What is Driver Tracking & How Does it Help Your Business?

Let’s imagine a scenario: you are constantly calling your drivers for their whereabouts and the delivery status.

They are in the middle of the road, delivering orders, and are not able to pick up your calls. In this situation, you will surely get tense about the scheduled deliveries and their status, right?

Why follow these old methods in this modern business era? Why not adopt a driver tracking solution that has the edge over traditional approaches, providing you with real-time insights into driver movements, delivery statuses, and driving behaviors?

In a world where efficiency, customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage are paramount, it’s time to explore the transformative capabilities of advanced driver tracking systems that offer real-time visibility of delivery operations. In this blog, we’ll delve into what driver tracking is, how it can benefit your business, and why it’s a crucial tool for staying ahead in the fast-paced delivery industry.

Driver Tracking: Definition 

Driver tracking is the systematic monitoring of drivers’ driving behavior and whereabouts. It includes utilizing modern technologies to monitor vehicle performance and condition. By providing real-time insights on driver activities and vehicle status, it ensures efficient fleet management.

The goal is not to spy on your drivers but to optimize both delivery and fleet efficiency by analyzing the driving behavior of your drivers and their performance data.

What are the ways to track the drivers?

There are two ways to track the drivers; the first is through telematic or GPS tracking systems, and the second is through tracking software.

• Telematic or GPS tracking systems include installing GPS devices in the vehicle. They comprise of GPS receiver, accelerometer, and interface. This enables you to constantly send updates about the vehicle’s location, speed, and route to your system. However, one of the major drawbacks of telematics systems is their cost.

• Tracking software is usually a mobile application that needs an installation on the smartphone. The tracking software can be installed on both Android and iOS phones. This utilizes the device’s built-in GPS to track the location, speed, and route of the vehicle it is installed in. Tracking apps are less expensive than GPS tracking systems. 

By incorporating these techniques, comprehensive driver tracking is made possible, fleet management is optimized, and overall operational efficiency is improved.

How Does Driver Tracking Work?

To begin with, you need to set up an external device (driver tracking software) in your vehicles. Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) (especially for truck drivers) or any other GPS tracking device are more than enough to track the locations of your vehicles and offer real-time data. 

A more cost-effective way is to install the GPS tracking software onto the work phones of your delivery drivers and track them through it. 

Now, if you want to track more than just the real-time driver’s location, you need to invest in ELDs. 

1. ELDs can be directly plugged into the On-Board Diagnostics port of the vehicle. 
2. With this, you can measure fuel usage, engine condition, engine idle time, and vehicle speed. 
3. ELDs equipped with gyroscopes can also show rash driving, excessive speeding, and hard brakings done by drivers. 
4. In Canada and the US, ELD has become non-negotiable as their Governments want proper documentation of the working hours. 
5. In the backend, you get software with a dashboard showing all these details about your drivers. The dashboard of the tracking device shows vehicle numbers, driver IDs, planned stops, and scheduled routes. 
6. Your driver tracking software will also show if they have completed their deliveries. For example, route planning and optimization software like Upper uses its proof of delivery feature to immediately update the status of these deliveries. 
7. Coming back, the dashboard of ELDs also contains a detailed analytics area to track the vehicle’s performance and schedule any upcoming maintenance or repairs. 

How Does Driver Tracking Help Your Business?

Driver tracking offers numerous advantages for businesses operating fleets. Here are a few reasons that prove driver tracking can grow your business.

1. Driver availability

One of the biggest benefits of having driver tracking is knowing where your drivers are all the time. Therefore, you know exactly how many personnel are available before making your daily schedules. 

For short-distance deliveries, fleet managers can use GPS tracking to see which drivers are returning with incomplete deliveries. This allows them to manage their overnight inventory better. And, for long-distance deliveries, fleet managers will know which drivers are away on deliveries and recalibrate their strategies accordingly.

2. Last-minute adjustments

It is not too far-fetched to say that it is impossible to manage a fleet and adjust as per contingencies without knowing where your drivers are at all times. Fleet managers and dispatchers need driver’s locations to make last-minute adjustments. 

For example, if there is an urgent delivery, the fleet manager can recall the closest delivery person to complete the priority assignment before moving on to the others. All of this would be impossible to manage without driver-tracking software or real-time GPS tracking

3. Accurate ETAs

Driver tracking solutions also allow you to send accurate ETAs to your customers. It is recommended you focus on better communication with customers and keep them updated at every step of the shipping process. With this feature, you can alert the customers when their package leaves the depot. 

This notification also prepares the customer to stay home and receive the package. Your ability to focus on such details and have active communication about the status (delays, if any) and progress is what will make your customers happy.

Consequently, you reduce backtracking and save money on gas. You can also send notifications using the driver tracking software to the driver’s mobile number to notify them when a customer is unavailable to accept the package. 

4. Better driving habits

Installing a tracking system like gyroscopic ELD on your trucks can track driver performance—excessive speeding, hard brakings, and rapid acceleration. Such aggressive driving behavior harms the vehicle and is unsafe for public roads. Gathering this telematics data will allow you to confront the delivery drivers about their driving style and ask them to change it. 

Improved driver efficiency means there will be less wear and tear on the engine, thus decreasing maintenance costs. As a result, the life span of your vehicles also increases. Additionally, eliminating aggressive driving reduces your insurance liability as these drivers are less likely to cause road accidents. 

Adopt Efficient Driver Tracking with Upper

Upper brings you a live driver tracking feature that enables you to constantly track your drivers wherever they are. The feature helps you view the driver’s position and update you if they are idle. If you want to make last-minute schedule changes to accommodate urgent deliveries, Upper’s live driver tracking feature can help. 

Here are some core features of Upper Route Planner. 

1. Multi-stop route planning for faster deliveries

True to its name, Upper Route Planner excels at planning routes with multiple stops and minimum time. The software also considers delivery constraints to optimize the routes. It reduces backtracking and is fully automated. It also reduces the burden on the back office workers and makes it easier for the drivers to schedule their days. 

2. Route optimization for shortest routes

After planning the routes, the software goes into route optimization mode where it ensures that more stops can be covered using the shortest routes possible. Moreover, you can store the most covered routes for easier delivery. 

3. Live driver tracking 

Upper’s live driver tracking presents a host of features, as stated below.

• Set speed limits and monitor if it is being followed or not.
• Check the current driver’s status—on the way, idle, returning to the depot. 
• Identify if there’s a gap between the optimized route and the driver’s actual route.
• Check the driver’s ETA.

Upper also provides a 7 days free trial for you.

Conclusions

As a fleet manager, tracking software can only provide you with real time (driver and vehicle) data about driving styles and driver behavior. However, all these data points will be in vain if you are not actively implementing better driving regulation and route planning strategies. By combining advanced tracking technology with strategic interventions, you unlock fleet potential for sustained business success.

Therefore, to get the best out of your drivers, we recommend using Upper Route Planner to automate route planning and optimization. You’ll then be able to maximize deliveries while using your leadership skills to implement better driving parameters. Try the Upper 7 days free trial today.