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CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS
MAY 2017
15
More and more OEMs in the construction equipment industry, such
as Volvo CE, are now including telematics solutions as standard in
their offerings.
aspects.” Deviations from a set target are
monitored in the exception report. There is
also a driver coaching tool available in the
vehicle. “Driver coaching guides the driver
to improved driving technique through real
time Fuel Efficiency Score while driving,”
says Le Roux.
When it comes to positioning, the map
view collects the information needed to
plan the transport operation. Current vehicle
location, speed, distance travelled, fuel saved
and fuel level are at hand in the map view.
“The positions of the vehicles are event-
based with a new position approximately
after every 5-10 minutes,” says Le Roux.
Meanwhile, Messaging allows two-way
communication between the vehicle and the
Dynafleet portal. “Messages can be sent
from Dynafleet to the trucks where the driver
can respond to them using the Bluetooth
QWERTY keyboard.”
Key drivers
According to Raghavan, the emergence
of new business cases, such as pay-per-
service, as well as higher awareness on
mid-tier solutions, will unlock opportunities
in the South African commercial vehicle
telematics space. “Major OEMs are looking
to provide factory-installed telematics,
especially in light commercial vehicles
since more than 90% of this segment
remains untapped,” says Raghavan.
Meanwhile, Le Roux tells
Capital
Equipment News
that the Light Commercial
Vehicle (LCV) segment makes up a big
chunk of the telematics pool, +/-50%. “We
do, however, notice that their needs are
much more for basic services. The Heavy
Commercial Vehicle (HCV) and Extra Heavy
Commercial Vehicle (EHCV) sectors are
the driving forces behind more advanced
information needs. We also notice that
customers in the HCV and EHCV segments
require different services for different
applications,” says Le Roux, adding that
thus the need for customisation and
flexibility in packages offered is ever
increasing.
Load and combination values also play a
part in the selection of services, according
to Le Roux. “Customers carrying goods of
high value tend to request more detailed
services compared with customers doing
basic distribution of low-value loads. We
have seen a huge increase in the fuel
industry, for example, in the past few
years.”
Key concerns
Despite the improvements made in
telematics and the real-time data that
it produces, a reluctance to adopt the
technology still lingers among some local
fleet managers. This is more so among
construction equipment fleet owners than
their commercial vehicle counterparts.
Le Roux agrees, saying that when Volvo
Trucks first introduced Dynafleet in 2013,
there was some resistance from certain
operators. He, however, notes that this
has since changed as more and more
commercial vehicle owners are enquiring
about the service offering.
The penetration of telematics in the
local construction equipment space as a
whole is slow in coming, but operators are
gradually beginning to realise the bene-
fits as more and more OEMs now include
telematics solutions as standard in their
offerings.
The key concern in the yellow metal
equipment industry has always been the
fact that most construction fleets are mixed