Trips and Driver Changes

Summary of the problem and solution

September 2024

New Improvements to Trips & Drivers

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We’re excited the share that we will be updating Trip and Driver associations in MyGeotab to improve data accuracy and overall platform usability for our customers.

Starting at the end of September, everytime the Driver of a vehicle changes, a new Trip will be created. This change is to solve for the inconsistent assignments of Drivers, Idling, Exceptions and more.

What was the problem?

Introducing the solution!

What to expect

To understand why this change will improve the MyGeotab experience, let’s discuss:

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What is a Trip?

A Trip is defined as the Vehicle's activity from the time it begins moving to the time it finishes a stop

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How are Trips tracked in MyGeotab?

• A Trip starts when the Vehicle starts moving, and ends when the Vehicle starts moving again
• In contrast to what is normally perceived as a trip, a Trip also captures when a Vehicle is stopped or parked
• A Trip stop occurs either when the Vehicle has been stopped for 200s or more, or if the ignition is turned off

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How many Drivers can you have in a Trip?

A Trip can only have a single Driver

A Driver can only be in one Vehicle at a time!

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Understanding Driver Assignment

Driver assignment can occur from the following sources:

1. NFC key tags
2. Geotab Drive
3. Tachograph
4. Assigning drivers within MyGeotab
5. APIs

How does MyGeotab know who the driver is behind the wheel?

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What was the problem?

Overview of the problem

Today, there are 4 core challenges our customer are experiencing with the Trip and Driver associations:

Idling being attributed to the previous Driver

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New Driver being assigned to a Vehicle before the Trip has ended, causes the entire Trip to be reassigned

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Driver logging into a new Vehicle before Trip on the previous Vehicle has ended

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Exceptions being associated with the incorrect Driver

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Idling being attributed to the previous Driver

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Idling being attributed to the previous Driver

Idling assigned to D1

Idling assigned to D2

Starts moving

Starts moving

Stop > 200s, ignition on

Stop > 200s, ignition on

Starts moving

Trip 1

Trip 2

Trip 3

Driver 1

Driver 2

Driver 3

Driver 1

Driver 2

Driver 3

Actual Driver

Assigned Driver

Vehicle

Trip

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Driver 2 operating the Vehicle, not Driver 1

Driver 3 operating the Vehicle, not Driver 2

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New Driver assigned to the Vehicle before trip ends causes entire Trip to be reassigned

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New Driver assigned to the Vehicle before trip ends causes entire Trip to be reassigned

Starts moving

Starts moving

Ignition on and stops <200s

Driver 1

Driver 2

Actual Driver

Vehicle

Trip

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Assigned Driver

Driver 2

Failed to capture new vs previous Driver

Failed to capture new vs. previous trip based on Drivers

Trip 1

Failed to capture 2 Drivers on 2 individual Trips, causing the entire Trip to be assigned to Driver 2

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Driver logs into new Vehicle before Trip on previous Vehicle has ended

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Driver logs into new Vehicle before Trip on previous Vehicle has ended

Driver 1 can only be in one vehicle at a time!

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Ignition on and stops <200s

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Starts moving

Vehicle 1

Trip

Trip 1

Driver 1

Actual Driver

Driver 1

Assigned Driver

Stopped

Vehicle 2

Driver 1

Actual Driver

Driver 1 can only be in one vehicle at a time!

Starts moving

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Driver logs into new Vehicle before Trip on previous Vehicle has ended

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Starts moving

Ignition on and stops <200s

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Vehicle 1

Trip

Trip 1

Driver 1

Actual Driver

Driver 1 Unknown Driver

Assigned Driver

Stopped

Vehicle 2

Driver 1

Actual Driver

Unknown Driver

Starts moving

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Exceptions associated with the incorrect Driver

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Exceptions associated with the incorrect Driver

How are Exceptions assigned?

Exceptions are associated to the Driver assigned to the Trip. If the Trip is assigned to the incorrect Driver, the Exception will be assigned to the incorrect Driver as well.

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Starts moving

Ignition on and stops <200s

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Vehicle 1

Trip

Trip 1

Driver 1

Actual Driver

Driver 1 Unknown Driver

Assigned Driver

Unknown Driver

Harsh braking

Speeding

Cornering

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Introducing the solution

The Solution

Driver changes create new Trips

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Starting in late September, we will be rolling out a change where, everytime there is a change in the Driver of the Vehicle, the current trip will be ended, and a brand new Trip will begin, regardless of whether the vehicle is moving or stopped.

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This simple, yet highly effective change will solve for our customers 4 core pain points while enhancing data accuracy and usability of MyGeotab.

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Let’s explore what this will look like…

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Before Change: Trip associates idling to the incorrect Driver

Starts moving

Driver 1

Actual Driver

Vehicle

Trip

Assigned Driver

Driver 1

Driver 2

Unknown Driver

Stop > 200s and ignition on

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Starts moving

Stop > 200s and ignition on

Trip 1

Trip 2

Unknown Diver

Idling assigned to D1

Idling assigned to Unknown Driver

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After Change: Driver Changes create new Trips

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Starts moving

Driver 1

Actual Driver

Trip

Vehicle

Assigned Driver

Driver 1

Driver 2

Unknown Driver

Stop > 200s and ignition on

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Starts moving

Stop > 200s and ignition on

Trip 1

Unknown Driver

Idling assigned to D1

Driver 2

Driver 2

Trip 2

Trip 3

Trip 4

Idling assigned to D2

Idling assigned to D2

Zero distance

Trip 2

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What to expect

A few things note

• If you track Driver assignments, the number of Trips for your vehicles is going to increase - This means your Trip data is accurate!
• You will now see zero distance Trips, when there is a change in the assigned Driver. This is how we solved for attributing idling to the correct Driver
• Any change in Driver assignment, including Drivers signing out of the Vehicle (i.e. Unknown Driver) will create a new Trip
• This change will only take effect for Trips that occur after this update or any previous Trips that are reprocessed following the update
• Users will notice this change in the interface, Excel reports, and APIs

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These updates will roll out in a phased approach, beginning at the end of September and continuing throughout October

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