The goal of the Federal Motor Carrier

Safety Administration (FMCSA) is to

reduce the large truck fatality rate by 41

percent from 1996 to 2008. This

reduction translates into a rate of 1.65

fatalities in truck crashes per 100

million miles of truck travel.

The Office of Bus and Truck Standards

and Operations develops and promotes

national motor carrier safety program

goals, priorities and initiatives. It

provides technical expertise and advice

in the development and deployment of

motor carrier safety programs,

including the development of

regulations. The Office determines

national motor carrier safety

operational program requirements,

standards, and procedures for vehicle

and roadside operations, driver and

carrier operations, and bus safety.

The Office of Bus and Truck Standards

and Operations produced this Tech

Brief. 

Office of Bus and Truck Standards and

Operations

400 Seventh St, SW

MC-PSV, Room 8301

FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

FMCSA Contact: Deborah M. Freund, MC-PSV, (202) 366-5541: TTY 800-877-8339 

Vehicle Data Recorders 

Project Funding

Under the provisions of Section 5117 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century of

1998 (TEA-21), Congress authorized the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to: 

“...conduct research on the deployment of a system of advanced sensors 

and signal processors in trucks and tractor trailers to determine axle and 

wheel alignment, monitor collision alarm, check tire pressure and tire

balance conditions, measure and detect load distribution in the vehicle, 

and adjust automatic braking systems.”

As a result of a comprehensive technology scan (as well as numerous interviews with key

industry stakeholders such as truck manufacturers, fleet operators, suppliers, and regulators) a

variety of research areas were identified including an assessment of the potential for developing

cost-effective vehicle data recorder (VDR) solutions for various applications. 

Background

By observing and analyzing vehicle performance parameters, driver inputs, and vehicle

responses, manufacturers and operators of commercial motor vehicles can gain improved

operational utility, achieve new levels of safety and security, and have at their disposal a wealth

of new information to help them learn from vehicle events. Such real-time monitoring and

data-logging opportunities include improved vehicle interaction, driver training and oversight,

occupant-protection systems, and driver-collision-avoidance systems. Systems that record

specific vehicle inputs, component conditions, and dynamic responses from the period

immediately preceding a crash, through the actual event, offer safety agencies and vehicle

manufacturers additional opportunities to gain knowledge that can be used to reduce the

likelihood of future crashes. Coupled with recent innovations in telematics that provide

dramatic increases in bandwidth and data transmission rates, these technologies offer new

opportunities for improving vehicle safety, reliability, and efficiency. 

Early in this project, it was decided to explore both productivity and safety potential benefit

scenarios. In consultation with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and

the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “vehicle data recorder” (VDR)

was settled on as a collective term for technologies that perform one or both of these functions. 

The primary objective of the project was to explore the potential for the development of costeffective VDR solutions tailored to varied applications or market segments. Through a

combination of technical research and analysis, including business-related, cost-benefit

assessments, potential VDR configurations ranging from fundamental to comprehensive were

explored. 

Overview of Approach

Work on this project consisted of the following subtasks:

Tech Brief

• Capture the available results of this research and synthesize information from the

commercial vehicle user, original equipment manufacturer (OEM), equipment

supplier, and recorder manufacturer communities. The results of this formed the

foundation for the development of VDR alternative concepts and the evaluation of

potential benefits and costs. The focus was not to serve as a liaison for sharing of

information among third parties, but as a means of gathering information.

Office of Bus and Truck Standards

and Operations

400 Seventh St, SW

MC-PSV, Room 8301

Washington, DC 20590

The goal of the Federal Motor Carrier

Safety Administration (FMCSA) is to

reduce the large truck fatality rate by

41 percent from 1996 to 2008. This

reduction translates into a rate of 1.65

fatalities in truck crashes per 100

million miles of truck travel.

The Office of Bus and Truck

Standards and Operations develops

and promotes national motor carrier

safety program goals, priorities and

initiatives. It provides technical

expertise and advice in the

development and deployment of

motor carrier safety programs,

including the development of

regulations. The Office determines

national motor carrier safety

operational program requirements,

standards, and procedures for vehicle

and roadside operations, driver and

carrier operations, and bus safety.

The Office of Bus and Truck

Standards and Operations produced

this Tech Brief. 
Alternative VDR Concepts

Using industry and government findings from NHTSA, FHWA, and ATA/TMC, along with surveys and interviews with

key industry stakeholders, the contractor team profiled end-user needs and expectations regarding VDR capabilities and

required data parameters. Several industry and government organizations have released findings related to the specific

data parameters that VDRs should record. These data parameters were then categorized into five data sets based on

qualitative rankings and applicability. 

Five distinct concepts were developed to represent practical combinations of features and capabilities that would address

requirements for differing market segments. Specifically, the following VDR and event data recorder (EDR) concepts

were developed, as shown in Table 1. 

Table 1: VDR and EDR Concepts 

Concept 1 A low-cost event-triggered data recorder for recording

baseline accident data

Concept 2 A more advanced event-triggered data recorder that

incorporates advanced sensor technologies

Concept 3

A baseline continuous vehicle data recorder that records

maintenance and operational data meant to improve

fleet operations

Concept 4 An advanced continuous data recorder that includes

additional driver monitoring parameters

Concept 5 A “full-featured” VDR that might include both accident

data and operational efficiency data 

• Conduct a comprehensive literature search and review of documents published by public, quasi-public (e.g.,

associations, committees, coalitions, institutions, etc.), and private companies that have performed VDR-related

research and development. These institutions and companies included the various public-private partnerships and

consortia that have formed under the provisions of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act and TEA21 legislation.

• Identify specific VDR features and capabilities available and incorporated in commercially available VDRs,

estimate the costs associated with those features, and develop an understanding of the cost drivers for VDR design.

• Profile high-level VDR functional requirements extracted from industry, academic, and government findings

(NHTSA, FHWA [Federal Highway Administration], TRB [Transportation Research Board], and ATA/TMC

[American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council]), survey and interview key industry

stakeholders, and assess end-user needs and expectations regarding VDR capabilities and required data parameters. 

• Develop several VDR concepts with different levels of sophistication. VDR concepts were formulated and targeted

in the following end-use applications: accident reconstruction and crash causation, operational efficiency, and driver

monitoring.

• Develop technical and performance descriptions for each VDR concept to assist in the analysis of the development

and manufacturing costs.

• Profile and analyze advanced VDR technologies that could be added to any of the concepts developed.

• Identify and estimate the costs and benefits for each of the VDR concepts developed. Costs (including those for

engineering development, application programming, and hardware) were developed for each concept based on the

technical and performance requirements developed. An overview of the business-case justification that typical

fleets use in purchasing VDRs and the likely benefits of these systems was also developed.
Advanced VDR Technologies

In addition to the VDR “baseline” concepts, a listing of advanced VDR technologies that could be added to any of the five

concepts was developed. These include:

Cost-Benefit Analysis

To better understand the benefits associated with various configurations and concepts, benefits were addressed for devices

that: (1) could be used to record event data, and (2) could be used to record operational data. To understand the costs and

benefits associated with single-purpose accident EDR, Concept 1 was analyzed. To understand the costs and benefits of VDRs

targeted at improving operational efficiency (including driver and vehicle monitoring, vehicle tracking, and maintenance

management), Concept 3 was analyzed. Concept 5 was also profiled in order to develop a cost-benefit analysis for a “fullfeatured” VDR that would record both accident event as well as provide more traditional operational data used by fleets. 

In general, both VDR and EDR devices can benefit the commercial vehicle industry and society as a whole, but these benefits

would likely be spread across three primary stakeholder groups: (1) fleets, (2) OEMs, and (3) public sector. Benefits for fleets

would primarily focus on improving operational efficiency and reducing operational costs. Benefits for OEMs would likely

come from reducing liability costs and improving vehicle designs and safety. Benefits for public-sector stakeholders (such as

transportation agencies, law enforcement, and the general public) would likely include improved vehicle safety; fewer crashes,

injuries, and fatalities; and improved inspection capabilities. 

To better understand the potential development and production costs for the concept VDRs, technical and performance

descriptions of each concept were shared with a leading suppler of high-volume custom vehicle electronics for commercial

heavy-duty vehicles. The supplier went through the standard development and estimation process, working with their

engineering team and their sales and pricing team to gain a detailed understanding of the concepts. This supplier then

developed an estimated cost analysis for each concept. The team felt that this approach provided a more accurate estimate of

the costs broken down into three parts: engineering development costs, application programming costs, and hardware piece

costs. In addition, a combined per-unit cost was totaled based upon order quantities of 10,000+ units per year supplied to

OEMs for installation as part of new vehicle builds. In developing a cost estimate for this concept, a cost precision of ±15

percent was used. 

It should be noted that this estimate is based on information from just one vendor and is only intended to provide a

preliminary cost estimate for each generalized concept. It is entirely possible that should an OEM choose to source and install

such a concept in its vehicles, the costs would vary, perhaps significantly, depending upon quantities, vendor incentives, and

manufacturing and component technologies used. In addition, these costs are intended to represent manufacturing and

assembly costs, not necessarily retail costs to a customer or fleet. Table 2 shows a summary of these costs.

• Additional internal memory storage (e.g., a storage upgrade to record more event data)

• Removable storage media (e.g., magnetic, optical, solid-state memory)

• On-board vehicle network communication and downloading (e.g., CAN, IDB, serial)

• Vehicle location, direction of travel, and absolute time (e.g., Global Positioning Systems)

• Digital imaging (e.g., video)

• Sensor for determining the relative location of nearby vehicles (e.g., radar, ultrasonic)

• Short-range wireless communications (e.g., infrared, Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11)

• Long-range wireless communications (e.g., satellite, cellular)

• Driver performance (e.g., attentive driver monitoring, drowsy driver warning)

• Tractor-to-trailer communications
Availability: 

The study final report (FMCSAPSV-06-001) is available from the

U.S. Department of Transportation. 

Key Words: 

Commercial motor vehicles, event

data recorders, on-board recorders,

vehicle data recorders 

Notice: 

This Tech Brief is disseminated

under the sponsorship of the

Department of Transportation in the

interest of information exchange.

The Tech Brief provides a synopsis

of the study's final publication. The

Tech Brief does not establish

policies or regulations, nor does it

imply USDOT endorsement of the

conclusions or recommendations.

The U.S. Government assumes no

liability for its contents or their use. 

Website: 

FMCSA Tech and Analysis Briefs

may be accessed at:

www.fmcsa.dot.gov/tech-briefs.

Technical Writer: 

Michael Lang, C2 Technologies, Inc. 

June 2006 

Publication No. FMCSA-PSV-06-003 

Table 2: VDR Concept Cost Estimate Summary

Of course, these costs would be cost per unit as sold by a vendor to a vehicle OEM. It is

anticipated that there would be additional costs associated with integrating the unit into the

vehicle (e.g., mounting, wire harnesses, service and repair manuals) and adding the product to

the line card and assembly line. It is likely that an OEM would add a 30 to 50 percent markup

to a fleet to cover these costs and secure a profit. 

In conducting this study, it became clear that return-on-investment calculations for VDRs (from

the fleet operator’s perspective) are challenging for two main reasons. First, benefits are often

defined in terms of increased productivity, efficiency, competitiveness and/or improved safety.

All of these measures would vary depending on a particular fleet’s situation--and even for a

specific fleet’s situation, they are very difficult to quantify. Second, costs are difficult to obtain

from commercial suppliers of VDR equipment and services. The costs are often embedded (or

bundled) within a vehicle price, and/or within a larger telematics service offering. More

importantly, the market price of some products and services is not necessarily indicative of pure

manufacturing cost. The commercial vehicle telematics, communications, and vehicle data

recorder industry is in many ways in its infancy. As such, suppliers with innovative ideas that

improve a fleet’s competitiveness may well be able to command premium prices that are not

cost-based.

Estimated Piece

Cost (±15%)

One-Time

Tooling and

Layout Cost

Software

Development

Cost

Amortized Per

Unit Cost (based

on 10,000 units)

Concept #1

“Core” Event

Data Recorder

$260 $20,000 $15,000 to

$30,000

$265 (assuming

$25,000 for SW)

Concept #3

“Core” Vehicle

Data Recorder

$140 $20,000 $15,000 to

$30,000

$145 (assuming

$25,000 for SW)

Concept #5

“Comprehensive”

EDR and VDR

$450 $20,000 $20,000 to

$40,000

$460 (assuming

$25,000 for SW)