Tailoring your in-cabin navigation systems to meet driver demands
The Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) for a package is not a single point in time, but rather a collection of location data across the delivery process that has been combined and utilised to meet the needs of the logistics business, driver and point person. It all comes down to in-cabin navigation really, here's why.
From the package collection point to the final destination, the driver is at the helm of ensuring customer satisfaction and it’s important to understand how to support them through this process. Fleet managers need to strike a balance between minimising operational costs, maximising delivery volume and ensuring the safety of the entire fleet.
With HERE Technologies you have all the tools at your fingertips to build a tailored in-cabin navigation system, from planning to dispatch to delivery, without relying on third parties or disparate systems. Let’s find out how an in-cabin navigation system can support your drivers through the driver planning, delivery execution and post-delivery analysis.
Driver planning
Whether you’re a grocery store that offers same-day delivery, or a furniture store that needs to account for Service Level Agreements (SLAs), there are a number of factors that go into ensuring the delivery makes it to the customer on time, including:
Understanding what orders are time critical
Taking into account if the delivery vehicle requires refrigeration
Knowing if the vehicle has the capacity to hold the amount of packages being delivered
Factoring in driver rest times and rest areas
The fleet management team can use this information to assign drivers to jobs based on their vehicle type, location and existing truck inventory and load space.
At this point, the assigned driver’s in-cabin navigation system is updated to reflect their new jobs and the customer is notified of the expected delivery ETA. Now let’s get on the road!
Delivery execution
External factors such as congestion, weather and road closures can all impact the driver’s route and expected ETA. HERE Technologies’ Location Services can balance driver safety and maximise the number of deliveries through:
Heavy vehicle restrictions: Relying on a driver’s knowledge of road restrictions for heavy vehicles or using consumer-focused mobile navigation applications to route drivers through complex road networks can be dangerous and time-consuming. Using the HERE Technologies Fleet Telematics API drivers can avoid roads that don’t meet their vehicles height or weight restrictions.
Multiple deliveries: Say your driver has 15 deliveries to make in one day - which orders do they prioritise and what’s the most efficient route between them? With HERE Technologies Routing API, drivers can optimise routing for up to 100 points while taking into account current and historical traffic conditions and delivery windows.
Unexpected delays: Changes to the road conditions are inevitable. With HERE Technologies Routing API, dispatchers and fleet managers can adjust their drivers and make updates on-the-fly and communicate changes out to drivers and customers when road conditions change that affects the initial ETA.
Combining public and private road networks: Giving drivers the ability to visualise a near digital twin of the road network combining private road networks, such as in large building complexes and merging with public road networks, all within the tailored in-cabin navigation systems enables drivers to see accurate delivery times based on accurate drop off points.
Turn by turn application to the doorstep: Using the HERE SDK, drivers can acquire turn by turn directions that take into account their route planning, live traffic conditions and journey requirements such as rest times, waypoints, heavy vehicle restrictions and toll charges, all in one system. With the HERE Places Footprints, drivers can navigate through commercial or industrial building areas to not merely the building address, but directly to the specific loading zone entrance, to provide more accurate ETAs.
Having direct communication lines ensures transparency between the organisation, driver and customer, that can be used to improve delivery teams in the future.
Post-delivery analysis
Delivering goods is expensive for businesses but when performed efficiently, can result in high customer loyalty and retention. It’s important to track and optimise the full delivery ecosystem to understand where a business can save operations costs, improve driver safety, reduce driver fatigue and meet customer expectations.
Using the data collected about your driver in the in-cabin navigation system, organisations can track and analyse driver behaviors such as speed limits, driver fatigue stops, hard braking and accelerating that impacts the average fuel consumption, as well as improve estimated stop times where large complex facilities may require some navigation by foot. Let's get started! Where do I begin?
Let's get started! Where do I begin?
Whether you’re just getting started on your journey and looking for a ready-built platform or are looking for opportunities to build up your existing applications, there are opportunities to leverage location intelligence to help your drivers get from A to B as safely and efficiently as possible.
Let’s find out how tailored in-cabin navigation systems can help your business, by reaching out to the Next Mile Location Technology team today.