When scheduling a route, various types of vehicles may be required. Some vehicles may have some driving restrictions. Heavy trucks, for instance, are prohibited to drive in certain urban areas.
MaxOptra relies on external routing providers, such as PTV or HERE, to ensure compliance with road regulations and optimize delivery routes.
Some roads may have restrictions, including speed limitations, weight and space restrictions, and clearance constrains. In order to ensure optimal route planning you can use the Vehicle types option.
Note: Weight restrictions specifically require the vehicle to be configured in "Truck" mode with its maximum weight defined. Without this configuration, weight restrictions will not apply.
We have revamped the vehicle types form and you can enable dynamic breaks
How to set up the Vehicle type option in MaxOptra
The Vehicle type option is optional. If you need to set up the Vehicle type option in MaxOptra, please, contact the MaxOptra Support Team.
Note: If the Vehicle Type is not selected, it will default automatically to the largest vehicle type available.
How to create a Vehicle type in MaxOptra
To create a vehicle type, go to Settings> Scheduling Configuration> Vehicle type and click the Add button:
2. Fill the basic information:
Required: Vehicle type name
Required: Reference number is filled out automatically using the vehicle type name
3. Select the Routing mode; e.g. “Car” or “Truck”. For example, if your vehicle type is “Truck”, you should fill in the fields with the vehicle characteristics, e.g. weight, height, width, length, and axle load. For “Car” such characteristics are not required.
Important: Weight restrictions will only be applied if the vehicle is in Truck mode and has its maximum weight defined.
4. Enable dynamic breaks function to work with a specific vehicle type.
When vehicle types are created, you may apply them to your fleet of vehicles, if you need to. To apply the vehicle type to the vehicle, select the Vehicle type field in the Vehicle form and click Update defaults to save the new changes.
MaxOptra will select the optimal route which will vary according to the characteristics of the vehicle - the figures below will show how the different routes if the vehicle is a car (1) or a truck (2).
This routing behavior depends on the accuracy of the external routing provider's road network data, as MaxOptra does not maintain its own database of Traffic Regulation Orders.
1.
For the "Truck", the route will be planned with consideration to all driving restrictions for trucks.
Additionally, if a delivery or pickup is outside a weight-restricted area, MaxOptra will route the vehicle around the restriction, provided the account is correctly configured with truck mode and maximum weight. For deliveries within restricted zones, such as those with 7.5T limits, entry is allowed for vehicles making deliveries or collections within the restricted zone.
2.
Verifying and Addressing Routing Issues
To verify whether a specific restriction is applied, users should plan a route within their configured account using the correct truck profile. If a restriction appears incorrect, it can be raised with the routing provider for correction.
ULEZ & Urban areas restriction setting
Certain vehicles should be restricted from entering low emission zones and alsso urban areas For this purpose MaxOptra provides a special setting in the Vehicle Type form, called Avoid low Emission Zone & Avoid urban areas
Tick this checkbox if you want to restrict vehicles of this type to enter the ULEZ. Now you can apply this vehicle type to your vehicles.
Note: This option may not be available for your account, so please contact the MaxOptra Support Team for clarification