Vnomics is releasing a new driver scoring model for True Fuel, its stand-alone, fuel optimization solution.

The new scoring model is called True Fuel Score and it includes distinct, normalized assessments of driver fuel efficiency in three key areas, engine control, speeding, and idling as well as a blended overall True Fuel score. It is designed to give drivers a fairer score, based on the types of real-world driving and driving conditions they encounter.

The True Fuel Score gives users a composite rating of the three highest fuel wasting behaviors, combining the idling and speeding scores with the current Vnomics engine control score. Drivers are scored only on what they can control, according to Vnomics.

For example, a highway driver has fewer opportunities to idle, whereas a city pickup and delivery driver has fewer opportunities to speed, so the new Vnomics scoring model does not lump them together into the comparisons, and those two groups of drivers are not benchmarked against each other.

In the case of highway drivers, True Fuel Score looks at how much opportunity they had to speed and compare that to the number of times they were actually speeding along with the severity of the event. On a two hour trip, for example, if a driver went a few miles per hour over the limit a couple of times, the event will be logged. But now, that data will also be compared against fuel consumed during that timeframe. If the speeding event took place while descending a hill, for example, fuel consumption drops accordingly. Vnomics can see where the event occurred on Google maps and see that the driver was on a hill.

For the pickup and delivery driver, the system looks at opportunities where idling could have been eliminated, such as when stopping at a customer, running inside to speak to the receiver, then coming back out to back the truck into a dock.

In the new scoring model that would be considered unnecessary idling, as would time spent after a truck was backed into a loading dock if the engine was left running. Being stopped in traffic would still be logged as "idling" but because Vnomics can discriminate between moving in traffic and backing into a dock, the driver won't be penalized for the event.  

“We look at the next action to determine if the event was a driver choice or not,” said Bob Magnant, vice president of product management and strategy at Vnomics. “We only go after what is within the driver's ability to control.” 

All of the scores can be accessed on the Vnomics customer web portal, which now includes detailed analyses of engine control, idling and speeding behaviors. With these changes, fleet managers can provide key information to drivers on how they can improve fuel efficiency in these areas. This detailed accounting of fuel loss can also be used to augment Vnomics’ in-cab driver coaching to change behavior.

“True Fuel Score provides detailed insight into how and when drivers excessively speed or idle or employ fuel wasting driving techniques,” said Magnant “Over the next several months, we will be extending the capabilities of True Fuel Score by adding other scoring dimensions in new areas of fuel waste that can be assessed and minimized by optimizing driver fuel efficiency behaviors. As a driver's score improves, fuel loss will decrease, lowering costs and ultimately driving MPG improvement across the fleet.”