A Washougal technology startup company struck a marketing partnership with Salt Lake City-based DriverTech to bring new technology to the truck driving industry.
iCooper, which develops Simply Intelligent Mobile Applications for iPhone and other handheld mobile devices, will design iOTR for DriverTech customers with fleets of 500 or more trucks. DriverTech designed the DT4000 TruckPC, the industry's only WindowsXP-embedded, onboard computing system, according to the company.
iCooper will design, engineer, test and integrate the application, which uses iPhone as a data collection tool, to assist fleets in managing operations more efficiently. It can capture and automatically synchronize delivery, truck, driver and customer data wirelessly or through an in-cab docking device.
The two companies were connected at a trade show where iCopper was checking out what kind of applications were in the marketplace and who was moving into the arena of more advanced technology with better bells and whistles, said Project Manager Terry Taylor.
"DriverTech was the shining star in that arena, so we started talking," he said. "(The company) was looking for a handheld, untethered application to develop. We had that."
Most applications in the transportation industry consist of a black box that is cable-connected to the truck itself.
"It's nice, but when drivers get out of the truck, they no longer have access to the application," Taylor said.
It is unknown what the development agreement could do for iCooper from a revenue standpoint, said Chief Operating Officer Jared S. Oviatt.
