After reading the proposal, technology suppliers estimated they would need 12 months or more to update their products to ELDs once the final rule was published.
The date came on December 16, 2015. Suppliers are now gearing up to roll out ELDs before the December 2017 enforcement deadline. There is no need to panic, however. Fleets that purchase AOBRD technology by Dec. 2017 will have until Dec. 2019 to convert to ELD technology.
Most AOBRD products in the market today will be transformed to ELDs with over-the-air software updates. When suppliers begin to release new ELD versions, possibly later this year, AOBRDs will not be going away. Some may still be in the market in 2019.
A very likely possibility is that suppliers will be releasing updates for ELDs through a phased-in approach. This will give fleets and drivers time to become familiar with changes, one step at a time.
Here are six areas where the changes will start to happen between now and 2017:
1. Data Transfer
