MOBILITY | App to hopefully produce better truck drivers, safer PH roads
A mobile app that would hopefully professionalize truck driving in the Philippines and make roads safer for motorists.
Source: TechSabado.com
A Filipino technology start-up recently unveiled a mobile app that would hopefully professionalize truck driving in the Philippines and make roads safer for motorists.
Trucks are notoriously known as one of the top causes of fatal road mishaps, and very often, human error is the cause of these accidents.
Based on its own findings, the second most common cause of deaths in collision, accidents, etc., are trucks.
The app, called Driver.ph, will hopefully provide further education and training to improve the skills of Filipino truck drivers.
The technology start-up is a partnerhips between local logistics company Quicktrans Cargo Moving, Inc., the Technological Institute of the Philippines, and the government, through the
Department of Science and Technology.
Driver.ph was officially launched last month, but developers said there is still a lot of features currently in developments.
Currently, the app has monitoring tools to analyze driver behavior while on the road. Data gathered could then be “analyzed.” In a nutshell, the app could tell a logistics company or a trucking company if the driver of a certain truck is “fit” to drive.
How could this be done? Developers said an Internet-of-things device ccould be placed inside the truck. It could provide data in real-time and thus be able to monitor driver behavior.
This system is apparently a high-tech way to weed out “bad” drivers. Aside from bad drivers, the Philippines also suffers from a shortage of professional truck drivers. Data from the technology start-up say only a few percent of truck drivers in the country are professionally-trained.
In terms of features, the mobile version of the Driver.ph app has training modules and a simulation feature. In the future, developers said a “gamification” feature will allow for better simulations.
The companies behind the app seem to have high hopes that the app could significantly improve the skills of drivers.
Ted Gervacio, the chief executive of Quicktrans Cargo, noted that app might be able “to help the country’s problems on the road.”
Gervacio said in the near future, the app would use artificial intelligence and data analytics to monitor truck drivers.
