Posts Tagged ‘GPS’
GPS Responsible for Increasing Truck Crashes
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
A recent Associated Press report says that New York truckers may soon be penalized for driving on restricted roads directed by GPS devices.
New York Governor David Paterson has proposed penalties including confiscation of trucks and even jail time for drivers who use GPS to take more hazardous routes and end up in situations such as striking low bridges.
“To our knowledge, no other state has similar legislation,” said Clayton Boyce of the American Trucking Association.
“Most trucking companies rely on GPS services that are specifically for trucks and route them away from restricted roads,” he said. “Most of our members also use dispatching and fleet management systems that direct and track the vehicles by truck GPS services.”
The safety group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety said that trucks driving on restricted roads is a fact of life on the nation’s highways and something that will become an ever-increasing problem as more drivers use GPS technology. Senior research director Gerald Donaldson says that GPS adds to the growing number of distractions drivers deal with on a daily basis.
“GPS is the heart of it,” said Donaldson, who predicts other states will soon enact similar restrictions.
AP reported that New York state alone has seen more than 1,400 bridge strikes in the past 15 years, including 46 so far this year in suburban Westchester County, testing many old bridges already in need of repair. One bridge in Westchester was hit nine times this year.
“This sort of culture of just following the GPS and almost ignoring the road signs has created this public hazard,” Paterson said. “It’s only a matter of time before someone is killed or a truck carrying chemicals or explosives hits a bridge.”
The bill would increase penalties for illegally using parkways and require all large commercial trucks to use GPS devices that route them away from restricted roads. It would also hold trucking companies or their insurance carriers responsible for repairs and cleanup after bridge strikes.
The bill could hit the Legislature as early as January, AP reported.
Photo courtesy of news.com.au
Tags: Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, American Trucking Association, Associated Press, GPS, New York
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Google Maps’ Traffic Reports Protect Privacy
Monday, September 14th, 2009
Google Maps has a new feature that utilizes the functionality of GPS-enabled smart phones to measure traffic conditions on major US highways and arterials. The traffic stats are compiled from whatever data is available at the time based on the speed and direction that users are traveling. The more people using the service at a given time, the more accurate the reports become.
The service is provided entirely free of charge with Google Maps, but some consumers are concerned that the information being used to track their cars could be used for other purposes. Google has added a host of privacy features to the application to assuage these fears; data is combined from multiple phones before reaching Google, making it hard to identify any one phone from another, and all of the information is anonymous in nature. In addition, users are easily able to opt out of sending their location data to Google. As a final security measure, Google’s software determines the start and end points of every trip it tracks and deletes them, so that nobody can track where a vehicle came from or where it ended up. After deletion, not even Google will have the data.
Several phones come with Google Maps pre-installed such as the Palm Pre, MyTouch 3G, and Apple’s iPhone. With such a large user base, the traffic monitoring software should quickly become a central feature of Google Maps.
Photo courtesy of dannysullivan under the Creative Commons License.
Tags: Apple, Google, Google Maps, GPS, iphone, Maps, MyTouch 3G, Palm Pre
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Toyota Announces Price for Safety Connect
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
Toyota has announced the annual subscription price for its new telematics system, Safety Connect. Safety Connect will first become an option on the 2010 Toyota Prius, with a one-year complementary trial of the service provided with all purchases of equipped vehicles. After the trial period has expired, a one year renewal will be available for $139.95.
Safety Connect provides a 24-hour-a-day communications link between a driver’s vehicle and the Safety Connect Response Center. Using embedded cellular and GPS technology, vehicles monitored by Safety Connect will have access to important safety features:
Automatic Collision Detection: In the event of a severe rear-end collision or deployment of the airbags, Safety Connect will notify the Response Center to contact the driver. If the driver is unable to respond, the operator will treat the call as an emergency and deploy local emergency services as needed.
Stolen Vehicle Locator: If a vehicle equipped with the system is stolen, Safety Connect can be an invaluable tool for local law enforcement to recover the vehicle. After filing a police report for the theft of the vehicle, the owner can activate the service with the Safety Connect response center. GPS transmitters are then used to determine the location of the car.
Emergency Assistance On Demand: In the event of any emergency, a driver can contact Safety Connect’s response center at the touch of a button. An operator will speak with the driver, assess the situation, and take any action that is necessary to resolve the emergency, such as contacting local emergency crews and other roadside assistance.
Safety Connect will be available on all 2010 Prius vehicles manufactured after August 1st.
On-Demand emergency assistance systems are a growing market. Is your fleet equipped to handle anything?
Tags: Automatic Collision Detection, Emergency Assistance on Demand, GPS, Prius, Safety Connect, Stolen Vehicle Locator, Toyota
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GPS Making Fleets More Efficient
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
A recent study found that companies with fleets using GPS systems have seen reductions in idle times, daily usage and fuel costs.
According to an article posted on automotive-fleet.com, the study showed organizations are installing GPS’s in company vehicles because it not only enables them to be more efficient with cost, but the system is also helping to improve customer service satisfaction rates.
On average participants reported a 25% reduction in idle times, 32% increase in fleet utilization, 22% decrease in fuel costs, 31-percent drop in daily mileage and a 23% boost in workforce productivity.
To read the full story and find out more about the study, click here.
Tags: automotive-fleet.com, fleet utilization, fuel costs, GPS, idle times, workforce productivity
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The Right Price: California Considers Pay-by-Mile Auto Insurance
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
The California Department of Insurance has introduced a bill this week to begin offering pay-by-the-mile auto insurance policies to California drivers. Under the new program, drivers would be able to select an insurance payment plan based on the number of miles they drive per month. A significant amount of money would be saved on insurance for, say, a vehicle that only makes occasional trips to a supplier a short distance away and spends most of its time sitting in a parking lot. For fleet owners, this system provides a way to keep themselves insured without overpaying for insurance on a vehicle they may very rarely use.
In addition to payment plans based on paying for a set number of miles per month, the proposed system also allows for mile-by-mile vehicle tracking at an even lower rate. The miles traveled by a vehicle would be checked by odometer inspections at various locations that are convenient to the driver’s routine, such as their local mechanic or emission center. Vehicle mileage could also be monitored by GPS devices, but don’t fear Big Brother just yet; GPS could be used to monitor a car’s mileage without relaying the vehicle’s location to the insurance company. With some drivers already hesitant to adopt GPS tracking for other purposes, this privacy clause offers reassurance that they retain the trust of their employers.
The legislation to create this system will be voted on in the next several months, and could become law shortly in the state of California. If California has any success with it, the same system could be on its way to other states across the country later this year.
Tags: Big Brother, California, California Department of Insurance, emission center, fleet owners, GPS, insurance policies, local mechanic
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Never Again Lose Your Cow
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
GPS-enhanced bovines emit location, direction and, um, speed
Fleet drivers get lost going from delivery A to delivery B all the time. People lose cars in mall parking lots daily. And who hasn’t lost their keys? But losing a cow in a pasture? Yep.
No one ever claimed that a cow had a keen sense of direction. If anything, they indirectly roam, heads down, guided only by a blind habitual hunger and a fence line. But take away the acres of expensive fencing to contain the herd, and it’s easier than you think to come up a few head short.
CNNMoney.com recently covered Fortune Small Business’ annual nod that celebrates cutting edge entrepreneurs. It seems this past year on the USDA’s 193,000-acre ranch near Las Cruces, N.M., Dean Anderson and Daniela Rus are testing an idea based on what they call “virtual fencing.” GPS-receiver headsets on each cow wrap from ear to ear and feature an accelerometer, a magnetometer tracking the cow’s speed, location and direction.
Apparently, when the cow ventures into a pre-programmed virtual boundary, a computer-activated sound alerts the cow that it’s gone too far. Like a harmless little digital cow whisperer. But at about $600 per “Ear-A-Round,” it won’t be any time soon before they’re commercially available. And no word if it comes programmed with that charming British accent.
Tags: CNN, Fortune Small Business, GPS, virtual fencing
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