A subsidiary of the DS Group uses the data from the official driver card even more efficiently – this is a consistent step towards digitalization.
Long-distance drivers always carry their official driver card with them. Additionally, most logistics companies have used a fuel card so that drivers don’t have to pay in cash, which can be cumbersome. DS card + drive GmbH refers to a virtual interface between the official driver card and the fuel dispensers of DS card + drive GmbH as the Digital Driver Card. It is a digital extension of the official driver card that allows refueling with the official driver card. For logistics professionals, this offers new possibilities for meaningful statistics. You can learn here what these are and how it works exactly.
A contribution by Moritz Schröder, Managing Director of DS card + drive GmbH
The Problem: many Fuel Cards Create Confusion in Truck Fleet Management
Let’s take a logistics company with 100 trucks and 120 drivers. To accurately track when which driver refueled where with which truck, a 2-card system is needed: one card each for vehicle and driver. Consequently, the company needs at least 100 fuel cards registered to the trucks, and 120 fuel cards for the active drivers. So the company must apply for and manage 220 cards. At least 100 of these are in constant circulation within the company, as many drivers change vehicles at irregular intervals. The high staff turnover in the logistics industry further complicates matters. And the larger the fleet of the logistics company, the more fuel card management is necessary. This administrative work is a significant cost factor for logistics companies.
The Solution: Integrating the Function of Fuel Cards into the Driver Card
DS card + drive GmbH, a proprietary foundation of the DS Group, has virtualized the fuel card and integrated it into the official driver card. This means: fewer manual steps and more comprehensive data.
Logistics companies can significantly simplify their fuel card management with the digitized fuel card because each driver only needs a single card.
Moritz Schröder, DS card + drive GmbH
The Digital Driver Card as a virtual extension of the official driver card is already in the truck. DS card + drive GmbH uses this data and combines it with the information about the truck and driver in the system. This creates a valuable dataset. DS card + drive GmbH can collect, read, and provide logistics professionals with the official driver card and data through its dispensers and corresponding software. The system does not read out driving and rest times. Instead, the following data is useful:
- Driver number according to section 5b of the official driver card
- Driver’s surname
- Validity of the driver card
- The license plate number of the vehicle
- Vehicle mileage
- Date and time of removing the driver card from the digital tachograph
The DS card + drive GmbH system then adds:
- Location of refueling
- Time of refueling
- Amount of fuel
The fleet manager can save a large part of the administrative work, as they can conveniently order, block, edit, and evaluate the cards via the customer portal. Shipping of fuel cards and distribution to drivers are then no longer necessary.
Affordable, Secure, Uncomplicated
More information about the Digital Driver Card can be found on the DS card + drive GmbH website
With the Official Driver Card, Companies Can Easily Analyze and Manage a Lot of Data
The official driver card accurately records what happens with the truck. Most logistics companies already collect various relevant data, but often with great effort and in manually maintained spreadsheets. However, since the official driver card is always present, the data here is complete and accessible at any time. Customers of DS card + drive GmbH also have access to a detailed yet user-friendly customer portal. There, company employees can analyze the data, and logisticians have many data points available at a glance.
With the Digital Driver Card, Companies Can Plan the Use of Their Vehicle Fleets more Efficiently
Users in administration – such as the shipping company – can immediately and in detail see how much a driver has consumed – even if they have driven five different trucks. Conversely, logistics companies can also immediately track how many liters a truck has consumed, even if five different drivers were at the wheel. They can block and unblock cards, set quotas, order new ones, or register new driver profiles and vehicles, all digitally in just a few mouse clicks. In addition, our customers have individual evaluation options available at vehicle and fleet level.
We provide our customers with a broad data base for detailed analyses.
Moritz Schröder, DS card + drive GmbH
Logisticians can compare consumption or efficiency on different routes and optimize processes and orders accordingly. Of course, this is also possible without the Digital Driver Card using expensive software. But the card means new freedom for logistics companies to optimize: They save administrative costs and can thus make better offers to their customers.
The Digital Driver Card makes incorrect entries when refueling impossible.
The dispensers in our filling station network use software to check whether the card was in a truck registered in the system within the last 15 minutes. Only then is the driver allowed to refuel. This means:
- The driver can neither refuel if they are at a filling station with the wrong truck, nor if they try to withdraw fuel without a truck on the weekend: The driver absolutely needs a truck from their own shipping company.
- The driver cannot enter an incorrect mileage and thus distort internal statistics or make fuel consumption look better.
- It’s convenient for drivers not to have to enter the mileage every time. This is because often three refueling processes are started per filling station: diesel for two different tanks, usually on both sides of the vehicle, and AdBlue®.
The Digital Driver Card is a consistent step in an increasingly digital world. It makes part of drivers’ daily routines easier and allows fleet managers to administer more efficiently.
Moritz Schröder, DS card + drive GmbH
