Digital tachograph – how does it work?

The tachograph has been part of HGV fleet operators’ lives for many years now. But while it may be an old fixture, the way we use it has transformed dramatically in recent years.

Since the introduction of the digital tachograph, what was once a chore is now a powerful tool, potentially helping fleet managers and business owners to make informed decisions, plan smart schedules and manage compliance with less fuss.

Understanding the digital tachograph

The primary purpose of the digital tachograph is to help enforce maximum daily and fortnightly driving hours, as well as tracking daily and weekly minimum rest periods, for commercial drivers.

The modern tachograph, however, can do much more. While traditional tacho systems were known to be cumbersome and at times inconvenient, a modern ‘live’ digital system allows you to simplify compliance while staying productive.

By removing the need for physical access to your vehicles to download the latest tachograph reading, you can grab the files you need without disrupting the driver and causing vehicle downtime.

Integrating your tachograph data with your fleet management systems also allows you to view your drivers and their tacho status in a live map. Information shown includes start time, drive time remaining, next break due, next rest due and much more.

With this information readily to hand, you can encourage drivers to take breaks and assess who is nearing limits before assigning new jobs. For a more proactive approach, set up driving hours alerts and receive a direct warning whenever a driver is at risk of an hours violation.

Integration of all your fleet data such as location, speed, job arrival/departure time, fuel consumption, and idle time, along with tachograph information, gives you total visibility of your fleet operation.

This data, analysed and presented by your fleet management system, can help you to spot trends and discrepancies in your fleet to drive efficiency, productivity and safety across the board.

Digital tachograph from Verizon Connect

Our digital tachograph solution forms part of the fully featured Verizon Connect suite of applications that includes driver coaching, fuel card management and comprehensive vehicle tracking.

Our advanced tracking hardware connects directly to your vehicle’s tachograph and sends data to your fleet management solution. With your fleet data in one place, you can:

• See the status of the drivers in your fleet with live map integration.
• Monitor tachograph, driver card, vehicle and engine data in near real-time.
• See vehicle location and driving hours to assess who is within safe limits for the next job.
• Take a proactive approach to tacho management by encouraging drivers to take breaks.
• Get quick and easy access to your data with remote download.

Driver ID functionality also makes it easy to determine who was driving when, allowing you to coach, incentivise and, if necessary, reprimand drivers based on individual performance and compliance requirements.

Want to know more?

Once connected, the Verizon Connect platform of applications helps improve and automate your business, enabling you to close gaps on your competitors, promote safety, grow revenues and react fast to customer needs. 

Book a demo today to find out how.