Security instead of fines: Scorecards based on tachograph data keep track of violations
- New functions in software for fleet and tachograph management from Continental help keep track of fleet violations using DTCO data
- How serious is the situation? Scorecards can give an overview of the performance of the entire fleet or of individual drivers – and provide security
- Scorecards are just the start: Continental sees compliance services for commercial vehicle fleets as a growth sector
Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, September 29, 2021. Fleet violations always in view? VDO software for fleet and tachograph management from Continental will make this very easy in the future. To this end, Continental is adding new functionalities to its proven data management software, which was previously known under the name VDO TIS-Web. The new functions will enable fleet managers to better monitor violations recorded by tachographs in their fleets and to react before serious difficulties arise. Scorecards will record a number of different violations based on tachograph data, compare them with the classification of violations laid down in EU Regulation 2016/403 and provide an overview of the fleet’s current compliance score.
Scorecards help fleet managers monitor compliance on the road
The first function will be available to users of VDO Fleet Tachograph Management (formerly TIS-Web DMM 5.0) in the Advanced and Pro versions from the fall of 2021. It will provide fleet managers with a full overview of violations in their fleets. If fleet violations exceed a defined limit, fleet managers will automatically receive an alert when they log into the system. These limits are based on EU Regulation 2016/403, which classifies the various violations according to their severity. Although this EU Regulation is interpreted more strictly in some countries’ regulations than in others, fleet managers will obtain a valuable reference when they compare the scorecards with EU Regulation 2016/403. This comparison lets them know at an early stage if the company may soon be faced with sanctions that exceed the sum of the individual penalties.
A later extension will also show trend indicators regarding the improvement or deterioration of the fleet’s scorecard. Then customers of the Pro version of VDO Fleet Tachograph Management will also receive reports at the individual driver and vehicle levels. These reports will enable them to quickly see the number and severity of violations that have accumulated.
Worry-free sleep: safety and control in the legal jungle
In this way, scorecards for VDO Fleet Tachograph Management offer a high degree of security and control to the responsible fleet staff – because instead of first noticing problems when sanctions are actually imposed, they can always see exactly where their fleet stands in this respect. They can then act as soon as their fleet performance deteriorates through violations. “Fleet managers are under great pressure to ensure compliance,” says Timo Ketterer, Head of Service Product Management in the Commercial Vehicle Fleet Services business segment at Continental. “We want to help them achieve this by giving them security. Those responsible can now see objectively if everything is in order or if they have to take action to remedy any issues.”
The EU Regulation 2016/403 keeps track of violations in numerous categories. In addition to important aspects like driving and rest periods, speeding and tachograph manipulation, they also monitor violations that are currently not included in tachograph data. Continental’s software is especially valuable to fleet managers because it enables them to estimate their scores in relation to European threshold values. At the same time, managers must be aware that national regulations may be stricter – a good reason to keep the numbers of violations as low as possible.
Ketterer cites very specific reasons for the increasing pressure: “Firstly, there was this year’s introduction of the ERRU messaging system in the European countries that had not been involved with the system up until then. So, violations abroad are now reported to the domestic authorities all over Europe. Secondly, the harmonization of the various national interpretations at the European level is expected to come into force in 2024. In many cases, this will result in the critical threshold of a fleet’s compliance score being reached more quickly.”
Continental sees compliance services for commercial vehicle fleets as a growth sector
“In the logistics and transportation industry, data from commercial vehicles has long been one of the most important building blocks for long-term success,” says Marcello Lucarelli, Head of Continental’s Commercial Vehicle Fleet Services business segment. “This is why we at Continental believe that making this data available and processing it is one of our key tasks. The data generated by our DTCO is particularly informative, trustworthy and tamper-proof, and this makes it a perfect foundation for a range of services with real added value – the new scorecards are just the beginning.”
Background:
The name VDO TIS-Web will no longer exist from November 2021. This software family supports fleets in archiving tachograph data and helps to keep an eye on key data on vehicles and drivers at the same time. Its new name will be VDO Fleet. There are also product names that clearly indicate the actual task of the software in question. For example, TIS-Web DMM 5.0 is now called Tachograph Management. It is used for archiving and evaluating tachograph data. TIS-Web Motion will be called Tachograph Live Services in the future. This solution enables Track & Trace and provides real-time information about the driver’s remaining driving or rest time.
