OnEfficiency.DriverAssist is a comprehensive platform that provides transparent and easily implementable insights for improving fuel efficiency. The new Voith solution motivates drivers to individually improve their driving behaviors, as well as enabling operations managers to boost overall fleet efficiency.
The ever increasing demands to reduce fuel consumption through intelligent driving behaviors is one of the key challenges managers in public transportation are facing. In the past, fleet managers have relied almost entirely on the individual capabilities of their drivers. Optimally efficient driving performance is needed to limit fuel consumption, lower emissions and improve travel safety. To address this need, Voith developed a tool to support drivers’ efforts to reduce fuel consumption by advising and motivating them over short and long term periods of time.
Reduction of operational costs and motivation of drivers
The Voith OnEfficiency solutions for mobility applications improve fuel efficiency in two ways. First, technical enablement is achieved based on advanced configuration of the transmission. Secondly, drivers are motivated to improve their driving behavior through immediate performance feedback and insights from the behavior of other drivers.
“During intensive and extensive real-life trials, Voith developed OnEfficiency.DriverAssist, the latest tool in our Smart Services portfolio. It is a tool that presents drivers with a mission. Their goal is to drive in the most efficient way and they are rewarded when they do,” says Johannes Ilg, Vice President Service Product Management at Voith Turbo.
Real-time feedback about driving behavior to improve driving style
OnEfficiency.DriverAssist utilizes multiple driving parameters from the vehicle. The generated data is collected by the Voith SmartBox 2.0 and displayed to the driver for real-time feedback on acceleration, deceleration and idling.
During the route – at every stop and at the end of every trip – the driver receives a summary report, which informs the driver about his or her cumulative daily performance regarding multiple aspects of their results relative to the mission.
Furthermore, OnEfficiency.DriverAssist provides clear, aggregated management reports that help identify areas where drivers could benefit from additional training and highlights potential areas of improvement.
Increase in fuel efficiency based on transparent insights
The drivers’ visual display is provided through a Voith mobile app. It is easy to install, and it runs on common Android devices. The drivers are assisted by an intuitive user interface that provides relevant hints on how their actual behaviors impact the vehicle’s fuel consumption. The operations manager receives data relevant for managing the fleet. For example, fuel consumption and overall performance are available not only for the current route but also for those in the past.
Reutlinger Stadtverkehr (RSV), a German public transportation company, was one of the first to test the new Voith platform. “The drivers are interested in this technology,” says Mark Hogenmüller, managing director of RSV. The goal is to utilize OnEfficiency.DriverAssist to achieve a driving style that promotes gentler handling of the vehicle and reduce fuel consumption, meaning that it increases the overall operational economy of the bus. The measured savings are significant – so far, a 10 percent reduction in fuel consumption has been achieved for the buses.
Capturing and analyzing data on a comprehensive platform
Intelligent monitoring helps to improve driving skills and performance, which also reduces fuel consumption. Using intelligent data algorithms for performance calculation, OnEfficiency.DriverAssist collects all relevant data from the vehicles and, usingsecure data connection, transmits the data to Voith’s IIoT platform (OnCumulus). Voith anonymizes the data of all drivers, therefore protecting the privacy of each user.
“Utilizing Voith’s domain knowledge in drive technology and local public transport, this solution provides not only the drivers with real-time information about driving style, but also offers the fleet manager the opportunity to make use of valuable insights in order to improve energy efficiency,” says Dr. Roland Münch, CEO Voith Digital Solutions.
This new efficiency solution will be available at the end of 2018.
