ID Cards for Driver Assignment

The Samsara ID Card Reader leverages Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to provide increased visibility into drivers in your fleet as well as student and passenger transit systems. Each Samsara ID Card (or compatible third-party RF-based ID card) contains a unique identification number.

When used for driver visibility and vehicle assignment, each driver is issued an ID card.

ID cards do not substitute for the Samsara Driver App to manage Hours of Service (HOS). To comply with regulations for HOS reporting, you must use a Vehicle Gateway in combination with the Samsara Driver App.

The ID Card Reader logs and securely transmits drive time, date, and location data to the Samsara Cloud. As part of Samsara's powerful IoT platform, the ID Card Reader enables fleets to combine driver data with real-time GPS and camera data, delivering improvements in driver safety, operational efficiency, and route planning.

ID Card Driver Experience

When drivers are ready to make a trip, they tap the ID card against the ID Card Reader and wait for a beep. For the vehicle assignment to be successful, the vehicle must be traveling at speeds greater than 5 mph for at least 5 min after tapping the card. The light on the reader flashes green when the assignment is successful.

After a successful assignment, drivers are assigned to the vehicle for all upcoming trips, but they can update their vehicle assignment in one of two ways:

• The driver assigns themselves to a different vehicle by tapping their ID card on the Samsara ID Card Reader in the new vehicle.

• A different driver taps their ID card to this vehicle's ID Card Reader, thus assigning themselves to the vehicle and removing the original driver.

ID Card Driver Assignment Hierarchy

A vehicle selection in the Samsara Driver App will override an ID card assignment. In addition, a vehicle assignment created by an ID card will override a Static Vehicle Assignment in the driver's or vehicle's settings. For best reporting, we recommend that fleets with ID cards do not also set drivers up with Static Vehicle Assignments.

For more information about the driver assignment hierarchy, see Driver-to-Vehicle Assignment Hierarchy and Priorities.

Set up and Enable ID Cards for Drivers in the Samsara Dashboard

1. Before you begin, Install an ID Card Reader in the vehicles for which you want drivers to use ID cards.

2. Select the Settings icon ( ) at the bottom of your Fleet menu to view dashboard settings.

3. In Driver App, select Drivers.

4. Locate the driver form whom you want to assign an ID card.

5. Click the more actions menu ( ••• ) in the row for the driver and select Edit.

6. Locate the ID code associated with the physical card.

   For Samsara ID Cards, the unique ID value is located on the card. For third-party ID cards or unreadable Samsara IDs, you can use an ID Card Reader with a computer and spreadsheet application to scan and export the ID code to the worksheet.

7. Under ID Card Code, enter in the number associated with the physical ID card (you can omit the leading 0), and Save the driver settings.

8. To enable the ID card assignment, navigate to Fleet settings > Driver Assignment.

9. Enable ID Card Assignment and configure the setting.

   

10. Save to confirm the changes.

ID Card Reporting

Samsara displays ID Cards in your Dashboard in two places:

• Trips view of the Vehicle (from Fleet Overview > Vehicle)

  

• Trip History Report (under Fleet > Reports > Trip History)