5 trends you should expect to see in 2019

As the new year is approaching, we thought it would be great to look at the industry trends that are expected to dominate the market in 2019. From smart tachographs to international legislation and business processes - the next 12 months will be very exciting for both the drivers and companies with big fleets.

2019 - the year of smart tachograph

The next generation tachographs will be introduced in 2019. Starting from June 2019 all the new trucks reaching the European market will be equipped with the smart tachographs that are expected to reduce the administrative process and tampering of current digital tachographs. Since this is a very broad and important topic, we'll devote a separate blog post to it in the following months.

Tablets to connect drivers with the back-office

We've noticed that apart from local and international regulations and country policies, there are a lot of companies that are currently rolling out tablet projects. It's a logical step for businesses who focus on improving internal communication between their drivers and office employees and getting valuable information to the recipients in real time. Additionally, this is a great way for drivers to educate themselves on work and rest time regulations. Tachogram is also suitable for use on tablets, providing its users' a complete solution for digital tachograph driver card download and data analysis on the go.

Digitalization of business processes

The number of companies who are willing to automate and digitalize their business processes is growing every year. Digital tachographs were introduced mainly to improve road safety by keeping track of driver working and rest times. Due to the fact that digital tachograph data is used to control the driver working and rest times, there is no reason why the same data could not be used for accounting purposes, like salary calculations and travel allowance calculations. We've also seen several of our customers undergoing the digitalization process and it's clear that it brings several significant benefits, such as the ease of operational processes like keeping track of driver and vehicle file downloads, tachograph calibration dates, driver card expiration dates, reporting, integrations with ERP systems, etc.

Member countries are getting more protective

During the past year, the whole industry has seen quite a lot of action regarding the interpretation of the current legislation and introduction of new fines. In 2018 quite a few countries introduced fines for taking the regular weekly rest in the vehicle cabin. Currently, we see this trend will also continue in 2019 and the European Union member countries will get even more protective in their home markets by introducing additional fines for violating the regulations and becoming more strict on roadside checks.  Our team will keep watching the industry changes and inform you on the latest trends and how will they affect your daily work routine in 2019. Meanwhile, we invite you to try the Tachogram app for tracking your digital tachograph data anywhere, anytime!