ELD Compliance

The ELD mandate is a U.S. regulation enacted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requiring operators of commercial motor vehicles to use electronic logging devices (ELDs) to track Hours of Service (HOS). The ELD mandate aims to increase road safety by annually avoiding thousands of crashes, saving lives by reducing driver fatigue, and saving billions of dollars in paperwork expenses. Read more.

Electronic logging devices aren’t just for truck drivers. In fact, under the FMCSA’s ELD mandate, many different types of businesses that operate commercial motor vehicles are required to have ELDs—including construction companies, passenger transportation businesses, and more.

Drivers who operate a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) and maintain records of duty status (RODS) are required to use ELDs. Not sure whether you’re required to maintain RODS? Read more about federal Records of Duty Status requirements on the Department of Transportation (DOT) website.

Failure to comply with the FMCSA’s ELD mandate can have serious implications, including costly fines, suspensions, and negative impacts to your Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) score.

However, electronic logging devices (ELDs) collect many types of data beyond driver HOS and records of duty status that are helpful for fleet management. Without this data, you may miss opportunities to improve the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of your operations. For example, data from ELDs can be used for:

• Dispatch and routing: Built-in GPS tracking in the ELD provides real-time location information, enabling you to see exactly where all your vehicles are at any given time, without having to call your drivers.

• Maintenance: Because the ELD plugs into a vehicle’s onboard diagnostics (OBD) port, it is able to pull critical engine data—like mileage and fault codes—for scheduling preventative maintenance and responding quickly to reactive repairs. Samsara's ELD solution comes with an all-in-one Driver App, which drivers can use to complete electronic Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIRs). Paperless DVIRs help drivers save time while giving you real-time visibility into vehicle repair needs.

• Safety: A built-in gyroscope and accelerometer can detect harsh events—like harsh braking, harsh turning, and collisions. Safety and GPS data can be particularly powerful when paired with AI dash cams, giving you full incident details to exonerate innocent drivers from false claims.

• Security and loss prevention: Samsara offers geofencing capabilities that allow you to create a virtual boundary around any location, like a yard or terminal. Then, leveraging your ELD’s real-time GPS capabilities, you can be alerted any time a vehicle leaves your geofence—making it possible to proactively detect potential security issues or theft.

• Fuel savings and sustainability: You can use engine diagnostic data from your ELD to get visibility into fuel usage and idling trends. With Samsara, you can see idling time and harsh events by driver or vehicle, enabling you to more effectively coach drivers, reduce fuel costs, and minimize risky driving behavior.

The FMCSA’s ELD mandate rolled out in two phases. The first phase went into effect on December 17, 2017, requiring all commercial drivers who previously used paper logs to use electronic logging devices (ELDs) to record Hours of Service (HOS) electronically. During the first phase, existing automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs) installed before December 17, 2017 were still able to be used.

The second phase took effect on December 17, 2019, requiring all HOS data to be recorded directly from the vehicle’s engine and automatically transmitted to the Department of Transportation (DOT). This means all recording devices must be ELDs and AOBRDs no longer satisfy the mandate. Read more.

Yes; because ELDs are required to record a vehicle’s location, ELDs have GPS tracking built-in. ELDs with real-time GPS tracking, like Samsara’s ELD solution, can provide real-time visibility into driver status and vehicle locations, helping dispatchers optimize routes and serve customers more efficiently. Read more. 

Complying with the FMCSA’s ELD mandate isn’t just about procuring a ELD device; it’s also about preparing your drivers with the proper training to avoid compliance issues during inspections.

Here are tips to equip your employees for success with ELD compliance:

• Provide proper training on ELDs: Make sure drivers know how to sign in, sign out, and certify their e-logs with their ELD. Proper training is critical to keeping everyone compliant. It's especially important that drivers remember to sign out at the end of their shift so that their off-duty time is logged.

• Practice DOT inspections: While training drivers on how to use the ELD is important, you also want to ensure they are prepared for a DOT roadside inspection. Make sure your drivers know how to transfer ELD data to inspection officers and run through the steps of an inspection to get drivers comfortable with the process. 

• Verify that vehicles have the correct in-cab materials: In order to avoid violations, make sure every driver has a digital in-cab kit with the ELD user manual and DOT inspection card.

• Encourage drivers to annotate their logs: By having your drivers leave remarks on their duty status, they create a historical record of what happened that day. Annotations come in handy in cases of unassigned drive time or when managing special duty statuses and provide a helpful record during audits.

Samsara’s ELD solution is FMCSA-registered to support the U.S. ELD mandate and third-party certified for Transport Canada’s ELD mandate, helping you maintain ELD compliance whenever you operate.

Samsara’s ELD solution is also part of Samsara’s Connected Operations Cloud, a consolidated platform for vehicle telematics, video-based safety, equipment monitoring, and site visibility, so you can seamlessly switch between compliance, fleet management, safety Dash Cams, vehicle maintenance, dispatch, IFTA reporting, and more.

4 reasons to choose Samsara as your ELD provider:

• Real-time GPS tracking: Samsara’s GPS tracking is truly live-to-the-second, whereas other ELD systems only offer “breadcrumb” data that pings every few minutes. Real-time GPS makes it possible to prevent theft, dispatch drivers without having to call them, and provide customers with accurate, reliable ETAs.

• Lower operational costs: Samsara’s Driver App brings ELD capabilities to any supported Android or iOS device, avoiding the cost of proprietary e-logging hardware. Often times, drivers are more familiar with using tablets or smartphones, making it faster and easier to get them onboarded to a new system.

• A unified platform for safety, efficiency, and sustainability: In addition to ELD compliance, Samsara lets you capture rich data from sensors, cameras, and OEM integrations. With Samsara, you can centralize all of your operations data on one unified platform, so you can improve dispatch, routing, maintenance, safety, and more. Learn more about the benefits of connecting your operations.

• World-class onboarding and services: At Samsara, our in-house team partners with you from day one, providing implementation, training, and support services to ensure a successful rollout and continued success. Customers have access to live trainings, a library of step-by-step videos, and a wide range of resources to easily scale training across their organization.

You are exempt from ELD regulations and do not need to maintain RODS if you have drivers who operate under the short-haul, timecard exceptions.

You are exempt from ELD regulations but still need to maintain RODS via paper logs if:

• You have drivers who are required to keep RODS for 8 days or less within any 30-day period.

• You have drivers who only conduct driveaway-towaway operations where the vehicle is being delivered.

• Your vehicles are manufactured before the year 2000.

There are a few other exemptions that may apply, especially if you work in agriculture. Learn more in our ELD exemption guide.

As of December 17, 2017, commercial motor vehicle drivers subject to Hours of Service regulations can no longer use paper logs to track Hours of Service (HOS) and must use electronic logging devices (ELDs). This is to ensure that commercial drivers have a safe work environment and to create an easier system to track and manage records of duty status (RODS). Read more.

The best way to prevent ELD violations is to use an intuitive, reliable ELD compliance solution. One of the most commonly cited roadside inspection violations is “unable to perform data transfer,” largely because drivers may be unfamiliar with how to transfer logs to inspection officers. To avoid violations, choose an ELD solution that’s easy for drivers to use.

Samsara's ELD connects directly to a vehicle's engine through the OBD port. Live data is transmitted to the ELD so there is always an accurate log of when the engine is on and what speed the vehicle is traveling, as well as diagnostic information, such as engine fault codes, and safety information, such as instances of harsh braking or acceleration.

Drivers then record their Hours of Service (HOS) and certify their e-logs through the Samsara Driver App. Together, the engine data and the driver's records of duty status form a complete picture of compliance with the ELD rule. The Samsara dashboard gives you real-time visibility into drivers' driving status, the amount of time until their rest break, and the number of hours left in their driving period, and logbooks, helping you quickly identify drivers approaching an HOS violation. Read more.