Comtech’s IntelliTruck™ fleet management system debuts at the ATA

On-the-move communications experts Comtech launched IntelliTruck™: a feature-rich, affordable telecommunications system for fleets and individual vehicles. Now previewing at the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) Management Conference & Exhibition, IntelliTruck™ is the first commercial vehicle tracking system to be developed by Comtech, whose robust data communication technologies underpin the US Army’s two major mobile tracking programs*. IntelliTruck™ streamlines the reporting requirements imposed on owners and drivers by the Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010): going beyond compliance to provide a powerful tool for managing driver behavior and fleet optimization. Dan Wood, President of Comtech Mobile Datacom Corporation, explained: “Fleet management today is not just about driver safety and regulatory compliance – although of course that’s the industry’s focus given the FMCSA regulations. It’s also about doing more with less: sifting through data to get the operational intelligence you need to deploy the right vehicles, efficiently use personnel and other resources, and obtain critical equipment condition checks to improve fleet readiness. “IntelliTruck’s™ easy-to-use, web-based back office application generates multiple reports around driver safety, behavior, fuel consumption and vehicle condition. By capturing and processing this high quality data that flows from the truck to the base, we enable our truck operating managers to efficiently take on significantly more work with the same sized fleet. Additionally, by exploiting the new information, truck operators can adapt and prioritize tractor and trailer usage and maintenance on a real-time basis. The operating efficiencies enabled by IntelliTruck™ provide quantifiable and tangible value in a competitive market and a challenging economic environment. Our platform and features will enable a truck fleet to expand its capacity by as much as 25%: extraordinary growth given the minimal capital investment needed to install a telematics system.” Priced to make sophisticated technology accessible to all fleet owners, IntelliTruck’s™ Electronic Onboard Data Recorder is fully compliant with new FMCSA requirements, providing a number of important cost-saving benefits: • The technology can read all available vehicle data bus types, reducing the time and errors associated with manual recording of driver logs and other on-the-road metrics. • Diverse communications paths (including cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth and Satellite) provide coverage across the most rugged and remote landscapes, continuously evaluating the best path for communications to reduce operational expense. • An open, applications-friendly design means that IntelliTruck™ can host different applications on its architecture and receive software upgrades over the air, enabling fleet managers to run applications remotely without having to haul in their vehicles. Mr Wood concluded: “Through our military experience, our next-generation mobile technology was tested in the harshest of environments. We see a real opportunity to apply that robust engineering expertise to the highway by maximizing value for money while ensuring communications remain flexible, secure and compliant. We have had great reaction to this initial showcase, and will continue to release further details around the product benefits ahead of the official release in early 2011. In the short term, if any fleet owners are interested in participating in a trial, they should contact us via www.comtechmobile.com, or have a discussion with us at our stand at the ATA.”