[ This article was originally published here ]
For drivers and fleet managers across the road transport sector, tachographs are an indispensable tool. Having originally been introduced to vehicles in 1953, digital/smart tachographs were used in over over the course of 2019. They are primarily used to log the activities of drivers, namely how far they have travelled, their speeds, and their non-driving activities, such as sleeping or taking a well-earned break.
While the initial purpose of these devices may seem mundane, they play a much more important role than a surface read of their use would suggest. For fleet managers, tachographs provide the essential data needed to enforce the regulations of their industry, such as mandatory rest time for drivers, guaranteeing drivers’ working conditions and road safety. In short, tachographs are key to the operation of companies in the road transport sector across Europe.
However, regulation in this sector is changing. In July of this year, the aimed at tackling issues around driver working conditions, equal pay in the road transport sector and illegal operations – cabotage is the carriage of goods by non-resident hauliers on a temporary basis in an EU member state. This new legislation means the tachographs used by European drivers essentially now need to be ‘smarter’ in order to meet the criteria set out by this new regulation.
However, to understand how tachograph technology needs to be updated in line with these regulation changes, it’s important to get under the skin of what a digital/smart tachograph is in the first place.
So, what is a digital/smart tachograph?
Legally required in all vehicles in the road transport sector travelling within the EU since 2006, a system, also known ..
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