Lytx said its new Unassigned Drive Time is a first-of-its-kind service designed to save fleets time, reduce labor costs, and improve regulatory compliance in dealing with hours of service regulations.

The offering, available within Lytx Compliance Services, helps fleets identify, reconcile, and manage unassigned drive time through automatic reporting, driver assignments, and notifications.        

According to Lytx, Unassigned Drive Time simplifies the burden of managing unassigned vehicle movements in compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Electronic Logging Device mandate. Under the ELD rules, any time a vehicle moves, a carrier must assign the time to the correct driver or note why a driver-to-vehicle assignment was not possible. Vehicle mileage and/or drive time that is not assigned to a driver, labeled "Unassigned Driving Time," have been challenging for fleets to reconcile on their own and, if unaddressed, put carriers at risk for substantial fines.

With Unassigned Drive Time, Lytx accesses a fleet's ELD data to run the unassigned driving time report and uses that information to determine a probable driver. An assignment notification is sent to the driver to accept; a decline triggers a notification to a manager for further investigation. An automatic report is generated and sent daily, which helps keep fleet managers informed and compliant.

"Managing these unassigned events is an added responsibility for both carriers and drivers, and one that cannot be ignored, as was the case prior to the ELD mandate," said Lytx Senior Director of Compliance Services Rick Walters. "We've seen a variety of our clients, across industries and fleet sizes, struggle to manage and reconcile their unassigned drive time."

NFI Industries Saves Time with Lytx Unassigned Drive Time

NFI Industries, which has more than 4,200 drivers, deployed Lytx for its compliance needs in 2004. The company was looking for a solution to handle unassigned driver time at its freight terminals across the country. Many times, the company's fleet managers did not know if it was a driver or "spotter" at the terminal moving a truck or payload around between trailer pick-ups and drops, and there was a massive backlog that needed to be assigned.

"We immediately saw improved efficiencies with Lytx Unassigned Drive Time," said Lee Robledo, vice president of safety compliance, regulatory and investigations, NFI Industries. "And now our managers save roughly two hours per day by not having to spend time investigating unassigned events and associating them with the appropriate drivers. It's been invaluable."

"This has allowed us to address red flags, such as an HOS violation, immediately and proactively, giving us the chance to correct the violation," Robledo noted.