I've been thinking about this for some time now, though I hadn't thought about
driver authentication.  My father has used a log book to log the miles for a
home business, for work, personal use, and charity use, and saves quite a bit in
taxes each year by doing so.

It wouldn't be hard to make a data logger with a wheel input, an LCD display , a
few buttons and a pic.  It beeps at you until you press one of the four buttons
(for up to four different uses for the car) once you start the car.  It would
then be keeping track of four odometers for the four different uses for the
car.  It would be able to be read out through a small connector, or perhaps IR
(it wouldn't be too hard to put an IR transciever in the base of the windshield,
and have the data collected everytime they pulled into their parking spot)

Since it would require only a 1x20 LCD and four buttons, it would not be
difficult to place as a surface-mount item on the dashboard, using some
nondestructive semi-permanent adhesive.

If authentication were necessary, one could display four numbers on the LCD, and
have the user type their PIN in on the four buttons.  Not much of a security
measure, but I understand you want this feature more to track who's driving than
to prevent someone from driving the car (and handing out a PIN to the mechanic,
valet, etc).

It would not be difficult to make one such that you enter the tire size, and the
count per revolution to be expected.  In this way you could take the signal from
many different sources in the car, depending on the make and model, and
convenience.

Alternately, you could issue each driver an RFID for automatic identification.

Anyway, I'm still thinking this through.  I still have too many projects on my
plate to do this one yet....

-Adam

"Gennette, Bruce" wrote:
>
> I have a data logging problem seeking a solution -
>
> A friend of mine runs a large fleet of vehicles that are used by several
> different departments (cost centres).  The senior executives are assigned
> cars for work AND personal use AND the taxation department wants to know how
> much private usage they individually have (to tax them for the fringe
> benefit).
>
> All the vehicles are current models with modern computer engine management.
>
> He would like to replace the current time consuming paper based (honesty)
> system with some form of automated data gathering in an off-the-shelf style
> device.  He is NOT interested in a custom designed product that has to be
> re-designed for each new vehicle model, but hopes that someone will be
> interested enough to liase with the vehicle manufacturer's to design, build,
> test and market such a device.
>
> Here are his (general) specifications -
>
> *       Must be easy to fit and remove (during a dealer service?) and must
> not leave any ugly mounting holes, etc when the vehicle leaves the fleet.
> *       Must have a non fleet use mode - eg when used by police or
> mechanical service personnel
> *       Minimal user intervention to input the data
> *       Checks that a user is authorised to use the particular vehicle
> (fleet security check)
> *       Logs user ID/ time/ date/ vehicle/ odometer reading/ usage type for
> each vehicle each time the engine is started
> *       Minimal operator intervention to read out the data (usually monthly,
> but could be up to the life of the lease - about 2 years)
>
> 2 classes of device come to mind -
> A - Personal data loggers issued to each user that somehow interfaces to the
> car's electronics.  (Possibly fitted to personal keys?)
> B - In vehicle loggers that request each user to enter an ID and a PIN
>
> Type B would probably be the easiest to add, particularly if manufacturer's
> allow certain switches and dash board display icons to be computer (or in
> this case PIC) controlled.
>
> All modern taxis do all of this with their electronic meters, so I know that
> the interfacing is possible (although these systems are VERY expensive). I
> could easily do the data logging stuff IF I knew what was going on in the
> data comms in modern vehicles. But I don't.
>
> And I'm in no position to set up manufacture.
> But some of you are.  And there is a huge potential market here, not just in
> cars, but all sorts of fleets - trucks, boats, hire tools, etc.
> So what are you waiting for ???