WASHINGTON-The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is considering a request that could help wireless companies-particularly newly united Sprint Nextel Corp.-make further inroads into the mobile workforce management space and the $574 billion trucking industry.
Xora Inc., a software firm based in Mountain View, Calif., has developed an application that it said will enable trucking companies to comply with driver hours-of-service regulations using Java/global positioning system-enabled mobile phones.
Xora has worked in recent years with Nextel Communications Inc. (now Sprint Nextel Corp.) to develop DOT Logs service. Xora partners include Motorola Inc., Sprint Nextel, Oracle Corp., Research in Motion Ltd. and others.
While Xora has sold its service to 30 small- and mid-size trucking firms-about 1,200 mobile units total-a big breakthrough could occur if federal regulators allow truckers to use its wireless-based log solution as a low-cost, feature-rich alternative to currently authorized paper logs and automatic onboard recording devices. Until then, the Xora service likely will remain a niche, complementary service.
While Xora’s system performs all the functions required by the FMCSA-a Department of Transportation unit-it does not legally comply with a federal requirement that an automatic onboard recorder be integrally synchronized with specific operations of the commercial motor vehicle on which it is installed.
Xora’s petition for a rule exemption is not without precedent. In December, the FMCSA granted a two-year rule exemption to Werner Enterprises, an Omaha, Neb.-based specialized carrier, to use a paperless, GPS system to record driver hours of service.
Xora officials claim its wireless log solution (costing $22 per unit plus a one-time $25 setup charge) is more sophisticated than the Werner system, more efficient than manual paper logs and less expensive than onboard recorders that can cost upwards of $1,000 or more.
Xora said its system records all the required information captured by automatic onboard recording devices, as well as real-time location, road speed, miles driven, date and time of day, and a warning signal for drivers when they reach hours-of-service limits.
“This application has a chance to really drive new levels of safety on highways,” said Ananth Rani, vice president of products and services at Xora.
Added John Moscatelli, senior director of sales-national accounts at Nextel before the merger, “This is a good alternative to onboard recorders.”
Separately, FMCSA is examining possible amendments to rules governing onboard recording devices to take into account advances in communications and information services technologies. Whether the rulemaking could lead to a broader definition of allowable devices-including those based on wireless technology-remains unclear.
Government regulators hope to rule on the Xora petition by late October.
Xora and Sprint Nextel officials said the recently completed merger would not affect the wireless-based trucking log service. On a related front, Sprint Nextel last week rolled out a Web-based fleet-tracking service using WaveMarket Inc. technology.
Wireless technology is expected to play a major role in transportation and intelligent highways, with synergies between wireless and transportation industries being exploited on a regular basis.
Xora’s petition has attracted support from trucking companies large and small.
Still, incumbent and would-be competitors of Xora do not appear eager to see Xora win a government waiver. Safety advocates have their doubts about Xora’s wireless log product as well.
“Multiple awards of similar exemption requests of this kind would effectively nullify the current regulation and the pre-eminent value of a requirement that clearly intends for tracking data, such as those data provided by GPS, to be corroborated by engine-derived data,” said Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. “Given the ease with which GPS software may be programmed to reflect handwritten records of duty status that are not identical with driver actual hours of service … it is especially important for data verifying vehicle operation, including speeds and other functions such as transmission gear changes, to be gathered independently of any GPS system and its programming.”
Public Citizen opposes the Xora petition. The watchdog group, noting incentives offered by by-the-mile and by-the-trip pay as well as pressure from motor carriers to work longer hours than permitted by law, said automatic recorders are necessary for accuracy and as a safeguard to falsification of hours-of-service documentation.
The Department of California Highway Patrol urged the FMCSA to deny the requested rule exemption, arguing Xora’s wireless solution would hinder law-enforcement efforts to monitor drivers.
David Adams, product manager at Xora, said the criticism is off base and not backed up by the record.
“I think the application is sound,” said Adams.
