Leaders in the road transport industry gathered today for WHG’s TechDRIVE Melbourne event which set the scene for emerging trends in telematics, fatigue management, wearable tech, connectivity and more.
There were approximately 180 professionals in attendance at Campground Kitchen for a day of presentations, networking and an opportunity to explore the technology and truck display. All of WHG’s portfolio was on show along with recent product launches.
For Dylan Hartley, WHG Director of Operations, technology is in the telematics company’s DNA. Today he shared a vision of what technology looks like in the Australian landscape as well as several exciting product and innovation developments.
Currently, WHG operates in six countries and has 127 staff.
“We design and develop all of our products in Australia from the ground up and we have a number of key partnerships with different people,” said Hartley.
WHG announced earlier this year that it is now an Apple Authorised Reseller. This, according to Hartley, enables WHG to pioneer and tailor technology and software for the transport and automotive space.
“Traditionally, when we think of a tablet, it’s not usually an Apple device,” he said. “It will be an Android device and we get really driven by costs. What I really want to highlight is to be mindful of the alternative options and see if we can work with you to put together a fully managed service.”
Aware of the 65-plus competitors operating in the telematics niche, Hartley wants to use platforms like the TechDRIVE Roadshow to share the space with other approved Transport Certification Australia (TCA) providers.
“Working with those systems that are approved give you peace of mind that you’re investing in a provider that is compliant and manages your data correctly. And, you know, has the backing to be able to deliver what you need.”
The road transport industry, Hartley said, is becoming more accepting of telematics. He praised the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) recently released new fatigue guidelines which highlighted several key factors driving growth such as regulatory telematics and harmonisation, telematics performance and predictive maintenance leading to proactive safety and behaviour.
“The days of having standalone systems are very much behind us,” he said.
“Our market is small, moving and advancing in a really positive way and the key challenges that people are trying to address and overcome are things like profit margins, rising fuel costs, labour shortages, driver retention, electrification, alternative fuels and adopting technology and managing the upgrade.”
Hartley used to say the age of the national truck fleet was 14 years. According to his own fact checking, the average age is now 15.8 years, while the tenure of a new vehicle is generally six years.
“The proactive approach we have from the government driving the regulatory perspective is increasing the adoption of technology,” he said. “That’s a critical aspect to getting the vehicle safer.”
Hartley was excited to reference a trial in Western Australia that incorporates Performance-Based Standards (PBS) and utilises telematics data.
“While investment is required in terms of bringing technology onboard, it it really has a positive impact to being able to gain additional road access and carry larger loads,” he said.
One of the consequences of implementing advanced driver systems and similar tech is the creation of ‘platinum distraction’.
“We’ve created an environment for drama that is quite difficult when your core focus is to go from A to B and do it safely,” said Hartley.
“Around that there is a massive movement within our space to look at the right technology partners to bring together that same functionality for a connected ecosystem.”
WHG has seen healthy development and growth in telematics. The business, in partnership with Garmin, is expanding into wearable tech and has a full suite of hardware.
Echoing Hartley’s points, Gavin Hill of Transport Certification Australia (TCA) took to the stage and made a somewhat complex topic of telematics simple.
He mentioned the 90-year-old organisation Austroads and how vital cooperation is with TCA and other industry bodies like the NHVR.
Essentially, TCA is concerned with the the use of technology, telematics and data. It is a regulator of the technology sector.
This cooperation is important especially for road managers who are often ‘data poor’ which often leads to conservative decision-making about infrastructure and route access for heavy vehicles.
“We provide assurance in the use of technology,” said Hill.
Some of the productivity and safety reforms the road agencies have introduced over the past decade were generally considered by the road authorities to be ‘unthinkable’. This has come in the form of new PBS vehicles, mass limits increases, reducing load factors and smart On-Board Mass (OBM) for more accurate weight readings on axle groups among other developments.
In addition to talking about the collective benefits of achieving better safety and productivity outcomes for business, Hill also discussed type approval. That is the approval of a product by type to meet performance criteria. TCA also certifies service providers in terms of their system and sales for business.
Ultimately, Hill recommends everyone to become familiar with AS 5100.7:2017, a standard on bridge design and bridge assessment.
“When people say things are going backwards or things aren’t moving forward, actually they are because the blueprint was in this document [AS 5100.7:2017]. It enables load factors for safety margins that bridge engineers input to their computations to be reduced if vehicles are monitored with telematics.”
The standard in this instance, generally speaking, means onboard mass can reduce the load factor from 2.0 to 1.6. This refers to the process that engineers use to grant access to a road structure. They would normally consider two vehicles traversing the structure simultaneously to test (that’s the load factor 2.0).
While Australia continues to refine its High Productivity Freight Network (HPFV), the international community is taking notice.
“Other countries face similar challenges to Australia, and they’re looking at us as the innovators around how the European community and developing countries can do what we are doing,” said Hill.
Since August 2020, Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds (HHTS), with strong leadership internally from the transport and logistics industry, has strived to improve psychological safety in the workplace.
Naomi Frauenfelder, HHTS CEO, has been at the forefront of the organisation’s mission to address this issue via a natural and holistic approach.
A survey of 1400 truck drivers found that 70 per cent did not balance their nutrition, while less than half were physically fit and 40 per cent experienced loneliness.
Funded by the industry for the industry, HHTS is committed to delivering awareness, support and advocacy.
With its own vehicle, HHTS can only do about 40 events a year. This engagement is critical to help truck drivers and warehouse and distribution centre workers.
“We can do mental health toolbox talks,” said Frauenfelder.
“We have QR codes to try to get people to download our app. We also conduct physical screens with an industry partner where blood glucose and blood pressure is checked in five minutes.
“At one event we were doing a truck driver walked up to the team and said ‘I know who you guys are, your app saved my life’. He said he was in a really bad place. The HHTS app on the phone has the number for Lifeline which leads callers to the crisis hotlines.”
HHTS also has a nutrition program which has been a success.
All HHTS resources are free including the app.
Peter Anderson of the Victorian Transport Association (VTA) impressed attendees with a broad overview of the heavy vehicle commercial industry.
“The ability for our industry to be sustainable, productive and safe at the same time is a dividend,” he said.
“We have lots of hurdles and lots of things that get in our way — we’re a people industry as much as we have technology.”
Anderson likened e-commerce, ordering a package online and receiving it the next day, to magic. He elaborated on the complexities of the supply chain and the many hands said package would likely pass before arriving at its final destination.
Another challenge that Anderson passionately spoke about was driver training and addressing labour shortages.
Similarly, each sector of the road transport industry is managed independently and present their own compliance and operational challenges in the vast supply chain network.
Telematics, Anderson said, can cross over so many different variations of the freight task but the greatest issue to be covered is safety.
“Our economy is growing, our country is growing and demand is growing,” he said. “We all want more things faster.”
On Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), Anderson said it is a disgrace that the previous law has not been reviewed adequately enough since its inception in 2012.
“The laws first instituted were there to help areas become more productive, more efficient and safer,” he said. “It was there to help guide our operators to be able to run businesses but all at the same time to meet the demands of community and industry since 2012.”
The HVNL review is ongoing.
“It’s an anchor around the neck of transport operators,” said Anderson. “It means officially we haven’t had productivity, safety improvement instituted into our industry since the last update.”
Core industry issues according to the VTA include:
- Driver shortage and staff retention
- Fuel
- Access and configuration
- HVNL review
- Emissions and decarbonisation
To tackle these matters head-on, the VTA has several initiatives in action:
- Driver licencing review
- Females in transport training
- Driver Delivery Program (DDP)
- Introduction to logistics and warehousing
- HeadFit BusinessFit, a mental health management program
- Greenstar Program
- CALD professional driver program
Anderson would like to see more institutional support for the road transport industry in terms of what it really needs. Especially in a landscape where the national freight task continues to grow.
Ultimately, transport operators and suppliers will be called upon to do more than is done at present to maintain service levels and appease demands associated with the quality of living “otherwise”, according to Anderson, “you go broke and then it doesn’t matter”.
Earlier this year, FBT Transwest launched its ‘FBT spec’ Holmwood Highgate tanker which features WHG telematics and cameras.
