In-car spy units to catch ‘misuse’

GPS surveillance developer phantomeye claims that small businesses owners, in particular, are looking for ways to prove they are being ‘ripped off by dishonest employees driving company vehicles’.

Phantomeye’s response is to license its vehicle time tracker and recorder technology to Queensland company Gofinder, who will begin marketing it nationally.

The technology acts as an ‘electronic log book’ to provide businesses with online time, attendance and activity reports relating to the use of a company vehicle.

The information is collected by an in-car unit and transmitted back to the business owner using the Telstra NextG network.

The system is capable of collecting information on addresses visited, time spent at each, driving and parked time, distance covered, and number of journeys.

It also shows a continuously updated travel history of the latest position of the vehicle displayed on a Google Earth street map or satellite photo.

The company claims that common issues with company cars include ‘employees going home during working hours’, staff failing to make scheduled calls, filling up private vehicles on a company fuel account, or the use of a company car for a weekend ‘cash business’.

“It may not necessarily be all that popular with employees who may feel it has some nasty ‘Big Brother’ implications – but it will give management control they didn’t have before,” said Graham Thomas, founder of Gofinder.

The system costs between $500 and $600 per unit, not including a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription fee.

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