The privacy debate over whether telematics systems should or should not be used to track drivers, especially when they are off-duty, is dead and buried, right? Wrong – at least so far as some international markets are concerned.

Describing telematics as ‘a fancy word for spying’ in an article in Canada’s widely respected ‘Globe and Mail’ newspaper earlier this year, correspondent Andrew Clark said that the nature of human beings means that we all need space and time that is ours and ours alone.

‘We need privacy… but our private lives began evaporating with the introduction of the mobile phone and now car manufacturers and insurance companies are coming for what’s left,’ he wrote.

What Clark was referring to is the phenomenon of what is sometimes referred to as UBI – Usage Based Insurance. A voluntary arrangement – at least for the moment – it involves installing sensors in a vehicle that allow a motor insurer to monitor a driver’s on-the-road behaviour in real time.

The insurance company collects and analyses this data, and if the individual concerned keeps to the speed limit, does not accelerate too harshly or take bends too rapidly, then they – or in the case of a fleet vehicle, their employer – pay a lower premium for cover.

On the face of it that sounds reasonable, but Clark argues that it involves too much intrusion into a citizen’s personal space.

‘Cars mean movement, and movement means freedom,’ he observes. ‘And now they want to monitor our every hard application of the brakes or mild speed violation.’

Surely that is an over-romanticised view of motoring in the 21st century and an unrealistic one given the onward march of technology? Perhaps: but some North American legislators clearly believe that Clark’s concerns are justified.

In the USA in 2009, California passed legislation that permits UBI but only allows insurers to take mileage into account, he points out. The collection and use of any other data on a driver’s conduct at the wheel to determine premiums is banned.

UBI has its defenders. Among them is Dean Calapai, founder and chief executive officer of telematics specialist IntelliTrac of Melbourne, Australia. His technology is at the heart of one of the country’s first UBI schemes.

‘It allows vehicle usage and driving behaviour to be analysed so that insurance premiums are fairly calculated,’ he contends. ‘It means good drivers can begin reaping the rewards of safe driving.’

While much of the privacy debate around UBI centres around the purchase of insurance by private motorists, it has implications for fleet operators too. That is especially the case where companies have had in-vehicle driver behaviour monitoring systems installed, sometimes part-funded by insurers or brokers and combined with a tracking system. The aim is to cut fuel consumption and wear and tear on components such as tyres as well as to reduce the number of collisions and, as a consequence, the number of insurance claims.

In Canada several challenges to the use of telematics packages in fleet vehicles by aggrieved workers asserting that they breach privacy have been made under PIPEDA: the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

They have been heard and adjudicated on by the country’s Privacy Commissioner who, although she does not have the power to impose penalties, can make recommendations. The complainant can then take the matter to the country’s Federal Court if so minded.

The conclusion to be drawn from these recommendations to date says Toronto-based barrister and solicitor, Michael Power, is that the installation of a telematics system is, within reason, permitted under Canadian privacy law. ‘But there is not a lot of specific guidance on how best to use it,’ he observes.

It would seem to him, however, that if employees are allowed the private use of a vehicle then there must be a mechanism in place to allow them to switch the system off when they are not actually at work.

Consent by the employee concerned to the installation of such a system in the first place would be desirable too, Power suggests. So would be a clear statement of company policy governing the use of telematics by the fleet concerned.

Privacy legislation also has implications when it comes to cloud computing.

That is because telematics data and all sorts of other information on employees’ devices may end up being held on a third party’s server and accessed over the internet rather than kept on the fleet’s own computer and accessed through a private server.

In many countries – member countries of the European Union (EU) for example – regulations insist that such data must be kept safe. That could prove problematic if the third party server happens to be based in a country where data protection may be lax.

As a consequence the EU insists that such data cannot be held in countries beyond its own borders unless the country concerned has what the EU deems to be acceptable protection levels in place.

The use of telematics so long as it meets legal requirements can of course bring significant benefits as Delray Beach, Florida, USA-based Avita Coffee & Provision can testify. It delivers coffee to businesses all over south-east Florida and last year started to have a vehicle tracking system combined with onboard driver behaviour monitoring equipment installed by MiX Telematics.

Avita’s aims were simple. It wanted to cut its fuel costs and reduce the amount of time its drivers spent wandering off the route they should be on.

‘I knew that extra gas usage and time spent outside of a delivery route was cutting into our bottom line,’ says Avita president, James Clancy.

Once the MiX equipment was installed speeding promptly fell, yet deliveries were completed more quickly. ‘We became almost 40% more efficient,’ he observes.

As a consequence the firm has been able to take on more business without increasing the size of its van fleet.

What Clancy and his colleagues really like is the package’s ability to deliver real-time information so that immediate action can be taken to deal with problems. In some cases remedial training can be delivered the same day if, for example, a driver has repeatedly braked with unnecessary harshness throughout the shift.

Managers can access the information, not just online via an office PC, but via a smartphone or tablet. The ability to use such highly portable devices so that executives who are out and about can manage fleets just as effectively as they would be able to if they were in the office is becoming an increasingly important requirement.

Last April saw Northbrook, Illinois-based Hertz subsidiary Donlen launch DriverPoint Mobile, the smartphone version of its DriverPoint Telematics system, in the USA. Download the mobile version, says Donlen, and you can access many of the features seen on the full application.

Users can view all of a fleet’s vehicles and their current status, search by vehicle identification number or driver name, look at the route a selected driver has followed and cast their eyes over graphs that show for example the fleet’s green score.

Smartphones and similar products are increasingly being used by fleets to provide delivery drivers with schedules and turn-by-turn instructions on how to reach each drop-off point. Great Lakes Wine and Spirits of Highland Park, Michigan, USA, a distributor of beer, wine and spirits, is employing Descartes Mobile for Android in just such a way, says Great Lakes executive vice-president, operations, Lou Grech-Cumbo.

‘We’re using it as part of an integrated routing and mobile solution from Descartes to help standardise our delivery processes and integrate our acquisitions,’ he reports. ‘As a result we’ve improved the efficiency of our operation and enhanced customer service.’

GreenRoad is another supplier that is making the most of what smartphones can offer.

Code-named Asimov, GreenRoad Smartphone Edition uses the functionality smartphones already enjoy, including GPS and built-in accelerometers, to allow it to act as an alternative to wired-in equipment.

GreenRoad offers a variety of driver behaviour monitoring and vehicle tracking services with the aim of cutting accident rates, fuel consumption and the operator’s carbon footprint.

Recognising that fleet drivers have to buy in to its approach in order to be successful, it does everything it can to encourage them to improve their safety score. With this end in view, SmartPhone Edition has recently been enhanced with Facebook integration to make it easier for them to share their achievements with their friends.

Operators can of course offer their own encouragement in the form of cash bonuses and other awards.

Smartphone-based fleet management solutions are finding favour in markets worldwide: in Slovakia for instance.

Viktor Bielko, fleet business unit director at Sygic, a Slovakia-based provider of GPS navigation software, says that from his company’s viewpoint the growth in smartphone-based fleet management solutions started two or three years ago. That was when Sygic’s clients started to ask about Android applications.

Now 30% to 40% of Sygic’s clients are deploying their fleet solutions on smartphones. Within two or three years the majority will, he predicts: another nail in the desktop PC’s coffin.

A wide variety of benefits are available from telematics packages to help companies boost efficiency and profitability. In the USA, for example, Telogis Route and Navigation has recently launched Telogis for Utilities.

It enables information on the whereabouts of a utility fleet’s vehicles, some of which may be fitted with specialist equipment, to be viewed by the utility and its subcontractors at the same time. Says Telogis vice president, product management, Mark Wallin: ‘Being able to pinpoint where teams are, know their job status, connect with them easily and share information with contractors all on one screen – especially in a storm – can be vitally important when it comes to keeping teams safe: and getting the power back on.’