliver it. There’s also their TrakTemp system which is particularly impressive in that it monitors the temperature of trailers and vehicles.
One of the benefits of the HaulTech platform is that it does pull together a variety of different systems into one easy-to-use system that should, they say, increase revenue and productivity.
There’s also no doubt that clients will see a reduction in their administration costs and boost in productivity.
The tracking software also enables firms to improve their delivery routes so delivery routes can be refined and fuel economy boosted.
The aim is to improve a firm’s customer service and the productivity of its drivers.
TrakMan and vehicle tracking with video playback
However, when used in conjunction with TrakMan and the ability to playback video footage from incidents, the whole offering from HaulTech is impressive.
A growing number of insurance companies are looking for firms to install these cameras which should lead to lower premiums.
The biggest benefit for fitting the camera is that it will help protect the vehicle and provide evidence when premeditated or staged accidents occur and help prevent any false insurance claims.
One of the upsides is that driving quality within a fleet also improves though the camera is not directly monitoring the driver.
The TrakMan telematics system will be a boost for all aspects of fleet management and the reports can be downloaded remotely and TrakMan could, apparently, lead to savings of £3,000 every year per vehicle plus fuel economy boosted by 12%.
Essentially, the HaulTech offering is like many others in what is becoming a crowded marketplace but it does have the ability to be tailored to a client’s individual needs.
The telematics information is easy-to-use and useful and it should also boost the duty of care a firm has for its drivers’ health and safety.
Impressive array of telematics reports can be produced
Essentially, the reporting suite is built around a client’s needs rather than having a one size fits all approach because some firms are more in need of certain types of information than others.
There’s a lot to be said for HaulTech and its ability to monitor a large fleet effectively and many firms looking for a telematics solution which has an element of being future-proofed should see what they have to offer.