Projects

Completed

Applied Research and Development

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Business and Management Studies)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Education)

Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Technology acceptance)
Other (Energy technology information dissemination)

Project Contact
Faber Maunsel

Standard

DfT

01 July 2005

01 May 2006

10 months

£40,900

Transport

London

DfT Freight logistics

Project Contact, Faber Maunsel

In vehicle satellite (GPS) systems for vehicle tracking and management are now well established in the freight market, however research has found that take up of satellite navigation systems by HGV operators tends to be low for a number of reasons:

• Systems can be expensive
• Vendors tend not to cater well to the lower end of the market with simple, stand alone systems
• Small operators often do not understand how navigation systems can benefit them.
• Software available may not be universally suitable

The quality of satellite navigation products (especially base maps) have improved considerably in recent years. Despite this, there is a great deal more that could be done to understand and then promote the benefits of these systems to HGV operators. A practical before and after trial of wayfinding devices could provide an opportunity to quantify the benefits of these systems to this group, and could help guide the development of a fut ure marketing and dissemination strategy. This activity aims to test the benefits of and improve the take up of HGVs equipped and operating with GPS satellite navigation systems to minimise mileage run and improve road safety.

An Executive Summary of the main Report to help you find out more about the benefits SatNav systems can bring to your operation. Freight Best Practice conducted an eight week trial comparing 4 fleets before and after using SatNav.

07/02/08