Telematics platform provider Microlise has added a remote digital tachograph download option to its software.

The product has been developed to meet the increasing pressures in the industry to reduce administration costs and lost time involved in the collection and management of tachograph data. 

It allows data to be automatically obtained while vehicles are out on the road. This removes the need for drivers to present their card at a depot or for the periodic manual downloading of VU data – a process which is often time consuming and difficult when vehicles are out on the road or remotely located. Once data is downloaded, it can then be uploaded for analysis.

The solution can be set up to obtain not only driver card data, but activity, events, faults, technical calibration and detailed speed data from the vehicle head unit. This means it is capable of providing everything a transport operator needs to meet and exceed necessary compliances.

Matt Hague, Microlise product strategy director, said: “One of the key reasons companies invest in telematics solutions is to improve efficiencies across their fleet and increase levels of visibility. Remote Digital Tachograph Download supports this objective by removing administrative overheads and scheduling data downloads as frequently as every 24 hours, if required.

“Although legally, driver card data is required every 28 days and vehicle data every 56 days, it can be hugely beneficial to have access to this data on a much more frequent basis. For example, data such as detailed speed is generally only available on the tachograph head unit for between one and seven days, so often with a manual download process, this data is lost.”

For Microlise’s existing customers, there is no need to buy and install any additional hardware. The Microlise ML30 telematics hardware unit has a secondary CANbus port which allows connection to the digital tachograph unit – meaning the ML30 unit can carry out its primary telematics functions as well as enabling remote download of digital tachograph data.

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