Next-generation computers make directions easier
technology in brief 42 Commercial Carrier Journal April 2009 D uring a recent trip to Minneapolis, I climbed aboard an International CXT pickup truck owned by Xata Corp. In the driver's seat, Tom Flies, Xata's senior vice president of product management, was playing the role of a company driver. After logging into the Xatanet system using a color touchscreen display, Flies entered his trip number. Only moments before, Flies had been in his office playing the role of fleet manager. He had logged into the Xatanet online fleet management system from his desktop, where he had entered the destination address for a short trip a few miles away from Xata's headquarters. In the driver's seat, once Flies entered his trip number, the coordinates of the destination were sent from a server to the onboard unit and entered auto-matically into the truck's onboard in-cab navigation software, ALK's CoPilot Truck. When the truck started moving, CoPilot Truck provided spoken turn-by-turn directions, along with a graphical moving map, to the destination and back. Increasingly, more fleets are using this type of integration between onboard computing platforms and in-cab navigation software to give drivers a seamless process to manage important trip details. Besides using navigation to acclimate drivers quickly to new routes and pickup/delivery locations, fleets can use the integration to gain more control over their vehicle routes when schedules change. The next-generation computing platforms feature high-resolution touchscreen displays, powerful operating systems and high-speed wireless communications. For now, the major providers of onboard computing systems have narrowed their offerings to two in-cab navigation applications: CoPilot Truck and NaviGo. ALK's CoPilot technology has been on the market for 11 years, says Craig Fiander, vice president of marketing for ALK Technologies. Based upon the com-pany's PC Miler routing and mileage engine, CoPilot Truck uses GPS signals col-lected by onboard computers for real-time navigation. NaviGo, an in-cab navigation service from Maptuit, uses a hybrid combina-tion of onboard and server-based technologies to produce routes for commer-cial trucks. The hybrid approach makes it possible for the company to provide immediate changes to its routes in case of incidents such as road construction or The whole country in the cab Next-generation computers make directions easier By Aaron Huff n Vigillo (www.vigillo.com), provider of a Web-based risk management plat-form, formed an alliance with Instructional Technologies Inc. Vigillo's software will be combined with ITI's computer-based in-cab driver training programs to help manage training records and measure compliance. n introduced Image Link, a document man-agement enhancement designed to speed and simplify the billing process for freight brokers, 3PLs and other transportation providers. With Image Link, customers automatically can e-mail or fax invoices and proof-of-delivery documents, the company says. n TMW Systems (www.tmwsystems. com) announced it added more than 160 new customers in 2008 across its expanded product lines. n DriverTech (www.drivertech.com) signed an agreement with iCooper Inc., a designer and developer of enterprise management solutions, in which iCooper will extend the capabilities of DriverTech's DT4000 TruckPC onboard system by creat-ing a handheld interface and integrated, untethered applications for fleets with 500 or more trucks. n J.J. Keller & Associates (www.jjkeller. com) released Maintenance Manager Online, a secure Web-based application designed for motor carriers to track and manage daily preventive maintenance tasks. n its new Treq-M4 rugged mobile data ter-minal is loaded with features for in-vehicle communication and control, including a Windows Embedded CE 6.0 operating system and a 4.3-inch color touchscreen display. Fleets can gain control over routes when schedules change. Xata Corp. recently announced the availability of in-cab navigation for its Xatanet computing and mobile communications platform.