Feb-March 2003

Constant real-time tracking of vehicles on the move is beginning to look a practical and affordable reality for everyday transport and logistics operations, thanks to the advent of GPRS.

What is being promoted as the first continuous-tracking system using GPRS technology is now available from Masternaut, and further systems from other suppliers will undoubtedly follow.

Historically, continuous "live" tracking has been dismissed for most routine transport applications as unnecessarily expensive, since it usually involves repeated SMS transmissions. To track a vehicle for a whole month in this way could end up costing hundreds of pounds - prohibitive except on the most sensitive operations.

In any case, most service suppliers in the past have argued that knowing the location of vehicles in fine detail may not offer worthwhile operational benefits.

 

However, a genuinely affordable service should give users the opportunity to revaluate the potential benefits of live tracking on more routine operations - for instance, on high-intensity collection and delivery work or even conventional haulage.

You can track your vehicles more or less continuously for just £2 a day each under the new service from Masternaut, a relative newcomer to the UK market (m.logistics, last issue). It uses always-on GPRS links to provide live position updates to the vehicle base every 30 seconds, and is being provided in association with the Orange mobile network.

In addition to offering real-time information on vehicle whereabouts and driver activity, Masternaut can provide messaging, in-cab navigation and real-time traffic and travel reports. The service also includes daily, weekly and monthly email reports, with time sheets showing actual fleet utilisation and service performance. All these resources are accessed by users over the Internet; there is no special hardware or software for the operator to install.

Other telematics and tracking specialists are known to be developing comparable systems. GPRS, with its always-on capability and a charging structure related to data volume, is ideal for applications such as tracking, which involve frequent transmissions but small amounts of data.

Clearly a cost of £10 to £15 per vehicle per week for continuous tracking, while offering remarkable value, might not seem economically justifiable for all transport operations; so pricing has not quite reached the point where the concept has universal appeal. But as data transmission costs continue to fall, that point is now clearly no longer such a distant prospect.

National same-day delivery company JC Couriers is one of the first in the UK to implement Masternaut's Web-based fleet information service to improve speed and customer service.