Some gadget gotta-haves and some maybes.
By Timothy Brady 

While America’s trucks are rolling down the highway at 60 miles per hour, transportation technology is advancing at the speed of light. On-board computers in Class 8 trucks really began advancing at break-neck speed all the way back in the early nineties, when the first mobile phones began appearing in trucker’s hands. Then in the mid-nineties, the government began allowing private enterprise to use Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite technology. Thus began the rush to be the first on the highway with the latest technology gadgets.

As we look back at the nineties and compare the technology available then to what is available today, it’s like comparing the horse-drawn wagon to the semi-tractor trailer. The biggest concern that any single owner/operator or small fleet owner has in considering any new technology tool is how the cost of the tool compares with the increased efficiency of their operation and, most importantly, their company’s bottom line.

The name of the game is to create greater efficiency: maximizing the number of loads hauled at a lower cost per load, in the fewest miles possible, while insuring safety and regulation compliance along the way. This can be summed up as improving communications, whether it’s from the driver to dispatch, the truck to the driver, the driver to the customer, the truck to the mechanic, or the driver to the mechanic, or the trucker to folks at home. Then we’ll need to add safety technology to help the trucker, developing better means to do the required paperwork, track where the trucker and truck are located and provide both information and entertainment to him.

Over the next several weeks I’ll be discussing technologies you should be looking at, and how to determine if it’s something to which you might consider upgrading.

Cell Phones and Cellular Technology:
This form of technology has been coming down in price by leaps and bounds, while the available features are continually surging forward. The original purpose of the cell phone was for the trucker to be readily available to dispatch without him having to find a land-based phone accessible by truck. However, today’s cell phone has become more than a voice communication device. With GPS technology, it’s now possible to pinpoint the trucker’s location. The ability to send and receive e-mails between the trucker and anyone of his choosing (dispatch, safety, mechanics, customers, home, etc.) creates another avenue of information available to all concerned. Add photos, Bluetooth® technology, weather and road condition information, voice routing; and these devices have become more than just a means of communication. They’re an information tool and a lifeline for the trucker.

As an example, specialized companies from load boards, electronic driver logs, vehicle maintenance, to recordkeeping  and more are creating ‘Apps’ utilizing a smart phone (Blackberry™, IPhone™ or Droid™). These Apps are software programs which allow a trucker to do many things they used to do on a laptop computer from a small, handheld device. A smart phone gives the trucker the power to download shipping documents, inventory the items to be loaded, capture the shipper’s and receiver’s signatures and finally, e-mail a PDF attachment of the signed documents back to the trucking company. He can plan his route from origin to destination, check weather and road construction along the route, and have audio voice turn-by-turn directions to destination.

These smart phones enable the trucker to book loads for his operation through a load board, determine profitability of a load before accepting it, and communicate through e-mail, voice, or text messaging to negotiate and accept a load; then receive the load documents for signature. The most amazing part is this device fits in the palm of your hand, can be carried on a belt, and can communicate through any computer, phone, or fax anywhere in the world. As a driver safety feature, anyone at the trucker’s home terminal with a computer and the correct secure information can track the location of the person carrying the device. And this is but the tip of the iceberg.

In my next blog, I’ll continue this series on Your Mobile Technology, with Wi-Fi (Wireless Internet) and GPS  (Global Positioning Satellite) devices for trucking.

Good roads, and good loads, everyone.
Timothy Brady  © 2010
www.timothybrady.com