Trucker Tools and Gorilla Safety recently formed a partnership aimed at providing freight brokerages, logistics providers and truckload shippers with a reliable resource for timely and comprehensive shipment tracking data.
Through a new integration with its Smart Capacity visibility and digital freight-matching platform, Trucker Tools—a digital freight management technology provider—says it will deliver real-time location updates from installed Gorilla Safety electronic logging devices (ELDs). The integration will provide its customers with comprehensive shipment visibility data, complementing current data streams captured through the Trucker Tools mobile driver app, which provides smartphone-based, GPS-supported location updates as frequently as every 15 minutes.
Gorilla Safety specializes in fleet performance, safety, risk management and ELD compliance solutions. Its in-cab ELD unit automates HOS recording, administration and reporting, and provides real-time location data through its embedded GPS features.
“The end goal is to reduce the burden on drivers, make their life easier and more efficient,” said Jeremy Feucht, Gorilla Safety’s vice president of product. “We’re eliminating the need to manually provide tracking updates, so drivers no longer have to field those annoying ‘check calls’ from brokers.”
Feucht also pointed to other benefits, including:
- Driver privacy, since the data is coming from the ELD unit and not the driver’s smartphone, eliminating driver concerns about being tracked when not in the truck or not moving a load, and;
- Security and control since the provision of the ELD data is “opt-in” by the driver and can only be initiated with driver permission.
“Drivers can be secure in the fact that their privacy is protected,” Feucht said. “And from a safety perspective they’re not being interrupted in the middle of driving by brokers or shippers calling about where their load is.”
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Prasad Gollapalli, founder and chief executive of Trucker Tools, agreed. “It is those thousands of ‘micro’ truckload fleets and independent owner operators—and their broker partners—who are the most active users of Trucker Tools digital freight-matching, one-click simplified automated booking, automated load tracking and carrier relationship management software and services,” Gollapalli said.
He added that the link-up of the two platforms comes at the request of multiple mutual customers. “Brokers and shippers want to be able to consume every piece of real-time data and intelligence about shipment progress they can get,” Gollapalli said. “We’re addressing that need and at the same time, enabling truckers who’ve adopted Gorilla Safety ELDs to easily respond to customers while increasing operating efficiency and gaining more utility from their investment.”
With the integration, truckers and fleets that have installed Gorilla Safety ELDs will be able to choose the Gorilla Safety ELD or the Trucker Tools mobile app for the provision of tracking data. The platform has built in rules and instructions that eliminate duplicate data and ensure accurate reporting, Gollapalli said.
The Trucker Tools Mobile Driver App, which was launched in 2013 and to-date has been downloaded by more than 1.2 million truckers, is a popular app with truckload operators, the company said, consistently ranking as the most downloaded app in transportation each month. In addition to predictive freight-matching, automated booking, GPS-driven automated tracking and digital document management, the app has 17 of the most sought-after features and resources drivers want for managing their business while on the road.
“We are pleased to welcome Gorilla Safety as one of our integration partners,” Gollapalli said. “This furthers our goal of providing truckload operators and freight brokers with effective tools and comprehensive, accurate data that delivers insights and intelligence leading to more efficient supply chains.”
The Trucker Tools mobile app is available for both Android- and Apple-powered smartphones and is provided free of charge to independent truckers and small fleets.
