Fleet Management, a manpower-oriented industry, can gain tremendous benefits from the integration of mobile app development into their logistics processes. These apps are so popular due to the significant reduction of time-consuming procedures as well as real-time tracking capabilities for vehicles and drivers for pickup management, on way transfer, delivery through calls and more. This real-time visibility helps logistics organizations meet and improve their key performance metrics for efficiency, safety and customer satisfaction.
To help logistics or transportation based organizations that are considering a location-based app, our mobility experts have compiled a few of the common questions received from clients during the planning and development of fleet management mobile applications.
Q1: What are the key considerations for remote vehicle monitoring through a mobile app?
Answer: Part of a Fleet management admins job is to ensure that deliveries are moving on schedule. Without automated means, the primary communication is a phone call to the driver at numerous times throughout the day for status updates. This manual “check-in” is frustrating for both the admin and the driver, taking time and focus away from other more important activities. With live vehicle and driver tracking provided through a mobile app, the entire process is automated- eliminating one less item to worry about!
With the costs of smartphones continually dropping, these devices can be provided to each driver with a mobile app that allows continuous monitoring and tracking via GPS and cameras. With the core feature of GPS, the real-time location of the driver can be traced. The phone’s front and rear cameras are also used for monitoring both driver activities and the road respectively. A live preview of the driver and truck can also be done easily with the help of live streaming software such as WOWZA, Kurento, Red5, etc.
As these apps use both cameras at the same time, battery consumption becomes a major concern, which must be considered and addressed. Based on tracking and monitoring requirements, the battery mode can be adjusted to prevent battery drain. For example, a high-performance battery mode can be selected in cases of heavy utilization and power saving mode for periodic updates.
Some helpful tips for organizations and their mobile app development teams are:
- With help of Google maps integration, a delivery time can be estimated.
- Goods/assets can be monitored easily by the ability to locate the driver’s speed, location and idle time.
- Location history should display statistics related to the vehicle for a fixed time span.
- Point of interests should be integrated into the application to understand the travel route taken.
- Starting time of pickup and trip
- Total mileage traveled
- Number of working hours
- Trips made by a driver
- Pickup/Deliveries made by a driver
- Live video streaming
- GPS locations
- Safety event alerts and reporting