The Top Five Ways CoPilot Enhances Safety and Efficiency on the Road

Every year, the transportation industry suffers thousands of accidents, often leading to significant financial losses and, more importantly, endangering lives. While accidents can have many different causes, one of the best ways to reduce their frequency is by using technology to safeguard drivers. In this second part of our “Full Circle Safety” Series (read part one), we’re looking at how Trimble CoPilot, our purpose-built commercial navigation app, can play an essential role in decreasing the risks and improving the overall safety for everyone on the road. 

We all know navigation is a critical component of drivers’ daily workflow, but it’s also a tool by which transportation companies can make their operations more efficient and safe. Below, we dive deeper into five key ways CoPilot helps enhance a fleet’s safety and efficiency. 

The Top Five Ways CoPilot Enhances Fleet Safety & Efficiency:

1. Provide Vehicle-Specific, Legal Routes and Guidance – CoPilot is designed to provide turn-by-turn navigation down truck-safe and –legal routes best suited to a driver’s vehicle and load. The back office can eliminate risks right from the start by setting precise vehicle routing profiles to groups of vehicles based on height, weight, or general roadway preferences, like avoiding tolls.
   
   The routes CoPilot generates based on the profile and destination will automatically avoid low-hanging bridges and restricted roads. Plus, when the driver is on the road, CoPilot takes into account a vehicle’s profile to warn of upcoming lane changes and risky turns, so drivers can plan ahead and make a complex maneuver less dangerous.
   
   
2. Configure and Control How Drivers Use the Navigation App – CoPilot provides fleet managers the ability to remotely configure their drivers’ navigation app activities from the back office, so they can ensure fleet-wide safety and compliance. Fleet managers can also enable motion lock controls that limit the driver’s ability to interact with the app when their vehicle is motion. In addition, directions are displayed in an easy-to-read, at-a-glance format designed to reduce distractions, but notifications and alerts can be customized to suit a fleet’s preferences.
   
   
3. Provide More Precise Last Mile Guidance – Locations like distribution centers, truck stops and manufacturing plants are common destinations for transportation companies, but they can also be perilous. This is especially true when a large, heavy vehicle is relying on a consumer-grade navigation app that does not understand the vehicle’s restrictions. Inaccurate location information regarding entrances and exits, parking areas and loading docks can result in delays, unsafe driving conditions and dangerous vehicle maneuvers.
   
   CoPilot uses our industry-leading library of verified commercial locations with precise, polygonal geofences to ensure drivers know exactly where to go when they approach their destination. In addition, dispatchers can add notes that are delivered to drivers via CoPilot and provide greater detail about what they should do when they arrive.
   
   
4. See Automated, Real-Time Alerts for Changing Road Conditions – ETAs are an integral part of keeping your operations running and your customers happy, but they are frequently impacted by numerous factors, such as traffic, weather, Hours of Service (HOS) breaks and more. With CoPilot, drivers and dispatchers can take advantage of a variety of alerts to always have the most current information possible about the route the driver will take and how changing conditions might impact their ETA. Should an alternative route be needed, it can be updated by the driver or dispatcher to better suit the fleet’s needs.
   
   
5. Review Post-Trip Analysis to Improve Future Trips – No matter how precisely you plan or navigate a route, you can’t always control what happens on the road. But CoPilot provides fleet managers a window into a driver’s activities and actionable insights they need to analyze a trip and advise or teach how the work can be improved next time. Data regarding miles driven, time taken, overall costs and planned vs. actual routes, unplanned stops and more is all collected so fleets can identify coaching opportunities and ensure drivers are meeting safety standards.

CoPilot navigation improves fleet safety and efficiency in all of these critical ways—helping drivers avoid risky maneuvers, providing awareness of road conditions, eliminating distractions and more. It helps drivers stay in compliance with road regulations and prevent bridge strikes. For all of these reasons, fleet managers who put safety first should consider CoPilot a key ally in that effort, because prepared drivers are the safest drivers.

To learn more about how CoPilot can support your fleet and drivers, visit our solution page or contact our team.