MINNEAPOLIS – Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., of Thomasville, N.C., has selected PeopleNet to provide onboard communications and fleet management solutions for its fleet of more than 5,100 trucks, according to The Journal of Commerce Online.

Founded in 1934, Old Dominion is the nation's 6th largest less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier and the 20th largest commercial carrier of any kind with 2007 revenues of $1.4 billion. The publicly owned company has grown rapidly in recent years and now operates 207 service centers from coast to coast.

According to Barry Craver, Old Dominion's director of freight processing applications, PeopleNet will be installed across the company's entire linehaul and local pickup and delivery fleet.

Old Dominion will continue to use handheld computers for their pickup and delivery drivers and will pass data to and from these devices through the PeopleNet unit in the truck, providing more powerful transmission, better reception, and improved coverage.

With PeopleNet onboard, Old Dominion will collect and process data from the truck and run other applications such as eDriver Logs, PeopleNet's electronic onboard recorder application, PACOS, PeopleNet's Geofencing application and PeformX, which monitors vehicle and driver performance. Craver said Old Dominion expects PerformX will help control fuel costs.

Old Dominion began considering onboard systems in 2006 after conducting a program to test automated driver logs. Since automated logs might become mandatory, the company wanted to be prepared. "That test raised a question," said Craver. "If we're going to install an onboard device, what else can it do for us?"

Early in 2007, Old Dominion set out to find the answer. The company interviewed many potential providers. "We invited some companies to make presentations. We narrowed those down to a few that we actually piloted. And we finally selected PeopleNet," said Craver.

Among the reasons was PeopleNet's eDriver Log solution. "Our safety folks liked PeopleNet's log program better than anyone else's. Plus, PeopleNet made a serious effort to understand how Old Dominion does business," said Craver.