Performance Data Tracking in Real Time

Hino Connect is an integrated telematics system that combines key performance data tracking in real time, remote diagnosis of vehicle faults and 24/7 alerts delivered to the truck’s owner and their Hino Connect specialist for priority repairs and service support. 

Hino’s General Manager of Service and Customer Support, Gus Belanszky set out to analyse, PowerTorque Truck Reviewer,  Paul Matthei’s driver behaviour metrics during a test drive I undertook in the SS 2848 pulling a loaded fridge van with a gross combination mass (GCM) of around 40 tonnes. 

“In there I can see that you have four over-revving events while moving and three excessive idle events,” says Gus. “We can actually go in and see the impact of these idle events in terms of what amount of fuel the engine consumed during these idle events.

“If you had a fleet of vehicles you could see who your main culprits were and use this information to target those in need of some driver behaviour adjustment training.” 

In my defence, I explained that the hot summer’s day I picked up the SS the good folk at Sci-Fleet Eagle Farm had started the engine sometime before I arrived to pre-cool the cab for me.

As for the over-revving events, I ventured this probably occurred on the descent from Cunningham’s Gap as I was attempting to achieve maximum retardation from the amazingly effective Intarder auxiliary braking system while selecting the most appropriate gear to optimise the journey time, just what every professional driver should do.

Sure enough, further investigation by Gus pinpoints the GPS positioning of the truck during these events on the eastern side of Cunningham’s Gap, very impressive. Similarly, the major idle event was traceable to the northern side of the Brisbane River near the Gateway Bridge, pretty close to Sci-Fleet Hino at Eagle Farm.

“Everything in the Hino Connect analytics is interactive,” says Gus. “If I right click I can drill down to find information every hour on the day you were driving the truck. I can see there is data here showing the excessive idling occurred for half an hour from 1pm.”

“How’s that!” I exclaim. “I arrived to pick up the truck at 1.15 and drove out the gate at about 1.30.” 

Gus adds that there are a lot of very useful metrics available whether you’re tracking an individual vehicle or a fleet of vehicles.

“You can filter down to which trucks you want to look at by the registration number and various date ranges either on a macro or micro scale,” says Gus. “This is going from looking at pre-built reports to actually being able to look at the data and drill down into it.”

After being shown how to access all this information, it was easy to appreciate the relative simplicity of gaining the information, even for someone like myself who’s not known for being overly tech-savvy. 

In addition to the Hino Connect web portal, the mobile app is a useful tool for drivers and operators to access the most salient information while on the road or otherwise away from access to the web portal. 

“The great thing about this system is that we’ve managed to keep it as simple as possible to use for those who just want the basic information while still having some really advanced tools for the likes of fleet managers who want to drill right down into the nitty gritty of fuel consumption and driver behaviour, for example,” says Gus. “The mobile app is simple to use yet can still access the high-level information like data on fuel use and driver alerts.”

Gus reiterates that there is an almost endless amount of data that can be extracted, and that the entire system has been developed in-house by Hino with no third-party add-ons.

“We’ve worked with the Hino team in Melbourne who directed the project and the engineers in Japan to develop the system and we’re getting good accurate data which is ultimately a value-added addition for our customers,” says Gus.

As I reflect on this information, it strikes me that the Hino Connect system appears to be much like the Hino trucks themselves: Highly reliable and functional without being unnecessarily complicated to use.