Within 48 hours, the participating teams from each company challenge had to develop, design and code solutions at the Hackdays Rhein-Main, which was held May 23 -26 at Frankfurt’s Design Offices complex. ‘KION Interactive Fleet Management’ – one of two 5-member international teams for the KION Digital Campus challenge – came up with a mobile application for truck drivers and fleet managers to work safer and more efficiently around warehouses.

The best strategy: Safety first

They presented an interactive two-step approach to tackle the “New ways of truck communication” challenge. Firstly, truck drivers would only be able to begin their shifts if all security precautions have been fulfilled, ranging from the correct security and equipment status of their truck to wearing the required safety clothing. These criteria are controlled via a mobile device which can be easily installed in every truck. The application also increases the safety level with an optical system which can monitor whether the driver’s concentration has diminished. It can analyze driving behavior, level of concentration and, of course, the weight and value of the goods as well as automatically assigning new tasks to the drivers in real time.

Crowd pleaser fleet management

In the closing awards ceremony, it was time to see ‘who won big’: In addition to KION, the five participating companies, including Lufthansa, Fraport and Fresenius Medical Care, all named their internal winner of the challenges posed. In the end, the approach by the KION Digital Campus team impressed both the jury as well as the other competing teams, receiving the coveted ‘Audience Award’ for their clean and thorough pitch.