When I started at Van Wyk inc (Sheldon, IA - not the imposters in Grinnell, IA) in 2005 they'd already set up their Qualcomms so they're useless if the truck is moving.
We ran paper logs back then, so the QC was simply a communication device.
Because we had to stop the truck to check a message, they learned that it could be hours before they'd get a response from me.
When they switched to ELDs (called "e-logs" back then) in 2009-ish, you were able to get it to speak the messages through the truck stereo.
But the text-to-speech software was primitive and it mispronounced a lot of words, especially dispatcher shorthand like "BT" for bobtail, TRL for trailer, P/U for pickup, APPT for appointment, etc
And then there's the load information with the Van Wyk trip number and the customer freight bill number, appointment times, addresses, phone numbers, etc
A trip number was typically 8 or 9 digits long, starting with the year, the number of the DAY out of 365, ignoring the months, then another 3 or 4 digits.
If it happened to be T# 2009264786 the robo-chick would say "tee pound two billion nine million two hundred sixty four thousand seven hundred eighty six".
It read ALL numbers that way, even phone numbers. And it took forever and it was distracting trying to listen for it to say the name of the shipper and the city/state, ya know, the relevant info I'd need when considering whether to accept the load or not.
But at the beginning of the load offer messages it said load offer, so I'd usually just grab the next exit ramp.
I wonder if Michigan DOT knows that most, if not all, carriers disable the device when the truck is in motion, making them almost useless for their purposes.
I'd imagine they'd send amber alerts, "accident ahead at mile marker xxx" type of stuff.
Yeah officer, I'll check that message next time I stop the truck. But I have an empty bladder and a full pack of smokes so it's gonna be a while.
