Optimised travel

There is a cost in this sector that nobody talks about much, because it is taken as inevitable: hours in the van. A technician can spend more time driving between jobs than installing. And not because the jobs are far away, but because assignments get decided with whatever information is at hand: you call the usual person, or the first one who picks up, even when there is another technician just as good ten minutes from the site. Nobody has the full picture of who is going to be where, so proximity almost never enters the decision.

That full picture is exactly what Level AV could have. The platform knows each technician's schedule and where their work orders are. With that information, when an integrator was about to assign a new job, Level AV could suggest the technician who needs the least travel: the one already going to be nearby that day, or the one with the closest base. We are not going to get into how it would be calculated; what matters is what you would see: a clear suggestion, with the reason in plain sight, along the lines of “this technician already has a work order 8 km away on the same day”.

And one important thing: it would be a suggestion, not an imposition. The integrator would keep choosing with complete freedom, because there are factors a platform cannot see: trust, fine grained specialisation, the relationship with the end client. The suggestion only puts a fact on the table that nobody has today, so that the decision can be a better one. And the suggested technician would still accept or turn down each job as always: their schedule is theirs.

Both worlds win here, and that is why we like this idea so much. The technician wins back the hours that today stay on the road: less time in the van means more billable time, or simply getting home earlier. The integrator wins on cost and on capacity: fewer kilometres to pay for, less dead time, and more work orders that fit into the same day. Even the planet comes out ahead, which never hurts: fewer kilometres means fewer emissions.

We believe assignment by proximity can change the daily economics of AV operations, above all on projects with many sites spread out: retail chains, clinics, hotels. That is where a good sequence of jobs makes the difference between a profitable week and a week of tolls.

We are exploring this idea and your vote tells us whether we are on the right track. If you coordinate technicians, think about your last week of assignments. If you are a technician, think about your last thousand kilometres. Then vote.