In the very near future, incidents like over-speeding or hard braking may automatically trigger risk-specific remedial training delivered right to the truck cab, according to Bruce Weiss, executive vp for Instructional Technologies, Inc..

Weiss shared his vision of the future of driver training at the PeopleNet user group meeting where the two companies announced plans to make the Instructional Technologies' Pro-Tread interactive driver training series available in truck cabs later this year via PeopleNet's new BLU system.

“Think about it,” Weiss said. “We now have onboard technologies that can monitor driver performance and at-risk behaviors and report them in real time back to the fleet. It will not be very difficult to have certain events trigger a demand for specific training for a driver, which must be completed within a predetermined time period.

“For example, suppose a driver has three hard-braking incidents in a day,” Weiss says. “That could trigger the fleet management system to automatically send a message to the driver that the ‘Space Management’ lesson must be completed by the next morning, along with instructions not to start the truck again until he or she successfully completes the lesson. Our driver training system already keeps track of lesson completion, so that can be automatically verified, too.

“Every fleet will establish their own parameters for red flags and policies for remediation,” Weiss says. “Technology will then remotely monitor driver behavior, detect and report at-risk behavior, and automatically prescribe and administer remedial instruction. This is where driver training is going. In today's environment, fleets are under enormous pressure to actively manage risk, and that includes providing specific training to drivers in a timely fashion, particularly following an incident of some kind. What we believe is revolutionary here is that this model of preemptive and targeted training can help prevent that incident.”