Opinion: How Mobile Tech has Changed the Trucking Industry
This week Genevieve Conti, Assistant Editor at Trucking Info.com wrote an extensive article about how much mobile tech has changed truck driving and logistics for better and for worse. While staying in contact with your family at home with a quick note, text or cheap phone call, the same technology is being pushed on truck drivers in ways that many privacy experts and professional groups find overly intrusive.
One thing is for certain – there is no turning back. The technology is in every corner of the world and gets faster, more feature rich and simpler to operate with every update. It also gets much cheaper as the research & development of the technology and all the standards is expanded and revised. Somewhere in the area of 6 billion per year is spent by telecom companies searching for a way to gain the edge on their competitor’s tech.
But back to the original question: How has it (and how will it) change the trucking and transportation industries? Read Genevieve’s thoughtful piece at Trucking Info at the link below.
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Today, with the tap of your finger on a tablet or smartphone, you can pull up your Netflix queue, locate the nearest restroom and even generate potential names for your rock band. Apple’s tagline “There’s an app for that” rings true, and the trucking industry is no exception.
Mobile technology is changing the way fleets do business and the way drivers work and live on the road. Now fleets can monitor fuel prices, receive signed documents from drivers in an instant and send drivers training videos while they’re on the road. Drivers can see their safety scores, search for and bid on loads, even get in line for truckstop showers without getting out of their cabs.
The number of handheld communication devices in service in the trucking industry will soon reach 900,000, according to Clement Driscoll, founder and principal of C.J. Driscoll & Associates, a consulting and research firm for mobile resource management. Driscoll says 80% of all fleets will eventually have some sort of mobile system in place. [cont.]