What is digital tachograph data remote download?

Digital tachograph data remote downloading is the process of accessing your tachograph files over the air, without the need of downloading the data from driver cards or the tachograph itself manually each time it is needed.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term – a digital tachograph is a device that records the vehicle’s speed, distance, and activity of the driver (driving/rest time intervals). According to EU legislation, it is obligatory to install a digital tachograph in new vehicles having a mass of more than 3.5 tonnes (in goods transport) and carrying more than 9 persons including the driver (in passenger transport). Tachographs are used to guarantee fair competition and road safety.

Digital tachographs are widely spread across Europe, and while it’s not yet an obligatory requirement in, for instance, the US – the legislation there is slowly moving towards similar solutions.

You can find out more about digital tachographs on the European Commission’s Mobility and Transport website.

What does it mean for transportation companies?

Until now, the process of downloading, storing and analyzing digital tachograph data has been rather complicated for the companies using them. The legislation requires timely downloads and reporting of the DDD files, so if a company has 50 trucks, it means that each month someone in the company has to take all 50 driver’s cards and download the data stored on them, and each 90 days, the vehicle data has to be downloaded from the onboard tachographs. Furthermore – it’s complicated to understand the content of these files, and hence forecast any fines.

Fortunately, with remote DDD file download, this issue is solved. And as all information about the downloads is also stored on the digital tachograph itself – you don’t have to worry about on-road inspections either. With a solution like that, the time and labour cost saved on an annual basis can be enormous.

What can Mapon offer?

With the latest update, Mapon Expert device now supports digital tachograph data remote download directly from the tachograph.

Features of the solution:

  • remote tachograph data download
  • automatic DDD file download on a specified date
  • analysis and secure data storage tool

At this point Mapon Expert device supports DDD file download for the following tachograph versions (with more to come):

  • Siemens VDO 1.4 and newer
  • Stoneridge 7.3 and newer

Get in touch with us now to find out more about the solution and distribution opportunities.