Rand McNally extends long-haul telematics portfolio to last-mile fleets

Fleet management and asset tracking solution provider Rand McNally has extended its long-haul telematics portfolio to serve local enterprise fleets as well, in response to demands for rising standards in customer service, the company said Thursday.

Chicago-based Rand McNally said its DriverConnect software platform will now serve last-mile operations, offering fleet management features for deliveries, home repair services, utilities, and other sectors.

The service offers greater connectivity between the back office and vehicles on the road, helping improve fuel efficiency and safety, notify customers of late deliveries, flag drivers when they deviate from a route, and track engine data such as engine idle time, speeding, and excessive accelerations and decelerations, the company said.

"Today, by expanding our proprietary DriverConnect platform to include local fleets, we can offer end-to-end logistics support all from a single platform," Rand McNally CEO Stephen Fletcher said in a release. "From a truck picking up cargo at a port of entry, to movement across the country, to delivery from a distribution center to a store, vehicles and assets can all be monitored and optimized through our DriverConnect system."

Fleets can enable the system by installing the company's DC100 device, a small plug-and-play, cellular-connected box that clips into a vehicle's telematic OBDII port. The device then sends information to and from the DriverConnect pOréal every 30 seconds, allowing managers to see the location of trucks, the length of time drivers have stayed at a job site, downtime and engine idling, and fuel consumption.