Driverless cars were a serious consideration for parts of America when I was at University. We spent part of our course understanding the benefits and drawbacks of the concept.

And a concept it is. Almost 15 years later, it is still talked about, but it is not yet a reality. Whilst there are benefits for safety, emissions and traffic flow on congested routes, there is recognition that a driver adds value to the process of navigating from A to B.

Having said that, an Aussie trucker has just hit the media for following his GPS navigation unit down a road that was wholly unsuitable for his truck. Despite a warning sign prohibiting truck access, the driver put blind faith in his GPS unit, and rolled his truck as a result.

We had a similar story in New Zealand a couple of years ago when some tourists followed their GPS to find a route from Hanmer Springs to Nelson, via the Molesworth gravel road and ended up inadvertently camped out.

The message remains the same: GPS cannot and will not replace common sense.

GPS Fleet Management systems are evidently so much more than a navigation tool. Incidentally it is more than a RUC reclaim tool too. Absolutely, it facilitates RUC reclaims but there is so much additional value locked up in the package. Are your managers able to make your system work for you? Do they have the right approach and authority to make or suggest the changes which will help your business succeed?

Like the driver taking cues from the way the truck is handling and the road signs showing the terrain ahead, your manager needs to understand the information supplied by the GPS and apply their skills and experience to determine what changes are required to make improvements.

Those skills and experience will mean that you are able to;
? Prioritise the opportunities
? Decide what needs improving and how to achieve that
? Recognise when the system reports “don’t look right”

No matter how good the technology gets, you can’t do your job using computers alone.

The time you have spent working in your business has prepared you for working on your business.

You know what is acceptable in performance and service standards, and you know what causes these standards to be missed. Now you can easily find out when the standards have been missed and go and do something about it. There is real cash to be released by delivering productivity and safety improvements and making effective use of manager’s time.

The driver who saw the sign and carried on regardless, rolled his truck over. What is the equivalent of ignoring the signs when running your business?