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Tachograph

Updated on September 23, 2026
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A tachograph is a device installed on vehicles that automatically records vehicle and driver data, such as distance, speed, and driver activities. The stored data can be periodically downloaded using the RDD (Remote Data Download) feature for further monitoring and reporting. The Tachograph module helps fulfill legal obligations by managing the tacho archiving requirements of a company.

NOTE:

The Tachograph module contains legacy data that cannot be edited.

Only an administrator can configure Tachograph settings:

  • Set the period for the session download through the scheduler for the session data to be recorded automatically
  • Change alert settings for all categories
  • Enable or disable RDD settings

For more information, see Tachograph settings.

Fleet overview #

After a tacho driver or company card is registered and installed for an organization by ZF, users can view and filter alerts by category, severity, and item (vehicles or drivers) on the Fleet overview page.

From the left navigation pane, click Tachograph . The Fleet overview page is displayed.

The fleet overview page presents vehicle or driver records in a tabular form. Click a record to view the Vehicle or Driver details pane.
Alerts generated are visually presented in the Alerts column.
Records for which no alerts are generated are marked as ‘No issues’.

In this example, three alerts were generated: card expiration, archive integrity, and archive delay. Two alerts are tagged as critical while one is a warning.


For more information about the available columns, see Available columns below.

Available columns

Column

Description

Alerts

Alerts triggered after the threshold values for parameters related to card renewal of Tacho company and Tacho driver cards, archive health, archive delay, and RDD session are breached.
For more information, see Configure tachograph settings.

Identification

Driver name or vehicle number as it appears on the driver’s ID card or the vehicle license plate.

Last archiving

Date when an archive file was last downloaded.

Download the archived data according to the default download frequency settings:

  • Drivers: every 7 days
  • Assets: every 30 days

Last source

Tool from which the archive has originated
Currently, the following sources are available:

  • None  = ‘_’ [None] Source is unknown or unidentified        
  • Rdd         = ‘R’ [RDD file]
  • Manual      = ‘M’ [Manual file]
  • External    = ‘E’  [External file]
  • Importation = ‘I’ [From Migration]
  • Support     = ‘S’  [From support/IT]

Next RDD (d)

Day when the next RDD session is due

Driver card exp. (d)

Indicates the number of days that have passed since the driver’s tachograph card was due for renewal, or the number of days for which the card will remain valid before it must be renewed.

An expired card cannot be used in a tachograph.If the tacho card renewal is overdue, the number of days will be highlighted in red with a + symbol, else it will be displayed in grey.

Company card exp. (d)

Indicates the number of days that have passed since the company tacho card was due for renewal, or the number of days for which the card will remain valid before it must be renewed.

An expired card cannot be used for authentication.
If the tacho card renewal is overdue, the number of days will be highlighted in red with a + symbol, else it will be displayed in grey.

Last RDD session

The last date of driver or vehicle activity data downloaded to the SCALAR platform.

It is recommended to schedule automatic RDD session data downloads every 7 days for drivers and every 30 days for assets (vehicles).

Actions

Click to open the action menu.

– Click Export to export the download session file.

– Click Start RDD to start a RDD session, Cancel RDD to cancel the current RDD session, or Prioritize RDD to accord the highest priority to the current RDD session.
For more information on exporting, see Export Downloaded Session Files.

For more information on the Manage RDD options, see Manage RDD.

Last activity

Date when the last activity was recorded by the tachograph for the drivers or vehicles

Last RDD session

Date when the last RDD session was recorded by the tachograph

Last successful RDD

Date when the last RDD session was successfully recorded by the tachograph and an archive downloaded

Next expiration date

The expiration date of the item’s tacho card

The tacho company card and the tacho driver card both must be renewed every five years.

Next archiving

Display the calendar date of the next archiving. The date is based on the configured archiving delay (see Configure alerts).
If the archiving is overdue, a past date may be displayed.

Company affected

Displays the tacho company name of the assigned tacho company. For assets only.

RDD status

Displays the current RDD status as a text label.

RDD
(RDD enabled)

Display if the RDD is enabled or not on an asset.

See also Customize Column View.

Left side pane #

Within the Tachograph module, the left side pane visualizes alert categories enabling users to quickly filter records based on criticality, category, and items in alert.

Hover over each segment, bar, or card to view the detailed information as shown in the image below.
Click a segment of the pie chart, or a bar or card to filter the fleet overview based on that selection.
Click again to remove the filter criterion.

Alerts ratio by criticality


The pie chart visualizes the alerts of the entire fleet. Hover over a segment to view the breakdown of alerts for drivers and vehicles, categorized as critical, warning, or no issues.

Alerts ratio by category

The Alert by category tabs provide information about any critical or warning errors related to the categories mentioned below that must be addressed. These alert categories are displayed as tabs. Hover over every alert category to view the breakdown of alerts for drivers and vehicles:

* Tacho card expiration: Click to view alerts generated when a tacho card has expired or is about to expire.

* Archive integrity: Click to view alerts generated in case of an archive integrity error.

* Archive delay: Click to view alerts generated when the due date to archive the RDD file has passed or is approaching.

IMPORTANT: To avoid infringements, you must archive driver activities recorded at least every 28 days and vehicle-related details at least every 90 days.

* RDD session: Click to view the RDD session recorded, which relates to activity data for the drivers and vehicles recorded by the tachograph and downloaded to the SCALAR platform.

To view RDD session information, the RDD settings must be enabled by an administrator on the asset or organizational level

EXAMPLE: To quickly filter alerts by category, click the respective category tab in the sidebar. For example, to view alerts related to tacho cards that are past their expiration date, click the Tacho Card Expiration tab. All records with expired tacho cards will be listed.

Items in alert

The cards display all items with an alert: vehicles and drivers.
Hover over a card to view the breakdown of alerts:
* Card (related to card expiration)
* Integrity
* Delay
* RDD

Manage RDD – Actions #

Fleet managers and dispatchers can manage the RDD sessions of the fleet. In the fleet overview, they have the option Manage RDD available to start, cancel or prioritize RDD sessions, in addition to the scheduled RDD sesssions in the Admin module (see Configure RDD). The Manage RDD option allows additional manual actions when needed (e.g. new installation).

NOTE:
  • Only 1 entity can be selected at a time to start, cancel, or prioritize a session. If multiple items are selected, the Manage RDD option will be disabled.
  • The selected asset must be equipped with a supported device (i.e. a tachograph) to start a session, and the ignition must be turned ON.
  • A pop-up notification will be briefly displayed at the top of the Tachograph module to indicate the state of the current request: Success / Warning / Error. Consult the detail pane for more info.

Start RDD session #

  1. To start a new remote data download (RDD) session, click the checkbox next to the asset for which you want to initiate the session.
  2. Next, click Manage RDD to open the dropwdown menu in the upper right corner of the fleet overview.
  3. Click Start RDD. A confirmation message is displayed.
  4. Click Confirm to proceed, or Cancel to abort.
  5. The current state of the RDD session is displayed in the detail pane by clicking the item in the data grid. For more session details, click Sessions.

Cancel RDD session #

  1. To cancel a RDD session, click the checkbox next to the asset for which you want to cancel the session.
  2. Next, click Manage RDD to open the dropwdown menu in the upper right corner of the fleet overview.
  3. Click Cancel RDD. A confirmation message is displayed.
  4. Click Confirm to proceed, or Cancel to abort.
  5. The current state of the RDD session is displayed in the detail pane by clicking the item in the data grid. For more session details, click Sessions.

Prioritize #

  1. To prioritize a RDD session, click the checkbox next to the asset for which you want to prioritize the session.
  2. Next, click Manage RDD to open the dropwdown menu in the upper right corner of the fleet overview.
  3. Click Prioritize RDD. A confirmation message is displayed.
  4. Click Confirm to proceed, or Cancel to abort.
  5. The current state of the RDD session is displayed in the detail pane by clicking the item in the data grid. For more session details, click Sessions.

Search an item #

On the Fleet overview page, you can search for a specific item (vehicle or driver details) by entering the name of the driver or license plate in the Search box. Click the required driver or vehicle record to open the details pane, and then click Archives.

For more information, see View Archive File Details.

NOTE:

Enter at least three characters to initiate a search operation.

Filter pane #

To narrow search results, you can filter driver or vehicle records to view specific alerts based on their severity level, category, and record type.

  1. On the Fleet overview page > click Filters. The Filters pane is displayed.
  2. Select the required checkboxes. The results matching the filter criteria are displayed on the Fleet overview page.
    In the example below, the fleet overview is filtered on Critical alerts, Archive integrity errors and vehicle records. The number of applied filters is displayed on the Filters button.
NOTE:

You can select multiple filters. To clear all the applied filters, click Reset all.

Customize column view #

You can customize the view on the Fleet overview page to display or hide specific columns.

On the Fleet overview page > click Columns, and then select the checkboxes for the column headers from the Column display list. The view on the page is rendered based on the selected columns.

NOTE:

To clear all the applied filters, click Reset.

Detail pane #

  1. From the left navigation pane, click Tachograph . The Fleet overview page is displayed.
  2. Select the required driver or vehicle record in the table. The Driver or Vehicle details pane for the selected driver or vehicle is displayed.
  3. The details pane displays:
    • Vehicle / Driver identification
    • Data download: Active / Inactive
    • Download frequency (see Configure RDD)
    • Buttons: Archives / Sessions
    • Current state (and alerts, if any):
      • RDD session
      • Archive integrity
      • Archive delay
      • Company card expiration

Archives – View archive file details #

The RDD sessions are downloaded and archived automatically on the Fleet overview page at set intervals.

  1. Click Archives to open the Archives pane.

  2. Next, select the required option from the period selection list.
  3. Select the required archive from the Archives pane.

    4. The archived file details are displayed on the Archive pane.

    Available fields in the details pane #

    UI element

    Description

    Name and format of the archive

    Method of upload: RDD or manual

    The generated file version

    Two file versions can be generated: Generation 1 and Generation 2.  The Generation 2 file version contains more data about the archive.

    Date and time of the generated archive file

    The activity period of the archive

    The error below is an example of an integrity issue on an archived file, which requires appropriate action by the fleet administrator.

    NOTE:

    Click Export to export the RDD archived file. The file is downloaded to the Downloads folder on your computer.

    For more information, see Export Downloaded Session Files.

Sessions – View session details #

You can view the RDD session records of drivers and vehicles for a specified period.

  1. On the Fleet overview page, select the required driver or vehicle record. The Driver (or Vehicle) details pane for the selected driver or vehicle is displayed.
  2. Click Sessions, and then select the option from the period selection list. In this example, we select All. The Sessions pane listing the RDD sessions is displayed for the selected period.
  3. Click the required session to view the details.
    4. NOTE:
    • To search session records for a custom period, select the Custom date range option from the period selection list, select a date range from the calendar picker, and then click Close.
    • There is no restriction for historical date selection; however, this depends on data availability.

Export downloaded session files #

Archives are legal historical data files. These files provide information about the activity data of the drivers and vehicles.

  1. From the left navigation pane, click Tachograph . The Fleet overview page is displayed.
  2. Select the required record. The Driver (or Vehicle) details pane for the selected driver or vehicle is displayed.
  3. Click Archives to open the Archives pane.
  4. Click Export. The RDD file is downloaded to the default Downloads folder on your computer.
NOTE:

You must download the archive files manually because the job cannot be scheduled. You can export multiple files at a time.

If no archived data is available for the selected period, the RDD session file will not be generated after you click Export.

File formats #

This table provides a brief overview of the supported file formats.  

NOTE:

While exporting a file, you can choose to download it in the required format to comply with your country-specific requirements.

File formatDescription
DDD (Digital Data Distiller)Generic file format valid in all countries
OriginalThe original file format of the archive file
C1B/V1BFile format valid only in France
TGDFile format valid only in Spain

Import an RDD archive #

You can import an RDD archive file from the SCALAR platform to verify its integrity. These files can be securely stored, and the tachograph data can be shared with other relevant modules, such as Duty Time or Infringements. The downloaded archived files are in a legally specified format and can only be interpreted by specialized software.

  1. On the Fleet overview page, click Import. The File Explorer is displayed.
  2. Select the required file, and click Open. The selected archived file is uploaded. An acknowledgment message is displayed on the Import details pane.
    3. NOTE:
    • In the File Explorer, multiple encrypted files are available in the downloaded session folder. You can import single or multiple files at a time.
    • Once a session file is uploaded to the Import details pane, you can search for the specific record in the archive log on the Fleet overview page.