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Using NFC and Geotab Drive

ttrei-1161
Original Poster

Can Geotab Drive be used with NFC? As example Drive is used for DVIR but drivers aren't always great at logging out at the end of the day. If another driver uses the vehicle and doesn't use Drive (manager) can that manager use his FOB and be assigned to the vehicle? Note that the previous driver was not unassigned, not sure how that works.

 

Second question, what happens if driver uses NFC and then incorrectly selects wrong vehicle in Drive. Does vehicle is driver assigned to?

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Top Answers

Hey Guys,

 

Geotab does not recommended using the NFC with Geotab Drive. The reason that we don't recommend that they get used together is that they both assign and un-assign drivers this can cause drivers to be dropped or added to vehicles incorrectly. An example is that the NFC will drop a driver after IGN is turned off based on your driver reminder rule, where Drive will keep the user attached to the vehicle. Please let me know if you have any other questions about this.

 

Also @ttrei-1161​ to answer your question if a user fobs into one vehicle and than logs into an incorrect vehicle in Drive the user will be assigned to the vehicle the logged into with Drive.

 

Regards,

Erik

5 Replies

I always thought that the Geoab Drive app was a replacement for NFC. (among other things)

at least that is what we did. We also made it company policy for drivers to log in and out every day because we use the DVIR function in the app.

What i did to help with driver compliance is assign each driver manager privileges to view the audit logs and verify "user log in" and "user log out" daily. I know this does not answer your question but thought it would help.

Hey, @ttrei-1161​!

 

Geotab Drive can be used with NFC, but I wouldn't use NFC as a replacement for Geotab Drive. What NFC will do is connect your driver with his ON and D logs. What NFC won't do is give your drivers the interface they need to manage their OFF and SB logs.

 

[NOTE: One possible unintended consequence of using NFC to attach drivers to trips is that unless they are most definitely logging out via Geotab Drive, you may get HOS logs attached to the wrong drivers. If this happens a lot, I am fairly certain that it would be noticed by your DOT. This also creates a pretty big administrative headache because you need to ignore any logs that have been put onto the wrong driver, and then you or the driver will have to recreate those logs on his own account.]

 

As to the last question there, I believe that if the driver uses NFC and then incorrectly selects the wrong vehicle, he would be attached to the wrong vehicle. My understanding of this is that the driver will always be attached to the last vehicle he was put into. Since NFC would have come first in this scenario, I would expect the Geotab Drive one to be the vehicle he's currently put into.

 

Hope this helps! :)

 

Best,

Joy @FleetNavSystems-1081

The NFC can assist your back office with assigning the Unidentified driving events but legally (DOT) cannot replace the login or assignment in the app. The driver would still likely have to accept changes made by the manager such as the assignment of drive time using that FOB. Even if you have a camera or AI identify the driver, they still have to accept the time legally.

 

If the driver uses the NFC and selects the wrong vehicle you can correct it in the back office or the driver can edit his log, but it would not show movement so his log would be off for the entire day. Its good to have the back up proof that he was fobbed into another unit though.

I'd be curious to see an official answer from Geotab on this. Our thinking has always been that drivers doing HOS should absolutely NOT be using NFC. My understanding is swiping an NFC fob creates a TripDriver DriverChange in the backend - which means the driver is assigned to the vehicle only for the duration of the trip. When the ignition is switched OFF, the driver is dissociated from the vehicle. This could potentially lead to the driver being dissociated from the vehicle while after short stop-and-go trips and making them non-compliant to ELD regulation (logs would wind up in unassigned logs). We have clients installing NFC readers in ELD trucks, but our policy is everyone either does HOS in Geotab Drive or they have a fob (like mechanics or yard jockeys, etc). Never both.

Hey Guys,

 

Geotab does not recommended using the NFC with Geotab Drive. The reason that we don't recommend that they get used together is that they both assign and un-assign drivers this can cause drivers to be dropped or added to vehicles incorrectly. An example is that the NFC will drop a driver after IGN is turned off based on your driver reminder rule, where Drive will keep the user attached to the vehicle. Please let me know if you have any other questions about this.

 

Also @ttrei-1161​ to answer your question if a user fobs into one vehicle and than logs into an incorrect vehicle in Drive the user will be assigned to the vehicle the logged into with Drive.

 

Regards,

Erik

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