Estimated time of arrival (ETA)

The estimated time of arrival or ETA for short, is the predicted and expected date and time of a vehicle, shipment or delivery at a certain location. Fleet managers need to know the estimated time of arrival to minimise delays that could cost time and money.

It also offers quality customer service. By communicating the estimated time of arrival or delays, you can inform clients and be mindful of their time so they can plan accordingly too. But manually calculating the ETA can be challenging when planning for a fleet of any size.

Here’s how a fleet management solution can help you boost fleet efficiency with the estimated time of arrivals.

How is the estimated time of arrival calculated?

To understand why ETAs are crucial, it’s also important to know how it is calculated. Typically, it is calculated by the speed of the distance travelled so far. And then the remaining distance is divided by the previously measured speed to predict the arrival time.

For each industry, there are various factors that affect the estimated time of arrival. For example, a flight will also consider the wind and its direction. Maritime transport must account for the knots of the ocean. For transportation, two key factors are traffic and navigation.

Avoiding traffic to optimise the ETA

Traffic is one of the many unpredictable things in life. Being stuck in traffic affects worker productivity and has a high impact on your service and planning. By opting for a software system that has professional navigation, you can deal with traffic or, better said, avoid traffic.

Some fleet management solutions have extremely accurate traffic info. For example, at Webfleet, we provide customers with reliable navigation by collecting trillions of data points from hundreds of millions of connected devices. This helps with live traffic views and notifies the driver of traffic jams. With this information, the software can better calculate the estimated time of arrival.

Solution: precise fleet navigation

Professional navigation is also a key player in avoiding traffic and boosting the efficiency of your fleet. It will show your drivers the best route to take so they can spend less time on the road and more time with customers and provide realistic ETAs.

Further, drivers can provide quality customer experiences by increasing their reliability. Not to mention saving time and fuel on each journey. Plus, their increased productivity will have a direct impact on your revenue.

A fleet management solution like Webfleet helps you to set the most accurate estimated time of arrival. Fleet managers get the support they need to keep their drivers on the best routes and keep customers happy.

To learn more about ETAs with Webfleet, visit our page on professional navigation & traffic avoidance.