By Brian Straight, American Trucker, April 1, 2016
LOUISVILLE, KY. To help fleets comply with new federal electronic logging device mandates, Rand McNally has introduced a plug-and-play device to handle the recording of drive time. The announcement was made here at the Mid-America Trucking Show.
The ELD 50 is designed to provide an easy-to-install, low-cost device for fleets and drivers. It works with any Android tablet, Android smartphone and Rand McNally’s navigation tablets and provides hours of service and driver vehicle inspection report compliance.
It is just 3 ¼ in. long device and plugs into a truck’s diagnostic port.
The company also has a dedicated website set up to answer customer questions on the ELD rule. It is accessible at www.randmcnally.com/eld.
The ELD 50 includes a free app that can be downloaded from the Google Play store. The app gives fleet managers access to a back end web portal that allows viewing of truck locations and the ability to add and manage additional drivers when sharing a truck.
The ELD 50 plugs into a truck’s diagnostics port.
The cloud-based system holds data for six months per the federal rule and allows drivers to email log information to roadside inspectors.
Drivers do not need to log in driving start times, Ravi Kodavarti, director of product management, said.
“Because it plugs into the truck directly, it knows when the truck is driving or not; the driver doesn’t need to do anything,” he said.
A monthly subscription of $14.99 allows the storage of data.
There is also a bonus feature for drivers using the app. Ten gauges can be displayed, including coolant temperature, battery voltage, oil pressure, fuel economy and engine and truck speed.
“To make sure this data is available to the driver, we’ve just put it in the app,” Kodavarti said.
Kodavarti said the design was influenced by drivers through testing.
“We’ve had it out to multiple drivers and multiple fleets and one of the things we’ve learned is the ease of installation,” he said. “Also, on our app, what they really liked…is it walks you through the whole process.”
It takes less than 30 seconds to install the ELD 50.
The TND 70 is a 7-in. version of the TND 80 introduced last year. It has all the same functionality plus a “selfie camera.”
The company also announced that its TND Tablet, first introduced last year at Mid-America as the 8-in. TND 80, is now available in a 7-in. version called the TND 70.
“It does all the things the TND 80 does [just in a little smaller size],” said Dave Marsh, vice president of research and development.
The TND 70 features Road Atlas, fuel manager, truck GPS, trip maker and a dash cam. New to the 7 in. is a “selfie” front-facing camera that pairs with the rear-facing camera.
“Drivers like to converse with their family, so this has a selfie camera,” Marsh said.
