The platform’s back end also shows idle time, enabling discussion with drivers who need a fuel economy tutorial. Management can set up alerts for when the vehicle enters and leaves a geofenced location, including a timestamp. On the telematics side, the back office gets a full recap of the driver’s day, including their route, any incidents of harsh braking or aggressive acceleration, speeding and an array of other driving habits that adversely can affect insurance premiums. Future iterations likely would feature more two-way communications between the driver and the back office, he said.
Lee Gross, global product owner for Ford Telematics, said the app is meant to be a companion for drivers that feeds information to the fleet manager. Fleet managers can monitor the report for faults, or simply to ensure their drivers are performing prescribed checks. Any issues flagged by the driver immediately take them to a DVIR where they can describe the problem and notate its severity. The app is fairly intuitive and features a 25-point pre-trip inspection. As part of a Ford Telematics subscription, commercial customers also have access to Ford Telematics Drive, a mobile app that associates drivers with a given vehicle.
