A Continental VDO RoadLog. (Continental Automotive Systems)[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
Tire, systems and components supplier Continental said it will transition customers to an alternate electronic logging device and fleet management solution.
Continental is collaborating with KeepTruckin, a leading supplier of end-to-end solutions for fleets and owner-operators, to help customers transition from its RoadLog ELD service.
New sales of RoadLog were discontinued on May 1; and it plans to phase it out for existing customers over the next four months ending Aug. 14.
“It has been something that we weighed,” James McCarthy, the marketing and business development manager at Continental, told Transport Topics. “It was definitely a difficult decision. This is a compliance product and we feel very close to our customer base and we know that we provide something to them that is very important to them.”
Detailed information on how to take advantage of this transition offer will be sent directly to current RoadLog customers, Continental said April 30.
Allentown, Pa.-based Continental now plans to refocus its efforts on other transportation technology and commercial vehicle services.
“What it came down to is the ever-changing compliance market in the U.S.,” McCarthy said. “Our technology was based on the 3G technology which is sunsetting. The compliance needs in both Canada and the U.S. are also changing. We had a lot of expenses on the horizon and we did not see a good way to continue to provide a value-driven portfolio with all the new requirements coming out.”
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulates the use of ELDs, intended to accurately track, manage and share records of duty status data.
Many ELD services utilize 3G technologies. That third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology, however, is shifting in favor of 5G.
McCarthy said to help existing customers transition to KeepTruckin, customers will have access to office services and technical support over the four-month transition until they make the jump.
“We’ve worked with KeepTruckin very closely over the last couple of months to develop a pathway for our customer base,” McCarthy said. “We also worked with them to get our customers a little bit better deal to make sure the financial side of it is taken care of as well.”
The ELD market is vast and customers have the opportunity to stop and look at other devices as well, McCarthy said. “KT is the one we decided to link up with because of the closeness to what our demographic is looking for.”
McCarthy added that customers still have the opportunity to go elsewhere. He said the company wanted to give the customer base enough time to really make a good decision, which is why Aug. 14 was picked.
“We still have a vast technology component that still works in the telematics field with a much broader offering,” McCarthy said. “ELD is just a component among many other components. We also have a lot of our technology focused on safety improvements. We’re looking a lot at radar and all those things that improve overall safety.”
Customers can expect updates to be posted on the RoadLog website throughout the transition process.
Original Source: https://www.ttnews.com/articles/continental-discontinues-roadlog-eld-program