NEW ORLEANS. Turning driver performance and vehicle data into actionable information to help manage fuel costs is the goal of Qualcomm, Inc.’s new Fuel Manager solution, a module in its Performance Monitoring service in the OmniVision Transportation suite of services. The company gave the trucking industry a look at the new system this week at the annual American Trucking Assns. Management Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.
The system’s advanced querying and data presentation tools are designed to turn lines of data into easy-to-read charts and graphs that make spotting problems, opportunities and trends snapshot clear --from the single driver to the whole-fleet level. Perhaps best of all, the system not only provides insight into driver behaviors that positively or negatively impact fuel economy, it can also translate these into financial terms, enabling fleets to see at a glance the financial impact of driving behaviors and/or other related changes, such as the addition of onboard idle reduction equipment.
According to Norm Ellis, vp of transportation and logistics sales & service for Qualcomm Enterprise Services, the new ROI feature makes it easier for companies to recognize and reward their high-performing drivers and better manage and coach those who are less efficient. “It provides a bottom line view of performance that makes it easier for fleet managers to explain exactly how a driver’s habits affect the health of the entire company,” he said.
“The leading causes of concern in the transportation industry are fuel consumption and cost,” Ellis added. “Fuel Manager enables our customers to better control their fuel consumption by actively managing the driver behaviors that directly affect their fuel expenditures.”
Qualcomm also gave the industry a look at other new integrated wireless services, including a new Vehicle Maintenance solution designed to provide near real-time engine fault code monitoring by pulling data from the J1939 data bus on 18 of the most-critical fault points.
“Our advanced analytics capability is enabling us to take deeper and deeper dives into the data available today to help fleets really leverage the information available to them to better manage their operations,” Ellis said.