Benefit package: DTCO 2.0a plus DTCO SmartLink

• VDO launches its sales campaign for its current tachograph products
• Focus on truck fleet efficiency

Villingen-Schwenningen/Germany. “Go for the DTCO with SmartLink” is the slogan bannering the launch of this year’s VDO Europe-wide sales campaign aimed at commercial vehicle drivers and fleet managers. Anyone opting for a new DTCO and the DTCO SmartLink from VDO before May 31, 2013, will get them at an attractive benefit package and can start to optimize their day-to-day fleet management right away.

“Our products go a long way to improving fleet management for trucks and, more specifically, make it even easier for drivers to organize their driving and rest times. The latest DTCO 2.0a version of the digital tachograph from VDO has a built-in counter function” said Dr. Michael Ruf, Head of Commercial Vehicles & Aftermarket at Continental. VDO Counter shows truck drivers at a glance how much driving time they still have. While they rest, the DTCO 2.0a displays the remaining rest time and the next maximum driving time, while drivers can also display other information, such as total remaining driving time for the week, with a single click.

Besides VDO Counter, the DTCO 2.0a additionally offers a simplified download function and is easier to handle. Like its predecessor, the DTCO also takes into account the 1-minute rule that allows the legally authorized driving times to be exploited as efficiently as possible.

But VDO Counter can really be used to full advantage in combination with DTCO SmartLink, as this allows drivers to display their driving and rest times in easy-to-read graphic form on their smartphones. All they have to do is plug DTCO SmartLink into the slot on the front of the tachograph and link up to the VDO driver app via Bluetooth. Besides displaying the driving and rest times, drivers can also use their smartphones as a remote control for the digital tachograph – a function that is actually available from the R1.3 series upward. The remote control has a scope of up to 15 meters, allowing drivers to check their driving and rest times even outside the cab. Another advantage of the DTCO SmartLink concerns the manual updating of driver data – now, this can be done simply via the driver's smartphone.

The requisite VDO app is available for smartphones running on Android free of charge; a similar app for iPhones is to follow at a later date. With this attractive package consisting of the DTCO 2.0a and DTCO SmartLink, fleet managers and truck drivers alike can get the very most out of valuable driving times and take advantage of the tachograph control via smartphone.