Vehicle tracking systems allow you to find out what a vehicle or fleet has been up to. With VTS you have a VLU unit attached to the vehicle you want to monitor. This vehicle tracking system will then report back to the computer monitoring the vehicles. Usually the computer has to have some type of software in order to track the signal. The data offered by the vehicle unit is usually turned into mapping information or other easy to read data.
We have a variety of different situations in which you might want to use the VTS systems:
First you own a fleet of vehicles that need to be managed. By using the VTS system you can find its real location to help customers more easily. It doesn’t matter if you are delivering something or going in for a pickup you will be able to send the closest vehicle to the job and get it done without worrying about costs related to mobile phones or dispatch errors.
You can track any asset that your company owns whether that is a vehicle, supplies, or something else. You will be able to make sure those assets don’t stop at an unscheduled spot.
Companies that do repair or maintenance will also be able to track their employee’s time on a job. For example say employee X filed a log for 40 hours at location Z, but you use the tracker system and find they only spent 20 hours at that location working, and the other 20 hours were spent at location A, which had nothing to do with business.
For employees who work in the field with sales, GPS or other tracking systems can be very helpful. These employees may be sent to a new area to do sales, but if they don’t know how to get there or home again it can waste a lot of time. VTS offers directions and itineraries to make sure employees are as productive as possible and to reduce drive time.
Are you a hauling company? Perhaps you have trailers that get switched from truck to truck or even from dock to truck. The VTS options allow you to track the trailers movements so you know where the load is at all times, the equipment is safe, and the time of delivery.
There are two types of vehicle tracking you might want to consider. You have AVL or Automatic Vehicle location and Events Activated Tracking System or EATS. AVL is when fleet management sets up the programme to transmit information at certain intervals about the vehicles. It will also state when the truck is running or not. E.A.T.S is a little more involved.
This second system will be used to help offer driver security. In other words if a thief tries to steal the vehicle the VTS system will automatically start. It usually has a motion sensor. The company monitoring the signals will then be notified that the vehicle is on the move and that it may not be at the driver’s hands.
There are a couple of options that offer the two combined technologies into one device. Most fleets tend to like the options to be separate though.
AVL is usually for fleets and fleet management. For example if a truck breaks down on the road the driver can use the system to call for help. This allows the truck and driver to get moved easily and back on the road after repairs. The dispatcher doesn’t even have to find out where the driver is by telephone as the signal will transmit the location. Mobile information and satellite navigation are offered to the driver to make their job easier than it has been in the past. This means a fleet company can save money.
