iTECH: Capturing Data for Electronic Driver Logs

By Stephen Bennett, Contributing Writer

This story appears in the June/July 2007 issue of iTECH, published in the June 18 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Driving cannot be automated — but much of the log-keeping process can be, according to suppliers of electronic onboard recorders.

Electronic logbooks work today via a direct connection to the engine control module (ECM), the brain of a truck’s electronic communications network. Through that connection, the recorder collects information on wheel revolutions as well as odometer data to verify and record movement and mileage — the particulars of a driver’s “on-duty, driving” status.

The data are combined with Global Positioning System software that is part of in-truck mobile communications systems. The data can be stored in the onboard computer and transmitted to the fleet’s computer system via cellular network or by satellite.

That hard-wire connection is essential for an accurate, valid logging system, some segments of the industry insist.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recent proposal to require chronic violators of hours-of-service regulations to adopt electronic recorders for automated logging, however, does not require system integration with the engine ECM.

The reason for the omission, said FMCSA Administrator John Hill, is to allow GPS-enabled cellphones to comply with the requirement. Cellphone technology is readily available to truck operators as a less-expensive option to mobile computer systems.

GPS has become “so good,” Hill said during a Transport Topics online chat session May 22, it is “capable of monitoring location independently of engine synchronization.”

Hill said receiving location information at one-minute intervals, which GPS can supply, is adequate for monitoring driver hours. The current standard calls for five-minute intervals.

“That’s the thought behind not requiring synchronicity” in the proposed rule, he said. He also said this is only a proposal at this stage, and his staff will closely review the comments as they come in.

A cellphone-only hours recorder would be highly vulnerable to manipulation by the driver, critics of this aspect of the rulemaking told iTECH.

“You can turn a cellphone off and on whenever you want to,” said Brian McLaughlin, vice president of marketing and product planning for PeopleNet Communications. With the phone turned off, “the miles would never be accounted for.” PeopleNet offers electronic log-keeping as part of its cellular-based mobile communication system.

The rule would require the driver to revert to filling out a paper log if the cellphone is off or not functioning.

McLaughlin said the absence of “synchronicity” with the ECM is “probably one of the biggest and most controversial changes . . . . We think it’s a bad idea.”

At least one vendor, Xora Inc., had hoped to market a logging system that relied on a cellphone to collect data from the ECM through a wireless connection. Xora petitioned FMCSA two years ago for an exemption from the current rule but has not received a response, said David Adams, Xora’s senior manager of products.

Because the Xora system does not comply with the existing regulation requiring a hard connection, the company has “gone to Plan B,” Adams said. Xora will offer an accessory kit that contains a cable and other hardware to connect a cellphone to the ECM. The company planned to begin marketing the kit in May, said Mike Berger, Xora’s director of marketing.

In March, American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council published a “Technical Policy Advisory,” noting that “lack of a synchronized link between the EOBR and vehicle for movement detection and mileage capture is in general too vulnerable to manipulation, particularly when the driver powers off the device and then drives.”

If a way to prevent manipulation can be developed, TMC said, “then this approach should be considered.”

The electronic logbooks in use today, directly connected to the ECM, are typically designed to keep driver participation to a minimum, requiring only that they log on, enter a status change if they are going to the sleeper berth and log off, according to vendors.

The PeopleNet system, for example, requires the driver to sign on at the start. If he or she does not sign on and the vehicle moves, the system automatically alerts fleet managers.

But any system that needs driver input is open to abuse, according to some.

“As long as an EOBR records only the movement of a truck and requires a driver to manually input his or her on-duty, not driving time. It will fail to be what EOBR supporters wish them to be: a tamper-proof record of [hours-of-service] compliance,” the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association said in its prepared comment to FMCSA.

A 100% tamper proof system is just not in the picture at this time. So long as entering time in the sleeper berth and time “on duty, not driving” requires driver input, PeopleNet’s McLaughlin said, “we have to trust the drivers in those cases.”

Still, automated logs are significantly more dependable than paper logs, he said, “accurately automating the recording of drive time and non-drive time.”

With electronic logs, dispatchers and driver managers can view a driver’s status any time. The vendors said this is one of the great advantages.

“Fleets can make better decisions, because they have visibility into how many hours the driver has remaining,” Norm Ellis, vice president of transportation and logistics for Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions. Qualcomm has provided satellite-based mobile communications to trucking since 1988.

Jeff Sibio, director of transportation and logistics for Intermec, which markets CN3, a Windows-based handheld computer with GPS software and a touch screen, observed that “driver hours have become finite commodities that must be managed.”

TMC, in its technical advisory, noted that the proposed rule calls for graphical displays of logged hours that can be viewed outside the truck. The council maintained that such display units should not be required if data can be transferred electronically from the truck to a law enforcement device during roadside inspections.

The proposal also would require vehicle location to be captured and stored at one-minute intervals, in contrast with the current five-minute interval, McLaughlin said if such changes are retained in the final rule, the software that runs PeopleNet’s automated recorders can be adjusted accordingly.

Another facet of the proposal TMC challenged has to do with mileage recording accuracy. The proposal sets plus-or-minus 1% as the standard. The existing Society of Automotive Engineers Standard J1226, “Electric Speedometer Specification-On Road,” allows odometer error of plus-or-minus 4%, the council said.

Meanwhile, under the existing rule that remains in effect, a number of vendors continue to provide, or are preparing to offer, electronic log-keeping capability based on direct connection with the ECM and some driver input. These vendors include: PeopleNet, Chaska, Minn.; Xora Inc., Mountain View, Calif.; Qualcomm, San Diego; GeoLogic Solutions, Herndon, Va.; Intermec Technologies Corp., Everett, Wash.; and Xata Corp., Burnsville, Minn.

Some systems, such as Xata’s, present the hours-of-service data on a Web site their carrier customers access with a password. Once a driver logs on to the Xata onboard system, his current log is retrieved from the Web site, said Tom Flies, Xata’s vice president of business development. “Once the vehicle starts moving, the driver would be placed in drive status,” Flies said. When he stops to deliver, the system automatically uses GPS to determine location.”

Cardinal Health, McGaw Park, Ill., finished installing the Xata system on its fleet of approximately 480 tractors and 65 to 70 straight trucks in January, said Kris Peterinelli, director of fleet operations.

Peterinelli said each driver is issued a six-digit identification number for logging on, which he does first at the company’s headquarters and then on the Xata device in the truck cab. Thereafter, the Xata device transmits hours-of-service data from the truck to a Web site for access by Cardinal Health managers.

Each Cardinal driver uses a Motorola 9300 handheld computer placed in a cradle wired to a unit on the cab roof. The roof unit contains a transceiver and GPS software and is connected to the vehicle’s ECM.

Craig Malone, the company’s chief technology officer, said GeoLogic Solutions is testing an electronic log-keeping function designed to work with its in-cab Color Display Unit.

Data from the ECM and Global Positioning System software are collected by the company’s mobile communications and tracking system, called MobileMax, which is capable of transmitting data by cellular network or by satellite.

The driver log application being tested is designed to reside on the Color Display Unit, Malone said. Information such as driver identification and duty status will be transmitted to a server at the carrier’s headquarters, so the carrier will be in compliance with HOS storage requirements.

If a driver changes vehicles, he or she will be able

to log on and the network will send the most recent driver log data to the display unit in that vehicle, Malone said. Alternatively, a data storage device known as a USB flash drive — sometimes called a “computer stick” — can be used to copy the data from the display unit. Then, Malone said, “The driver can carry it from one vehicle to the other.”