If you don’t own a smartphone today, you are part of a dwindling minority.
According to recent Nielsen statistics, more than 70 percent of U.S. adults own these devices, with 85 percent of millennials owning a smartphone in the second quarter of 2014.
Clearly, age doesn’t matter anymore when it comes to owning cutting-edge mobile technology. Neither does the industry, as the trucking sector is showing it’s going to embrace mobile technology. Tech giants Apple and Google, among others, are investing in transportation as 21st century demand continues to grow. In fact, Apple recently developed a new platform called “Research Kit,” which is an open-source platform that health care providers, educators and universities to collect data to help diagnose and hopefully cure diseases.
Could driver health improve as a result?
The Cupertino, California-based tech company recently announced the launch of five new apps that will study diseases such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, asthma and breast cancer – all of which are part of the Research Kit. From these applications, researchers can collect real-time data from the owner’s phones and use that to study, the Commercial Carrier Journal reported. More specifically, one of the apps that will be used for Parkinson’s disease has the smartphone owner perform a tapping test and a walking test, which are identical to what they’d do in a doctor’s office. Health care providers and stakeholders can then take this information and look for signs of Parkinson’s.
As transportation looks for ways to encourage healthier behavior and improve overall driver health, these apps could shed light onto ways to do just that. Information including heart rate, blood pressure, steps taken and hours slept is a great way to help encourage healthier behavior by using data to identify the root cause of what may be ailing truckers today.
The on-demand lifestyle
While improving driver health is essential for the industry, there are other aspects of mobile technology that are making their way into the commercial and owner-operator sectors as well. Known as one of the hottest buzzwords in trucking today, the “Uberization” of the industry reflects what’s known in society as the shared economy.
Thanks in part to mobile technology, people are more connected with one another than ever before. As a result, the emergence of the shared economy has become possible. People can now download apps that connect them to ridesharing platforms or their friends to make mobile peer-to-peer payments. In terms of on-demand transport, hundreds of thousands are using similar platforms for finding efficient and reliable means to ship anything.
For instance, uShip offers services where carriers can source all types of freight listed through our app and online marketplace. This type of on-demand business is changing how freight is priced and moved, making it a win-win for the owners and the drivers, the latter of which can avoid broker fees and provide more cost-effective solutions to their clients.
What’s more, drivers can now use their mobile devices to share their location, update their delivery status, take pictures and deliver images of delivery receipts, among other things, thus expediting the process and delivering an optimal user experience through transparency.
Gamification increasing driver retention
Gamification in the trucking industry has little to do with crushing pieces of candy or landing a king of diamonds on the river, but it does employ similar principles to keep drivers on company payrolls longer. The Commercial Carrier Journal added in a separate article that a growing number of mobile apps have been designed to help improve driver retention by getting adding competitive and game-like elements to the platform. For instance, some applications have elements like driver scorecards and leader boards that help drive engagement.
The CCJ pointed out five ways the gamification of mobile applications is improving driver retention:
- Virtual rewards: Similar to how retailers give their top customers rewards, high-achieving drivers are incentivized through prizes and bonuses.
- Performance-based pay: Big data is being leveraged to create performance-based compensation packages
- Fuel savings: Applications that collect driver data can help optimize routes in real time, saving companies and drivers fuel costs
- Same-day pay: Mobile images can integrate with payroll and billing departments, speeding up the payment process
- Making fleets more mobile: Apple and Android devices are user-friendly and familiar to most
Whether it’s collecting driver health data, listing current freight for delivery or helping improve driver engagement and retention, mobile devices are impacting the trucking industry for the better. As the technology continues to grow, it’s likely that mobile apps will continue to impact the trucking industry going forward.
