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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has introduced an Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate, to create Hours Of Service (HOS) records. An

by crote 4y ago

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has introduced an Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate, to create Hours Of Service (HOS) records. And it seems in the USA that is... just an app?

mistermegabyte 4y ago
Yes, its an app. There isn't a single generic ELD hardware device. Every trucking company decides what device is best for their needs. My company uses Samsung Galaxy tablets. These devices do much more than just track ELD.
mattas 4y ago
The ELD itself is a physical device that gets installed in the OBD-II port in the truck or vehicle. It records information about when the truck is operational. The hours that the truck is operational need to be accounted for, which is (usually) done by a driver using a mobile app. If a truck driver gets pulled over, they need to prove to the officer that they are operating within their hours. In the past, this was done with a physical log book.
- sumtechguy 4y ago
  The ELD does tons of stuff. It tracks location, speed, doors, shifting (to teach better strategies to the driver), logs, fuel levels, and anything the engine can spit out thru that jbus (like obd-ii which some do use). We used to upsell tracking things and having parts on hand at the correct depots for fixing things before they became an issue on the side of the road. HoS is just one part of what those things do. But even the simplest of them usually hook into the data bus at some point to detect 'drive'. You can buy ones that are just apps and do only HoS. But not sure if those are considered legal anymore (been a few years since I messed with it). When you have 1 truck HoS is a big part of why you want them. When you have a fleet of 2000+ trucks your metrics are different in what costs more.
lsllc 4y ago
It's not a new idea, Tachographs have been around in trucking for many decades. Just a paper disk that gets inserted behind (usually the RPM indicator I think) the instrument cluster. The driver writes name/date on one, puts it in and it logs the speed, braking for the driven hours. Sort of like an old-school seismometer scratching out the lines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachograph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachograph

by crote 4y ago

mistermegabyte 4y ago

Yes, its an app. There isn't a single generic ELD hardware device. Every trucking company decides what device is best for their needs. My company uses Samsung Galaxy tablets. These devices do much more than just track ELD.

mattas 4y ago

The ELD itself is a physical device that gets installed in the OBD-II port in the truck or vehicle. It records information about when the truck is operational. The hours that the truck is operational need to be accounted for, which is (usually) done by a driver using a mobile app. If a truck driver gets pulled over, they need to prove to the officer that they are operating within their hours. In the past, this was done with a physical log book.

sumtechguy 4y ago
The ELD does tons of stuff. It tracks location, speed, doors, shifting (to teach better strategies to the driver), logs, fuel levels, and anything the engine can spit out thru that jbus (like obd-ii which some do use). We used to upsell tracking things and having parts on hand at the correct depots for fixing things before they became an issue on the side of the road. HoS is just one part of what those things do. But even the simplest of them usually hook into the data bus at some point to detect 'drive'. You can buy ones that are just apps and do only HoS. But not sure if those are considered legal anymore (been a few years since I messed with it). When you have 1 truck HoS is a big part of why you want them. When you have a fleet of 2000+ trucks your metrics are different in what costs more.

lsllc 4y ago

It's not a new idea, Tachographs have been around in trucking for many decades. Just a paper disk that gets inserted behind (usually the RPM indicator I think) the instrument cluster. The driver writes name/date on one, puts it in and it logs the speed, braking for the driven hours. Sort of like an old-school seismometer scratching out the lines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachograph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachograph