I’m considering to start a fleet management company and I want to make sure I get the app for drivers right. I’ve never driven a truck and the more research I do about truck drivers, the tougher the job seems to be. I already get frustrated with all the reckless car drivers on the road, I can’t imagine how it is when you’re hauling tons of weight.
So I would like to try to make trucker’s life a bit easier by creating a great app instead of having it as an afterthought. To do that, it would be great to get your thoughts on the below:
What do you think about existing apps like the Microlise apps, TomTom webfleet, Transics TX-sky? Which functionality should they do e.g. navigation, scanning ordering docs, messaging to planner? Microlise doesn’t seem too popular reading the forum .
What are your favourite apps for trucking on your phone? Navigation and others (e.g. truck stops, fuel prices…)?
3.For navigation, if I could get Google maps to only use routes suitable for trucks, would you then prefer to use google maps instead of truck specific apps like Copilot?
Do you prefer the planning app to have navigation integrated? Or do you prefer it to open your app of choice (e.g. TomTom, Copilot, Google maps…)?
Waze is great for roadworks, speed cams etc which is probably very useful for truckers but it will send you on roads where trucks are not allowed. Would it make sense to automatically open Waze when you have a 1 hour+ drive on highways and then open truck specific app once you get off the highway? Or is this too much hassle? I’m trying to understand how much value using Waze would add.
If you’re exchanging messages with your planner, do you prefer this to happen via whatsapp/normal messages? Or do you prefer it to happen in a separate fleet planning app?
A bit of background about myself, I started a company before in hospitality for revenue managers. Customers loved the solution, because it did what it had to do and was really user friendly (it also helped that the products of our competitors were also terrible, they didn’t give a **** about their users).
I grew the business to 15,000 hotels customers and 100 people, but then left the business to spend more time with my terminally ill mother. Now I’m thinking about what to do next and I always loved transportation (worked at Railway company before).
================================= Mod’s Edit:
This post has been reviewed by the Mod/Admin Team and re-instated. dd.
Any driver apps. For navigation I know the main routes well enough to picture in my head how to get to where I want to be. I do use Google maps for up-to-date traffic information.
As for looking for fuel prices most fleet drivers won’t have to do that because we bunker all our fuel on site. Drop planning is easy, we’re told how it’s loaded so we just go and deliver in the order requested. At three drops tops it’s not rocket science.
I don’t exchange messages with my planner, if they want us or we want them, the phone rings.
My first impression is that you seem to have two target markets: the operator and the driver. The operator just won’t be interested in software which makes the driver’s life easier if it means he is going to have to pay for it. Delays of any sort affect the operator’s profitability yet the trend seems to be that he expects the driver to supply sat nav for route and customer location finding.
Drivers are interested in live traffic information, suitability of road no Bxxxx for the dimensions of his particular vehicle, the route between two points and the actual location of his delivery/collection points, not its postal address and finally the location of suitable overnight parking in relation to more or less a post code. A significant number of posts to this forum are related to those concerns. The operator sees all of those matters as the driver’s responsibility even though all of them can affect him financially.
The operator is concerned with basically how cheaply he can perform a number of deliveries in the shortest possible time. He expects maximum speed but the most frugal fuel consumption and as much payload as he can get on the vehicle. He wants to know also where the vehicle is at any time. The more savvy operators are interested in vehicle and trailer operating data logging; eg direct access to trailer brake performance data which is then available to the DVSA as part of their maintenance procedures; via remote or downloadable access to the vehicle and trailer ECUs. Take that to manufacturer factory level live-retrieval of vehicle operating data, link everything together as a completepackage with the driver required information available without distraction from the road then you have an interesting product, but I still doubt whether the operators will be interested in paying for some features.
Any driver apps. For navigation I know the main routes well enough to picture in my head how to get to where I want to be. I do use Google maps for up-to-date traffic information.
As for looking for fuel prices most fleet drivers won’t have to do that because we bunker all our fuel on site. Drop planning is easy, we’re told how it’s loaded so we just go and deliver in the order requested. At three drops tops it’s not rocket science.
I don’t exchange messages with my planner, if they want us or we want them, the phone rings.
Thank you! Is it because you usually do the same routes and you know them well that you don’t use sat nav? Or do you often do different routes. And do you use Google maps streetview sometimes? Or only google maps?
cav551:
My first impression is that you seem to have two target markets: the operator and the driver. The operator just won’t be interested in software which makes the driver’s life easier if it means he is going to have to pay for it. Delays of any sort affect the operator’s profitability yet the trend seems to be that he expects the driver to supply sat nav for route and customer location finding.
Drivers are interested in live traffic information, suitability of road no Bxxxx for the dimensions of his particular vehicle, the route between two points and the actual location of his delivery/collection points, not its postal address and finally the location of suitable overnight parking in relation to more or less a post code. A significant number of posts to this forum are related to those concerns. The operator sees all of those matters as the driver’s responsibility even though all of them can affect him financially.
The operator is concerned with basically how cheaply he can perform a number of deliveries in the shortest possible time. He expects maximum speed but the most frugal fuel consumption and as much payload as he can get on the vehicle. He wants to know also where the vehicle is at any time. The more savvy operators are interested in vehicle and trailer operating data logging; eg direct access to trailer brake performance data which is then available to the DVSA as part of their maintenance procedures; via remote or downloadable access to the vehicle and trailer ECUs. Take that to manufacturer factory level live-retrieval of vehicle operating data, link everything together as a completepackage with the driver required information available without distraction from the road then you have an interesting product, but I still doubt whether the operators will be interested in paying for some features.
Super helpful, I agree that the operator probably won’t want to pay more to make the driver’s life easy but I take too much pride in my work to use that as an excuse to deliver a subpar driver side product. And who knows, maybe with the labour shortage they will start caring more
1 question regarding driver’s “actual location of his delivery/collection points” do you use google streetview for that? Or something else? Which apps do you use for overnight parking? Truck parking europe, michelin Truckfly?
FleetAdriaan:
Thank you! Is it because you usually do the same routes and you know them well that you don’t use sat nav? Or do you often do different routes. And do you use Google maps streetview sometimes? Or only google maps?
Pretty much the…
Same routes. They might mix it up a bit but it’s usually the same places.
If they say somewhere new like Southampton or Liverpool I know how to get to the main towns without a map, I’ll use Google maps for the last mile or so in if it’s a drop I haven’t done.
I don’t use Streetview because RDCs are so big and well sign posted there’s just no need.
Is there an app that encourages people to be more friendly with each other, or a respect app, that could replace the respect that has been lost for each other since the advent of screens that are supposed to help and control, or is it control and help, a fine line.
I read your opening post a couple of times and really tried to think of something constructive to add, however I was reminded of the negative aspects of so many developments in tech over the last 25 - 30 years.
I guess all the time we take human contact out of a situation, we become a little less human every day.
We underestimate that vital contact so much and have done so at our peril and are now trying to create solutions for problems that were never there and in doing so have created an actual problem, seems to me that we need more interaction with each other, not less.
att:
Is there an app that encourages people to be more friendly with each other, or a respect app, that could replace the respect that has been lost for each other since the advent of screens that are supposed to help and control, or is it control and help, a fine line.
I read your opening post a couple of times and really tried to think of something constructive to add, however I was reminded of the negative aspects of so many developments in tech over the last 25 - 30 years.
I guess all the time we take human contact out of a situation, we become a little less human every day.
We underestimate that vital contact so much and have done so at our peril and are now trying to create solutions for problems that were never there and in doing so have created an actual problem, seems to me that we need more interaction with each other, not less.
I agree with that, I believe technology should help eliminate misunderstandings and help people better work together but it shouldn’t replace human contact e.g. sending an address is easier than communicating it over the phone, while discussing a problem is better done over the phone than via text.
I saw some companies promoting in cab cameras as a way to spy on the driver and see what they’re doing behind the wheel. If you would put a camera constantly in front of an office manager, they would sue you for harassment but with truck drivers, it’s all good.
So your trying to design an app, for an industry you have no knowledge off…
Should work really well. Especially when combined with some 25 year old graduate, pointy shoes manager…
i use a 15 year old car satnav thats never been updated.
google maps on the phone for the last bit that i dont know where im going to when im on a break.
if i come to a low bridge,then theres always an option in front of my face to bypass it.
i never use live traffic updates as i think theyre pish and usually inacurate by the time you get somewhere.
if its a closed motorway then theres a diversion in place,or if i fling it off,il stop and have a quick peek to see a landmark where to head for.
if abroad,il only have the satnav on for the bits im not familier with moreso than in the uk.
the above is probably the opposite for the newer type of steering wheel attendant that works for stobart and similar where they cant go anywhere without apps,google street view,road atlas,ectect.
if they dont have that,then they cant go out the gate due to the dumbing down snowflake type of employer starting them in the 1st place.
theres no need for anything else other than look for it,find it,crack on,and wing it if theres greif using that aspect of trucking that is rapidly fading away into obscurity.brain,gumption and initiative.
sadly that is now not a requirement for todays modern snowflake in which case anything you invent will be grasped as another option to rational thought.
dieseldog999:
i use a 15 year old car satnav thats never been updated.
google maps on the phone for the last bit that i dont know where im going to when im on a break.
if i come to a low bridge,then theres always an option in front of my face to bypass it.
i never use live traffic updates as i think theyre pish and usually inacurate by the time you get somewhere.
if its a closed motorway then theres a diversion in place,or if i fling it off,il stop and have a quick peek to see a landmark where to head for.
if abroad,il only have the satnav on for the bits im not familier with moreso than in the uk.
the above is probably the opposite for the newer type of steering wheel attendant that works for stobart and similar where they cant go anywhere without apps,google street view,road atlas,ectect.
if they dont have that,then they cant go out the gate due to the dumbing down snowflake type of employer starting them in the 1st place.
theres no need for anything else other than look for it,find it,crack on,and wing it if theres greif using that aspect of trucking that is rapidly fading away into obscurity.brain,gumption and initiative.
sadly that is now not a requirement for todays modern snowflake in which case anything you invent will be grasped as another option to rational thought.
Thank you, very helpful! Especially the “if i come to a low bridge,then theres always an option in front of my face to bypass it.”
biggriffin:
So your trying to design an app, for an industry you have no knowledge off…
Should work really well. Especially when combined with some 25 year old graduate, pointy shoes manager…
Well, it worked out pretty well the last time. But then I lost 2 years trying to figure out the sector on my own instead of speaking to the people who are the experts (which I did after 2 years). Now, I’m going to try not to make the same mistake again and I want to talk to the experts before I start something (hence my post on the forum).
Maybe you should try it 1st to get a drivers perspective
Very good advice, but how do you go about that? It wouldn’t be particularly time effective for me to get a truck driving license just to get the experience.
if you make the app and have no practical clue whatsoever then you will be in the same company as the braindeads that thought up and implemented the dcpc on all drivers across the board even though lots of them would have been doing the job for 30-50 years,so now we have a classroom instructor who has not a clue and is working from a script written by those above who also have not a clue about anything relative to the job.
( imagine how useless a waste of time a speed awareness course is and you will get the idea)
if you do an app to suit companies,then it will not suit drivers one bit and vise versa.
if you do an app for a large company then it will also not suit subbies and smaller companys.
you couuld always go out 2nd man with stobarts or another similar company where every possible aspect of the job is dumbed down somewhat similar to kfc workers and get a slight perspective from that though its certainly not a proper outlook to the more normal types of driving.
ask eddie nicely ,you might get on the telly or have a truck named after you??
I’ve read this though a couple of times, and I still have no idea if the OP is talking about the UK, EU (boo, hiss), USA/Canada, Australia or any other place that likes to think it speaks English.
dieseldog999:
if you make the app and have no practical clue whatsoever then you will be in the same company as the braindeads that thought up and implemented the dcpc on all drivers across the board even though lots of them would have been doing the job for 30-50 years,so now we have a classroom instructor who has not a clue and is working from a script written by those above who also have not a clue about anything relative to the job.
( imagine how useless a waste of time a speed awareness course is and you will get the idea)
if you do an app to suit companies,then it will not suit drivers one bit and vise versa.
if you do an app for a large company then it will also not suit subbies and smaller companys.
You might be right, if you think long and hard enough, there might be a way to please most people (I agree that you can never please everyone). Anyways, thanks for the feedback!
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