Can self-driving cars help save the environment?

Believe it or not automobiles capable of human trasport have been around for over 200 years now! Since the advent of the automobile, engineers and designers have been focusing on ensuring our comfort and safety mostly be implementing automation and greater efficiency technologies such as  automatic door locks, check engine light, self-parking, seat belt reminders, […]

Apple vs. Microsoft – Battle for Your Car

Microsoft was the first major software company to make major headway in the telematics space with its Sync product. Now Apple is trying to make in-roads by using a rather different approach.

Fleet GPS Vehicle Tracking Systems – How to Choose the Best One

fleet gps dispatcherChoosing a GPS vehicle tracking system can be challenging. There are dozens of products on the market with a very broad range of features. This article will help you determine which features your business really needs. It will also tell you what you should look for when researching options of a fleet GPS system.

Vehicle tracking is one of the fastest growing markets for GPS technology. Companies of all sizes are taking advantage of modern GPS devices. If you have more than one company vehicle, you have a fleet – and GPS fleet tracking saves businesses money!

The ability to track vehicles at all times can significantly reduce your business operating costs. To ensure your company is operating at maximum efficiency, necessary costs such as fuel and employee overtime can be closely monitored and verified by a GPS fleet management system. For example, excessive vehicle idling not only uses excess fuel, but it also causes unnecessary vehicle wear and tear, and produces harmful greenhouse gas emissions. By effectively utilizing the data and reports produced by a real-time vehicle fleet tracking system, fuel costs can be drastically reduced by over 20 percent.

GPS Vehicle Tracking Huge Component of Fleet Management

gpe vehicle tracking system for fleet managersIf your company has more than two vehicles, you have a fleet. As with all components of a business, fleets need managing. Fleet management ensures that overall transportation costs are kept to a minimum. Fleet management is a challenging job and is much more than just knowing where drivers and vehicles are or occasionally checking the oil levels in the fleet vans. With the assistance of modern technology such as GPS devices and vehicle tracking systems, a fleet manager’s job can be much easier.

One of the most fundamental components in fleet management is vehicle tracking. Modern technology in the form of GPS tracking devices has made tracking and diagnostics much more efficient and easier, leading to far more efficient fleet management overall. GPS vehicle tracking systems allow a fleet manager to know exactly where every vehicle in the fleet is at any given time and gives them the opportunity to plan the most efficient routes and reduce waiting time for customers.

An important part of fleet management is duty of care. Fleet management should provide clear policies and guidance for employees who drive on company business. Vehicle tracking systems incorporate software that can build up a profile of a driver’s habits, enabling fleet managers to monitor behavior on the road so you can see exactly how safely company vehicles are being driven.

6 Ways Fleets Can Burn Less Fuel

Fleet GPS Management System Data with Driver Training Cuts Fuel Costs

Here is a list of the best ways fleet managers can cut vehicle fuel costs.

  1. Educate your fleet management team to train your drivers. Successful fuel management starts with drivers. Proper training can improve fuel efficiency, reduce fuel expenses and vehicle emissions.
  2. Keep the load as light as possible. Excess weight places unnecessary strain on a vehicle’s engine and greatly affects its fuel efficiency.
  3. Use a fuel management system to lower fuel costs and increase productivity. The best systems are telematics enabled systems which overall fuel efficiency, vehicle performance, tracks fuel waste due to idling, speeding, etc., and identifies critical areas to improve efficiency and reduce fleet fuel costs and emissions. Fleet GPS management systems such as FieldLogix can save in wasted time and fuel every day.
The Best Vehicle Tracking GPS Systems

The best GPS vehicle tracking systems are all user-friendly. Users with limited computer skills can easily learn how to master the systems and produce results quickly. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all GPS tracking solution. Depending on your situation, there are a number of things you should look for.

1) If you are going to be tracking a person or a small piece of property, ensure that you look for a small, inconspicuous, easy-to-install tracker.

2) For tracking a personal vehicle, you will want something that will track your vehicle both indoors and outdoors, and one that will run on the car’s battery so you don’t have to worry about replacing a dead battery.

3) If you are concerned with tracking a fleet of vehicles, you will need a tracker that will allow you to customize settings for different vehicles, that provides you with convenient text message and email alerts. Trackers like the FieldLogix GPS Fleet Management boast each of these features plus provides in-depth performance metrics, identifies problems such as excessive speeding and idling, inaccurate time-sheets, unauthorized vehicle stops and personal vehicle use. Fleet GPS tracking systems should always be integrated with Garmin navigation and Google Maps.

How To Improve Customer Service with Fleet GPS Vehicle Tracking

happy cusotmers with gps vehicle tracking systemReal-time GPS vehicle tracking is becoming increasingly popular, especially in the business world. Smart business managers with employees and assets on the go use a GPS fleet vehicle tracking system to help reduce fuel usage, trim other operating costs, improve fleet productivity and maximize customer service. Whether you manage a fleet of one or hundred, managing vehicles and increasing operating efficiency while improving customer satisfaction can be easy if you have the right tools.

Better Fleet Management with Real-time GPS Vehicle Tracking Systems

fleet gps dispatcherReal-time GPS vehicle tracking systems can help you to be a better fleet manager. With a Real-time GPS Vehicle Tracking System, you always know the fastest and cheapest way to get Driver A to Point B. You don’t have to spend valuable time guessing, the system knows where your fleet vehicles are located. It gives you the knowledge fleet managers to need to make the BEST Fleet Management Decisions.

Real-time GPS vehicle tracking systems keep fleet operations lean and GREEN. The best GPS fleet tracking systems use telematics technology to increase daily fleet deliveries and stops, dramatically reduce overtime costs, improve driver safety, and cut fuel costs. Plus it’s better for the environment.

Student Finds FBI GPS Tracking Device Secretly Placed in His Vehicle

FBI GPS vehicle tracking system A 20-year-old college student in California recently found a GPS vehicle tracking device belonging to the FBI that had been secretly attached to his car. The FBI even showed up to his apartment a few days later and took the GPS tracking device back!

The student, Yasir Afifi, had taken his car in for a routine oil change when he and the oil change technician noticed wires hanging from a black box underneath his car. Neither one of the men knew what the device exactly was, so they immediately removed it from the vehicle.

Shortly after, not knowing exactly what the black box was or who had put it there, a friend of Afifi’s posted images of the GPS tracking device online. Next thing you know, about 48 hours later, 6 FBI agents showed up at Afifi’s apartment in Santa Clara, California, demanding that he immediately returned the GPS vehicle tracking device. The GPS tracking device was identified as a police-issue-only Cobham Orion Guardian ST82 vehicle tracking system.

Chrysler Launches New Electronic GPS Vehicle Tracking System

gps systems prevent theftGPS vehicle tracking system just launched by the Chrysler Group will likely be the company’s first step toward establishing a competitor for GM’s OnStar and Ford’s SYNC systems. The new system is a Mopar-branded Electronic Vehicle Tracking System.

Chryler’s new Electronic Vehicle Tracking System offers different levels of service. The basic plan is aimed primarily at protecting owners from vehicle theft. Using GPS fleet tracking technology from Guidepoint Systems, the Mopar device includes a GPS integrated stolen vehicle tracker that can provide real-time information on the vehicle’s location and includes a $1,000 “theft-protection” warranty from Chrysler. The good news is the basic level Electronic Vehicle Tracking Systems do not require a subscription fee. This is useful to customers who want to avoid the hassle of ongoing fees while still taking advantage of the GPS stolen vehicle tracking system capabilities.

GPS Tracking for Taxi Cabs Fleets Vital for City Transportation

gps tracking taxi cabTaxi cabs are crucial to a city’s transportation system. I realized this recently after trying to get a cab after a Charger’s game in San Diego and during a taxi cab strike in Atlanta. Having access to cabs 24/7 is something that we all take for granted. Taxis are vital people movers and cities cannot function properly without them.

Taxi cab fleets in major cities range from approximately 5,000 – 10,000 vehicles. For example, the city of Chicago has a fleet of about 6000 cabs. Chances are, fleets this large owe their flow and easy operation to GPS fleet tracking systems. That is because without them, too much is left to chance. Drivers and consumers are wandering about rather aimlessly hoping to hook up at the right place and the right time.

GPS tracking is a preferred method of taxi cab fleet management. Companies dispatching taxi cabs know that a tracking system will tell them where their fleet is exactly, so they have better control of their resources, and as an extension of that, better control of their operating costs and profit margin. GPS tracking systems are used to: record on-duty trips; to keep an electronic record of mileage and location, eliminating the need for manual trip sheets; and to better dispatch the closest available vehicle to trip requests.

GPS Vehicle Tracking System FieldLogix Used to Recover Stolen Truck

GPS Fleet tracking device and green fleet management system logoWhen Interwest Construction Inc. wanted to catch the thieves that had stolen one of their trucks before they stripped it, they activated the fleet vehicle’s GPS tracking system and the chase was on. FieldLogix, an industry leading GPS vehicle tracking device and green fleet management system, was successfully utilized to recover the missing fleet vehicle in just a few hours.

According to Kristal Wagner of Interwest Construction, Inc., “We had a truck stolen on Monday during the night. Tuesday morning, when the foreman was panicking & calling the sheriff, I used the the real-time GPS tracking device to pull up the vehicle’s exact location and gave the Sheriff the information. We recovered the truck within a couple of hours. Some small items that weren’t valuable were stolen from the truck, but the vehicle was not harmed at all!”

GPS fleet tracking systems are recommended to all drivers by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) to prevent motor vehicle theft. According to NICB, a car is stolen every 26 seconds in America. Nearly half of these are never recovered, and are commonly scrapped for parts or smuggled to another country. NICB’s vehicle protection approach recommends four layers of security based on the risk factors pertaining to a specific vehicle. Vehicle Tracking Systems are one such layer, and are described by the NICB as “very effective” in helping police recover stolen vehicles. Vehicle GPS tracking systems are an important and integrated part of the “layered approach” to protecting fleet vehicles.

10 Reasons Fleets Like GPS Vehicle Tracking Systems

GPS satellite real time fleet truck tracking systemGPS vehicle tracking systems are a worthwhile investment for many fleets. Here’s a few reasons why fleets like using fleet GPS tracking systems:

1. Fleet tracking systems reduce business operating costs and increase fleet safety by targeting poor drivers that speed excessively, resulting in wasted fuel, excessive engine wear, drive up insurance rates and cause accidents.

2. Many fleet managers like using the system’s automatic mileage reminder to reduce downtime and enhances vehicle resale values by encouraging scheduled, preventative maintenance. Vehicle tracking systems can remind you when it’s time to rotate tires, change oil or perform other scheduled maintenance. Conversely, fleet management systems also can tell you if a vehicle is not in need of scheduled service which helps keep maintenance costs under control.

Vehicle Tracking – Fleet Management Tips Every Company Should Know

Vehicle tracking systems should be considered if your company has more than two vehicles. If your company has more than two vehicles, then you have a fleet. The goal of fleet management is to extract maximum value and minimize the cost of maintaining of vehicles. Fleet management is a complex and comprehensive challenge. It involves much more than just knowing where drivers and vehicles are located or routinely checking oil levels in your fleet vehicles. Fleet management includes vehicle procurement, vehicle maintenance, vehicle disposal, vehicle tracking and the management of logistical, operational, functional, regulatory and compliance requirements.

With the assistance of modern technology such as fleet GPS devices or vehicle tracking systems, fleet management has now become much easier and cost effective. Fleet management is an important and often overlooked part of many private organizations. Due to the economy, private fleet operators today are under more pressure than ever to control expenses. Optimizing your fleet’s operations can improve your company’s productivity, reduce costs and have a positive impact on the bottom line.

GPS Fleet Tracking Improves Fleet Management in Chicago

GPS fleet tracking systems are successfully being utilized in the largest cities in America for good reasons. According to Helen Rane Carbone, Chief Programmer and Analyst for the Chicago’s Department of Transportation “Before we implemented GPS, our fleet managers and dispatchers had virtually no real-time information on the whereabouts or activity of our fleet vehicles. We relied on very basic communication using two-way radios and hand-written reports. This was never able to provide the type and depth of information we needed for real performance monitoring, improvement, and accountability, which is expected of all city departments.”

According to Carbone, “before implementing a vehicle tracking system, simply keeping track of mobile resources from a dispatcher’s perspective – vehicle and driver scheduling, routing, call response, location in the case of emergencies – was a very difficult daily task. Truly measuring fleet and mobile employees’ productivity was practically impossible.”

Cities like Chicago are also using GPS fleet management systems to enhance their efforts to go green. Fleet managers are using real-time vehicle location data to optimize routes and reduce excessive idling in an effort to reduce gas consumption, CO2 pollution and other hazardous greenhouse gas emissions. According to Ms. Carbone, telematics plays a big part in many of Chicago’s environmental initiatives in becoming a true green fleet. “Fleet GPS management systems help with everything from the number and type of vehicles we’re using for a particular task, how they’re being used, and the amount of CO2 emissions they’re producing. Everyone is looking to big cities like Chicago to lead the way in this, and remote fleet management has gone from being a valuable tool to an absolute necessity.”

Real Time Vehicle Tracking Devices Improve Mobile Workforce Management

One of the best things about real time fleet tracking is that it enables fleet managers to work hand in hand with their drivers and other mobile employees, even when they are thousands of miles apart. Every day there so many unforeseen circumstances arise, resulting in the need for last minute changes. So having a real time two-way communications system between fleet manager and commercial vehicle drivers is critical to a running an efficient fleet. Taking into account things like traffic jams, accidents, unpredictable weather conditions, delivery instructions, last minute pick-ups, and employee issues is an important part for a successful person managing fleet vehicles and drivers. Commercial vehicle tracking facilitates instant and accurate responses to ensure that the best solution can be deployed with the least amount of time or costs.

An average day someone overseeing a mobile workforce can involve matching busy schedules with the nearest available resources or service personnel to a new or changed location. Without a fleet management system, a telephone can be used to stay abreast of the constant changes, and to communicate with mobile employees. But a vehicle tracking device is by far superior to using a telephone to communicate – even if you have a smartphone with SMS text messaging, email and GPS navigation. The bottom line is a telephone no matter how smart it is, just doesn’t compare to a vehicle tracking solution.

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