Using your phone as an on-board computer means that the MyMiX application will start recording your positions and trips and associated certain driving events to your driver profile in MiX Fleet Manager.
How does this work exactly?
- A driver is identified by logging into the MyMiX application. This driver will be associated with all the events, trips and positions obtained from the app unless explicitly specifying that he/she is not driving by making use of the not driving toggle.
- Trips start automatically using speed, distance travelled and GPS lock. Trips will only start when the phone recognises these inputs and the criteria are met. The phone is capable of detecting ignition in certain vehicles when connected to Android Auto/Car play or a vehicle’s Bluetooth. This is part of the third party libraries and is not in the users control.
- Trip ends are calculated based on a timeout with no movement or a certain number of steps taken. Only the timeout is configurable, not the number of steps.
- Positions are sent in real-time when in coverage and include the driver ID of the driver logged into the app. When the phone is out of coverage, the positions are buffered and send when back in coverage. The size of the buffer depends on the phone storage available.
- Max speed events are sent in real-time when in coverage and the driver is notified in-cab via the app as they happen.
- Road speed alerts are shown to the driver in-cab in real-time using the Here road speed data in MyMiX. The road speed events are raised server-side as any other asset type in MiX Fleet Manager.
- Other Events (Harsh acceleration, harsh braking, harsh cornering, mobile phone use) are sent at the end of the trip but the driver is notified in-cab in real-time via the MyMiX app. Events that the driver was notified about that occurred after the trip had ended will not be sent to the server.
- The app must be running in order to record positions, trips and events. If the app closes, it loses the trip and event data for the entire trip.
- Battery usage is relatively high because in order to track, the app relies on location services to be constantly running as well as background app refreshing. In order for reliable tracking the phone should be powered while in a trip. It is important to note that the phone will continue to use battery power when not in a trip as it is constantly monitoring for a trip start.
- Data usage monitoring is technically not possible currently and will be revisited in the new MyMiX app.
- Decommissioning a mobile phone (the remove mobile device function) is the only way to stop the phone storing trip and event data against the commissioned asset for any logged in driver. A decommissioned phone will continue to send data until the app is deleted.
- Slow moving traffic can cause multiple trips and missing trip segments. This is due to the trip criteria not being met consistently at slow speeds. This could be overcome by increasing the trip timeout in the config.
- Out of GPS coverage the in-cab alerts are not available. Current speed will show '0' and the max speed and road speed limits will be hidden.
- Out of GSM coverage - to be tested and announced.