Skip to main content

Drivewyze adds Indiana to rest area alerts

Drivewyze says Indiana is the first state for which it has added parking-spot availability into Covid-19 response rest area alerts.
By David Arminas May 5, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
Drivewyze's rest area notifications will be useful to freight drivers (Drivewyze)

Drivers using Drivewyze PreClear Weigh Station Bypassnow now have in-cab notifications about parking spot availability, in real time, at 10 rest areas throughout the US state.

The initiative is run voluntarily by the Drivewyze team.

The company has recently produced critical parking area open/close notifications for drivers in the states of Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Virginia and Ohio.

“This is a great example of delivering safety information to drivers where and when they need it most in Indiana,” said Brian Heath, chief executive of Drivewyze.

“Truck parking availability is a chronic problem in the trucking industry, made worse by the Covid-19 crisis."

"We’ve leveraged integrations with our state partner and used smart infrastructure data to help drivers and go one step further than previous open/close status sharing."

According to Heath, rest areas in Indiana are some of the most modern facilities in North America, and they incorporate truck parking detection technology that allows the Indiana state Department of Transportation to monitor and share real-time parking space availability.

“Drivewyze is now providing this parking availability information directly to truck drivers via the Drivewyze service embedded in their vehicle's telematics devices,” said Heath.

The in-cab notification alerts are strategically placed. Most alerts are 25 miles (40km) out, then updated again at five miles (8km) out.

“Some sites use customised distances to avoid duplication with state electronic signboards that display parking information or to add informational value by optimising the time drivers can consider alternate parking areas when lots are full,” said Heath.

Drivewyze’s temporary rest area notifications will continue for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis.

Both the Drivewyze PreClear service and its safety notifications are available to carriers on supported ELDs and other in-cab telematics devices, through the Drivewyze partner network.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Wider uses for weigh in motion data
    March 18, 2014
    Colin Sowman talks to Terry Bergan of International Road Dynamics about the latest uses of weigh-in-motion systems. Raising allowable truck weight limits improve transport efficiency but leaves an ever-increasing number of bridges vulnerable to being overloaded and damaged by vehicles heavier, and in some cases far heavier, than they were designed to carry. The simplistic solution is to impose weight restrictions and erect appropriate signs - but this could have severe knock-on effect on trucking operations
  • Air quality tops transportation agendas
    November 17, 2014
    Colin Sowman catches up on some of the latest research around outdoor pollution and looks at options available to authorities in areas of poor air quality. Iair quality hasn’t already reached the top of the agenda in transportation department meetings in your area, it probably soon will with national, trans-national and even global bodies calling for authorities to reduce pollution levels.
  • ITS Australia Awards 2025 finalists announced
    November 13, 2024

    ITS Australia has announced 32 finalists for the 15th Annual ITS Australia Awards, with winners announced at a ceremony on 13 February 2025 in Perth, Western Australia.

  • Road user charging - replacing the gas tax with a mileage based fee
    January 19, 2012
    Oregon Department of Transportation's James Whitty discusses his state's progress with VMT fee-based charging. Back in 2001, the state of Oregon stole a lead on the rest of the US when it decided to address the need to do something about the gas tax and its decreasing ability to fund highway construction and upkeep. Recognising that a dwindling pot of money could only shrink further as vehicles became more fuelefficient, Oregon's Legislative Assembly passed laws which led to the setting up, by the state's g