Driver Performance Monitoring through Electronic Trip Tickets

Thousands of DoD personnel drive US Government vehicles each day. Their driving behavior has direct impact on fuel costs, maintenance costs and most importantly, human safety. Reducing costs and avoiding mishaps depends, therefore, upon the governments ability to effectively train drivers, monitor their driving behavior, and identify drivers in need of remedial training. Currently, the Marine Corps has limited means to assess the capability or experience level of an individual to operate ground tactical or commercial vehicles.Fortunately, modern vehicles contain sophisticated Electronic Control Units (ECU) with accessible bus interfaces. These interfaces produce data that can be used, with appropriate algorithms, to assess driver behavior, fuel consumption, and maintenance needs. In addition, access to location (via GPS chipsets) and motion dynamics (via 3-axis accelerometers) is available at low cost through ubiquitous tablet, cell phone devices, and related chipsets. Location information and motion dynamics can be fused with ECU-provided information to provide even more accurate assessments.