*“To facilitate checking compliance with the relevant regulations, the vehicle’s position is automatically recorded at the following points or at the point closest to these places where a satellite signal is available:
- starting point of the daily work period,
- every three hours of accumulated driving time,
- the end point of the daily work period.”*
To enable this functionality, tachographs include a digital map in their memory, as specified in Annex IC of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/799, as amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1228. This regulation details the construction, testing, installation, maintenance, and repair requirements for smart tachographs and their components.
Border crossing data stored in tachographs
As stipulated in the relevant regulations, tachographs record and store the following information about border crossings:
- The country from which the vehicle departs.
- The country the vehicle enters.
- The location where the border was crossed.
Errors in digital maps
According to point 3.12.19 of Annex IC of Implementing Regulation 2016/799, the tachograph stores a digital map in its memory to determine the vehicle’s position during border crossings. The European Commission provides these maps, which are downloadable in various formats from a secure website. They must meet specific criteria:
- Detail corresponding to NUTS level 0 (common classification of territorial units for statistics).
- A scale of 1:1 million.
Tachograph manufacturers download the maps securely and integrate them into the recording devices while maintaining data integrity. Updated maps can be installed to replace previous versions provided by the European Commission.
However, errors in these maps can occur. Some areas may have inaccuracies regarding the borders of Member States, leading to the registration of fictitious border crossings or failing to register actual crossings. Importantly, these errors are not caused by hardware malfunctions.
Impact on drivers and hauliers
Mateusz Włoch, a development and training expert at Inelo from the Eurowag Group, shared insights on the issue of cartography errors in tachographs.
“We have encountered the problem of fictitious registration of border crossings in new tachographs before. For example, tachographs in ports sometimes register border crossings to the ‘rest of the world’ (WLD). To address this, Inelo software prevents violations from being flagged in such cases,” Włoch explained.
He provided an example from the port of Świnoujście, where a tachograph registered an erroneous border crossing.
File view with drawn boundaries:
Source: Geojson.io
View of automatically recorded border crossing in 4Trans software (anonymised data):
(anonymised data)
Displayed position on the map recorded for the border crossing event:
Source: OpenStreetMap.org
Another case involved a driver in a Scandinavian country near the sea, whose tachograph inaccurately recorded a border crossing to the “rest of the world.” According to Włoch, inaccuracies may arise from the maps themselves or permissible errors in GNSS positioning.
Despite these challenges, Włoch downplayed the impact of such errors on drivers’ settlements:
“The effect is negligible. Allowances, including so-called virtual allowances, are generally calculated uniformly across countries. These devices are still more reliable than manual entries made by drivers after crossing borders.”
Inelo has highlighted these and other issues at CORTE (Confederation of Organisations in Road Transport Enforcement) meetings. Włoch stressed the importance of educating EU control services about such cases:
“It is essential that control services understand the specific operation of smart tachographs and do not suspect drivers of wrongdoing in such situations.”