All commercial vehicles are obliged to install tachograph in their vehicle as it is mandatory under the law. Earlier the analogue version of this device was prevalent but now the analogue system is being phased out for the more user friendly digital version of the device. A typical digital tachograph consists of a vehicle unit, motion sensor and a smart card. In digital tachograph the smart card consists of a digital driver card containing a microchip with flash memory. This digital driver card records all information as a .ddd file which can be conveniently imported to tachograph analysis software for generation of reports.

There are various advantages of using digital tachograph. All driver and vehicle activities are electronically recorded including data pertaining to faults, over speeding, calibration details etc. The main aim of imposing the mandatory installation of digital tachograph is to make the transportation sector safer and more eco friendly. The digital tachograph also ensures safer working conditions for the drivers and increased profitability of the companies. The driver card of the digital tachograph holds 28 days of information of driver activities and you can check this data by downloading it to an external storage medium or by printing it with the help of the integrated printer that comes with the digital tachograph.