How Digital technologies will prepare the trucking industry for new regulation

Softvision builds digital products for one of the largest US-based Convenience store and Oil & Gas providers in the trucking industry today.  Through that work, we’ve built an expertise in the challenges and trends in the industry that handles the transportation and delivery of Oil & Gas to some of the largest consumers in the country.  

On macro shift, we’ve seen is the preparation for the new ELD (Electronic Logging Device) requirements that take effect on December 18th.  All companies directly or indirectly connected to the trucking industry are implementing digital technologies to help mitigate the headaches and prepare for the requirements that the trucking industry are facing with the enforcement of this imminent regulation on the horizon.

The new regulations are meant to help push safety standards so that truckers are actively monitored on the number of hours driven, track the truck’s speed, and ensure that the drivers take two 30-minute rests during the active haul. The ELD will also monitor and report where the trucks are parked during their mandated downtime.

There is an active debate about how the regulations are going to drive up costs by as much as 10% – 20% due to the requirements causing a nationwide capacity issue. Driver shortages, reduced HOS (hours of service) for delivery, regulated places for truckers to park and cost to implement and maintain ELD for the independent or trucking firms fleets all factor into the increased cost equation.

However, Softvision is helping several companies in the oil and gas trade implement digital solutions to assist the trucking industry to better manage and digitally automate their supply chain (load /unload), invoicing and documentation, instantaneous payment upon delivery, and ELD reporting requirements.

Softvision is actively developing native mobile applications and cloud-based APIs for companies to pull data from the supplier’s systems to help truckers proactively manage routes to maximize driving time efficiency, plan in advance where to stop for required 30-minute rests, and locate in real-time the best-priced diesel fueling stations.

One of the most stringent ELD requirements is tracking where truckers park for rest. They can no longer park along roadside or freeway onramps. Truckers can be found violating the rules through the ELD logs and be subject to fines after December 18th, 2017. Without question, this regulation will cause a serious parking shortage for semis that need enormous spaces to maneuver in and out of already crowded parking areas. This will also eat into the allotted HOS they are allowed to drive if they are having to scramble to find a legitimate parking space at the end of an 8-hour haul.

Softvision is helping one client manage this new strategic asset (parking) through a combination of being able to reserve a parking space directly in their mobile application or push the parking availability via an API call through their partner’s application. The key is to make sure their most valued customers have first rights to reserved parking.

While Softvision can’t fully envision how the ELD requirements will play out in the industry, we are actively engaged with several clients to help drive automation, cost efficiencies and manage assets that are being impacted and redefined as a result of the new ELD regulations.