Trafficmaster to introduce its US Fleet Management and Tracking Service to the UK

Trafficmaster Fleet Director

Trafficmaster is set to transform the way British businesses drive, by launching its comprehensive fleet management and tracking service, Trafficmaster Fleet Director, in the UK, after 15 years’ success in the USA.

Combating Britain’s annual £20 billion cost of traffic congestion1 and minimising carbon footprint are both vital for British companies.  Trafficmaster Fleet Director can address both challenges, being integrated with the company’s Smartnav congestion avoidance and navigation system, to create a powerful, all-in-one business driving tool.  Fleet Director will offer fleets fully integrated navigation, stolen vehicle tracking and live traffic information.

This combination of intelligent driving technology has the power to reduce a fleet’s fuel consumption and so carbon footprint, by up to 28 per cent and reduce driving time by up to one third (32%),2.

Under the Teletrac brand in the USA, Fleet Director has reduced fleets’ fuel consumption by 13 per cent on average, which across Teletrac’s customers equates to annual totals of 280,000 tonnes CO2 and almost US$100 million, at today’s fuel prices 3.  In the USA, Teletrac is the second largest fleet tracking brand, serving over 4,000 fleets and 72,000 vehicles.

Trafficmaster Fleet Director has been developed to benefit the driver, as well as provide control for the fleet operator.  Drivers receive dynamic navigation, traffic information and congestion avoidance, a live connection to Trafficmaster’s control centre and two-way communication with base, all via the integrated touchscreen, avoiding the need to take and make mobile phone calls on the road, and minimising distractions in the driver’s seat.

Set-up costs have been minimised as Fleet Director will be delivered via Trafficmaster’s existing in-vehicle technology, which already supports Smartnav navigation and Trackstar stolen vehicle tracking.

Citroen will be the first vehicle manufacturer to offer the service in the UK, as an optional extension to the Smartnav and Trackstar services already available as standard on all new Citroen Relay and Dispatch vans – the only such services standard in the UK LCV market.

Fleet Director is currently completing final, on road product testing with selected Citroen fleet customers, prior to launch.  Trafficmaster will launch a marketing campaign, targeted at LCV operators, in October.

Tony Eales, Chief Executive of Trafficmaster, said:  “We have already seen the power of quality fleet tracking in the USA, to make fleets more productive, more secure, safer and greener when on the road.  By adding comprehensive fleet management to our other intelligent driving services, we can offer a tailored solution that brings these same significant savings and more to British fleets.”

Robert Handyside, Commercial Vehicle Operations Manager at Citroen UK, said: “This is a crucial added value service for Citroen.  The existing Trafficmaster services on Citroen vans reduce overall operating costs by £2,000 per vehicle per year and Trafficmaster Fleet Director is a natural extension, helping to make Citroen vans the most cost-effective on the road.”

Further details and pricing will be available at launch.

¹ CBI 2006

² TNO, February 2007, sat nav benefits study, quoted by SBD Limited, June 2007, report into use of green ITS technologies: use of sat nav can reduce fuel consumption by 15%; driving time by 18%.
Research by Trafficmaster Plc, June 2007:  Smartnav congestion avoidance can reduce driving time by an additional 14%; Trafficmaster fleet tracking can reduce fuel consumption by an additional 13% on average.

³ Research by Trafficmaster Plc, January 2007: average fuel savings reported by 27 Teletrac customers; fuel value calculation based on average US$3 per gallon.