Auto vs. Manual Changes After a Stop

In February or March 2025, HOS compliance functionality is expected to change (see Automatic On-Duty Timing Change). As a driver, familiarize yourself with the following steps to prepare yourself for the upcoming changes and discuss any concerns with your supervisor.

 

  1. In DRIVE status, imagine you need to find a place to stop for a pickup, for your rest break, or back at the terminal to end your shift.

  2. After you come to a full stop, clear your mobile app HOS Lock screen.

  3. The following notification appears:

    You seem to have stopped driving. Would you like to end your driving status?

  4. Tap the Tap to see changes banner at the top of your screen.

  5. On the HOS status screen, choose one:

    • Accept the Automatic Change: Accept the automatic change from DRIVE to ON DUTY (not driving) which is going to show a time stamp six (6) minutes after you were at a complete stop.

    • Make a Manual Change: Manually change your status from DRIVE to ON DUTY (not driving) to show the original stop time six (6) minutes ago.

  6. If you are too busy to respond immediately, the app reminds you again after you have been stopped for another five (5) minutes. A Stop Was Detected appears and asks if you want to Switch from DRIVE to ON DUTY? Choose one:

    • Yes: You want to stop driving and have your logs show that you are now ON DUTY (not driving).

    • No: You do not want to switch. You want to remain in DRIVE and keep driving.

 

Possible Impacts of this Rule Change

Geotab currently back-dates automatic On-duty status changes to when a vehicle comes to a stop. With this change, automatic On-duty status changes are no longer back-dated, and instead are created six minutes after coming to a stop.

This change ensures that the sequence ID associated with status changes are in the correct order, which helps reduce issues when transferring data to enforcement officers, and aligns with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and Transport Canada regulations.

Before this change: After a vehicle comes to a stop for six minutes, the automatic on-duty not driving status is back-dated to when the vehicle came to a stop (six minutes earlier).

After this change: After a vehicle comes to a stop for six minutes, the automatic on-duty not driving status is created for that time (six minutes after the vehicle came to a stop). This can result in a six minute difference between the current functionality and the upcoming change.

How you may be impacted:

  • Your Manual Status Changes are Preserved: If a driver manually changes their status before the automatic change, the automatic status change will not overwrite their status.

  • You might benefit from manually changing your status before the automatic change after 6 minutes: If you need to save some driving time, you can make manual updates. Awareness and manual status changes are going to help drivers who are close to using all of their available hours each day.

  • Frequent Stops: Drivers making more frequent stops during the day are more likely to be impacted than drivers who make fewer stops.