The combination of smooth driving inputs and anticipating traffic conditions, essential to both driving techniques, not only reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions but also make motorists less likely to be involved in an incident.

For the second year running, TomTom WORK will be highlighting these combined benefits through its sponsorship not only of the MPG Marathon but additionally the ‘Safe Driving Award’ which forms part of the two-day event which promotes efficient driving.

Each of the van entries will be equipped with TomTom WORK’s LINK 300 telematics system which blend satellite navigation with vehicle tracking and also allows the event organisers to monitor driver inputs to the brakes and steering, as well as monitoring speeding. These ‘driving events’ such as harsh braking and steering are recorded and graded using a star rating system according the severity of the offence, and reports are then generated to determine the winner of the ’Safe Driving Award’.

The ‘Remote LINK Working Time’ device enables businesses to track the hours of every employee who is working away from the office while the ‘Remote LINK Logbook’ keeps an accurate record of mileage clocked up on a company vehicle whether it be work-related or personal usage.

“The TomTom LINK system makes it easy for fleet managers to track and trace their company vehicles,” explains Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director TomTom WORK. ”By adding these new Remote LINK devices, managers can gather valuable data about their employees’ working hours and mileage – data they can use to boost productivity, increase efficiency and save money.”

The Remote LINK Working Time not only offers new business insight into employee activity on the road – it also transforms employee productivity by removing the need for manual timesheets. Designed as an easy-to-use remote control, it enables each employee to identify themselves and record their working status by ‘clicking’ their ID key on the remote. This information is sent automatically back to the office through the TomTom LINK. Using TomTom’s web-based reporting tool, managers can run reports on when employees started, paused and stopped work.

The Remote LINK Logbook, meanwhile, boosts efficiency on the road and in the office. Simply by clicking a button at the start of each journey, employees can register it as a commute, a personal trip or a work-related journey. Individual and group mileage can be monitored by day, week, month or year, and all data can be integrated with payroll and billing systems for smarter, faster calculations and payments. Both of these remote control products can also save considerable costs by reducing administration.

Availability and pricing
The Remote LINK Working Time and Remote LINK Logbook will be made available during the second quarter of 2010. The recommended price is £69 for each device and £35 for ten ID keys to use with the Working Time device.

The TomTom GO 7000 TRUCK brings the latest navigation innovations, including Map Share technology. A new Map Share functionality allows truck drivers to make corrections to their map by adding or changing access restrictions for roads based on dimension and weight.

“Map Share is imperative in our strategy to deliver the best maps for trucks,” says Thomas Schmidt, managing director of TomTom WORK. “Pre-installed restrictions mostly cover major and connecting roads, but with Map Share, the driver is able to improve the map up to the very last mile.”

With the introduction of the GO 7000 TRUCK, TomTom’s Truck Navigation technology is ready to go, with the software pre-installed.
The smartest route
When calculating the best route, the TomTom GO 7000 TRUCK takes the special needs of large vehicles into account. It delivers routes that favour major roads, avoid sharp turns and reflect the lower speeds that trucks typically travel. This means that truckers can avoid small town roads and narrow residential areas where possible. Secondly, the routing takes access route restrictions into consideration when the driver enters dimensions and weight in the personal truck profile.

Being equipped with Text-to-speech and Voice address input, the device increases driver safety by reducing the frequency with which drivers need to look at the display during the journey. Help-me menu and hands-free calling further enhance driver safety.

The device is ready for the requirements of professional drivers operating in a commercial vehicle fleet. When used in combination with LINK 300 and a subscription to WEBFLEET®, the driver can easily report on business mileage and receive destination addresses and orders on the GO 7000 TRUCK. HD Traffic™ and other LIVE Services ensure drivers receive current real-time traffic information, as well as reports about delays and suggestions on alternative route suggestions. HD Traffic coupled with TomTom IQ Routes™ ensures the best route and provides the most accurate arrival times.

With LIVE Services, drivers also get other relevant route information, including Safety Alerts – so they know what’s ahead, Local Search with Google – so they can find service stations and businesses on their route and Fuel Prices – so they can find the cheapest fuel around.

This year, a record number of cars and vans have been entered for the UK’s premier economy driving event, which is organised by the publishers of Fleet World magazine.

The award is being supported by MPG Marathon sponsor TomTom WORK and backed by the Driving for Better Business campaign, a government initiative designed to raise the awareness of the importance of work-related road safety and organised by RoadSafe. The award is called the “Safe Driving Award” and is sponsored by TomTom WORK.

All of the commercial vans entered for the event will be monitored by TomTom WORK‘s LINK 300 tracking solution, which monitors harsh braking and steering events, together with speeding exceptions, over the two day marathon. The severity of each driving event is measured using a 1-5 star rating system. A report is then generated at the end of the marathon, which allows the judges to analyse the drivers style and behaviour to determine the safest driver, based on the fewest number of driving events and their severity.

“We already have many customers using our system to monitor and report on driving events to improve the way that their vehicles are being driven”, states Jeremy Gould, TomTom WORK’s UK Sales Manager. “This results in a safer and greener fleet and also has real cost savings to these businesses through fewer accidents, less fuel being used and through lower maintenance costs as a result of smoother driving. It may even help to improve the image of the ‘white van man’ as they change their driving behaviour to meet internal safety targets.”

Businesses will be able to run carbon footprint reports on their vehicles – for the whole fleet, a group or an individual. WEBFLEET automatically calculates carbon emissions from the recorded mileage and fuel consumption of the vehicles. Fleet managers can use this information to take steps in reducing the carbon emissions of the fleet.

Another useful function supporting the environment comes with the TomTom WORK Active solution. The LINK 300 device, which goes into every vehicle in the fleet, recognises unnecessary idling time – for example if the engine is left running during a longer standstill. This is reported through the WEBFLEET system, so fleet managers can ensure that this kind of driving behaviour is minimised in the future.

Furthermore, TomTom WORK systems help to improve and optimise the overall eco-friendly driving style in a fleet by detecting and reporting fast acceleration and harsh breaking events that have a negative influence on fuel consumption, carbon emission and the safety of drivers, cars and the total risk profile of the fleet.

“These new features make a real difference to the overall carbon output of a fleet, especially when combined with the overall benefit of reducing the amount of miles driven by smart scheduling, better routing and vehicle management”, says Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director TomTom WORK. “As more and more companies are trying to be greener, these will be a welcome addition to our connected navigation solutions.”

As well as looking after the environment, WEBFLEET already enables fleet owners to look after their workforce, by reporting on different and detailed Key Performance Indicators related to the overall efficiency, performance and safety of the whole fleet.