Frequently Asked Questions FAQ

Table of contents

What is GPS fleet tracking?

GPS fleet tracking allows the location of vehicles to be tracked, in addition to other fleet-related activities. For Tecnoflotas and Geotab, GPS tracking includes many other areas, such as driver safety, regulatory compliance, vehicle emissions and vehicle status.

What are the advantages of GPS tracking for fleets?

GPS fleet tracking offers a number of benefits, including:

• Accurate vehicle tracking
• Vehicle condition assessment
• Collision detection and notification
• Secure data
• In-vehicle driver guidance
• Advanced data collection

How does GPS tracking work?

GPS, or global positioning system, is a navigation network of satellites, monitoring stations and receivers used to transmit global location data. GPS is used in devices such as mobile phones and in-car navigation systems to help track location and provide directions from point A to point B.

Why use GPS tracking for fleets?

GPS vehicle tracking brings great value to connected fleets. It allows you to collect engine data while GPS and internal sensors record how and where the vehicle travels. Use the analytics of our fleet management software to make informed and reliable fleet decisions.

What are the advantages of Geotab's fleet tracking solutions?

Using Geotab’s fleet tracking solution, the GO device, brings numerous benefits. These include:

• Easy installation
• Expandable via IOX
• Secure communication
• Integrated accelerometer and gyroscope
• Extensive vehicle support
• Extensive support for electric vehicles

What are the functions of Geotab's fleet tracking solutions?

The main features of Geotab’s GPS fleet tracking solution are:

• Real-time GPS tracking
• Improved asset utilisation
• Asset condition monitoring

Among many others.

What is transport route optimisation for fleets?

With route and dispatch planning reporting tools, the telematics system can help you identify areas for improvement in the daily operations of your fleet. These include:

• Adjusting routes to increase fleet productivity.
• Route creation and vehicle allocation
• Setting up customised zones
• Reviewing missed or out-of-service stops
• Comparison of planned versus actual arrival times and duration of stops
• Querying travel time and time spent in designated zones

How can Geotab help me in the optimisation of transport routes?

Geotab’s route management tools help you achieve maximum productivity by reducing travel time and kilometres travelled. They can also help you plan routes and create a series of stops or waypoints where vehicles must stop to provide a service or make a delivery or pick-up. With Geotab, you can also add areas to monitor in more detail and add alerts to make routing more efficient, saving more time and fuel.

How can Geotab help me in the optimisation of transport routes?

Geotab’s route management tools help you achieve maximum productivity by reducing travel time and kilometres travelled. They can also help you plan routes and create a series of stops or waypoints where vehicles must stop to provide a service or make a delivery or pick-up. With Geotab, you can also add areas to monitor in more detail and add alerts to make routing more efficient, saving more time and fuel.

What are the advantages of transport route optimisation software?

Route planning has proven to be one of the most important functions of fleet management. It can significantly increase the efficiency and productivity of a fleet while reducing costs.

How is a transport route selected?

The MyGeotab platform gives you an intuitive way to dispatch vehicles to specific locations with the help of zones and integration with third-party route planning devices. In MyGeotab, dispatches are managed by obtaining zone addresses and sending those addresses to the third-party route planning device.

What is the electric vehicle fleet?

An electric vehicle fleet is a collection of cars, vans and heavy-duty vehicles, powered by electric batteries rather than fossil fuels such as petrol or diesel.

What are the advantages of having a fleet of electric vehicles?

Emphasis is usually placed on the environmental benefits of transitioning to an electric vehicle fleet, but there are many other aspects to consider.

Electric vehicles are safer than internal combustion vehicles due to three factors: 1) they undergo additional safety certifications; 2) their batteries are distributed in the lower part of the vehicle, providing a lower centre of gravity and decreasing the likelihood of rollover collisions; 3) due to the absence of an internal combustion engine and associated components, they have a structure with additional free space that absorbs most of the energy in the event of a collision.

On the other hand, although the initial cost of an electric vehicle is higher than that of a combustion vehicle, its maintenance costs are much lower, and its fuel source is much cheaper.

Finally, there are other benefits, such as access to low emission zones, tax and economic incentives. If you need more information on green taxation, you can find it at the following link.

How can Geotab help an electric vehicle fleet?

Geotab supports the largest number of makes and models of electric vehicles available on the market. In addition, it advises companies to electrify their fleets through its Electric Vehicle Adoption Report (EVSA), and supports them in real time through tools such as the fuel and energy consumption report, the charging report, or the mapping functionality.

What is a digital tachograph?

The digital tachograph is a device that can be found in vehicles used for land transport of goods and passengers. This device records in real time all the vehicle data during driving and stores them so that they can be consulted later.

Nowadays, data from digital tachographs, such as the ones we process at Geotab, make it possible to download information remotely in real time and to receive personalised notifications on sensitive issues such as driving times.

How does the digital tachograph work?

Each vehicle driver has a personal and non-transferable card. When starting his route, the driver must insert his card into the digital tachograph, so that all the data is associated with the holder of the card. Likewise, before starting his route, the driver must indicate the country from which the journey starts so that the device begins to record all the vehicle’s activity. At the end of the journey, the driver must indicate the country where the route ends and remove the card. All this data will travel in real time and telematically to Geotab’s servers, where it will be available for analysis from the MyGeotab platform for fleet managers.

What does the digital tachograph record?

The digital tachograph records data that originate during the driving of the vehicle, such as the distance travelled, the average and maximum speed, sudden driving behaviour (braking and acceleration outside normal parameters), idling time (the time when the vehicle has the engine running but is stopped) and rest times and driving interruptions, among other elements.

What does the law say about digital tachographs?

The use of the digital tachograph is regulated by the Ministry of Public Works in the section dedicated to Transport Safety. The use of the digital tachograph has been required since 1 January 2006 in all vehicles with a maximum authorised weight of over 3.5 tonnes in the case of land transport, or which can transport 9 or more people, including the driver, in the case of passenger transport. The law states that all vehicles registered after 1 January 2006 must be equipped with a digital tachograph.

How does the digital tachograph help driver compliance?

Thanks to remote and automatic data download, all information is kept up-to-date in real time, eliminating the need for manual management of driver and vehicle information.

In addition, the solution allows you to set up email notifications with warnings about company and driver card expiry, legal download periods and much more.

Finally, the digital tachograph helps drivers comply with European law, encouraging good habits so that drivers take appropriate breaks, ensure they are in the best condition to drive their vehicles or avoid driving behaviours that may pose a risk to safety and wear and tear on the vehicle.

How can I see the current driver data?

In the case of Geotab’s digital tachograph solutions, the data is collected via the tachograph and travels in real time and telematically to our servers. Our customers can view all this information via the MyGeotab platform and download it remotely.

Remote Tachograph Download (RDL) is a process that allows all tachograph data to be downloaded remotely in real time, without the need for the driver or the vehicle to be physically present. All this tachograph data is stored in the fleet management software and provides managers with practical and valuable information about drivers’ working hours.

What is cold chain transport monitoring?

Monitoring the cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply procedure, and its proper maintenance is crucial to preserve the properties and quality in the transport of perishable goods and products such as foodstuffs and medicines. The cold chain requires a series of storage, logistics and fleet management activities to keep products in perfect condition depending on the temperature of the vehicle.

What are the advantages of cold chain transport monitoring?

The cold chain monitoring solution is perfect for the food and beverage, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, offering fleet managers the following benefits:

• Full control of temperatures to ensure that deliveries of particularly sensitive goods such as food, medicines and vaccines arrive in good condition, and that machinery is used efficiently.
• Greater control over operations through two-way communication via customised alerts and error code detection.
• Real-time temperature reporting to meet regulatory compliance requirements (EN 12830) and provide evidence to customers on the temperature of delivered items.

How does Geotab help fleet managers with cold chain compliance?

Geotab’s cold chain solution for refrigerated transport offers fleet managers everything they need to monitor and manage cargo temperature en route on a single platform:

• Door sensors ensure that cargo is fixed and insulated while driving.
• Fleet managers can set temperature thresholds based on the cargo and change them remotely.
• Two-way communication provides them with real-time temperature information, customised alerts and error code detection.
• Reporting capabilities allow you to create a temperature log for your customers, while helping you comply with regulations.
• Geotab’s refrigerated transport solution helps provide visibility, control and peace of mind when delivering perishable goods and pharmaceuticals.