Weather Alerts

(North America and Android devices only. Requires CoPilot 10.26.1.517 and Later and an add-on license for weather. Weather information is not available for routes passed into CoPilot via RouteSync. When the weather feature is enabled, CoPilot will not provide alternate routes for the driver to choose from in the MAP screen during trip planning.)

A new weather alerting service in CoPilot can help drivers plan ahead to avoid potential delays and hazardous road conditions. The service looks ahead along the driver's planned route, and it issues alerts if the driver is expected to encounter any weather issues.

The alerts are retrieved and displayed:

• For an entire route, at the time a route is calculated, for planning purposes. The alerts are based on the predicted weather conditions at the time the driver is expected to reach that point in the route.
• As the driver progresses along the route to alert them when they are approaching bad weather.

How weather alerts work

After all the stops on the route have been entered into CoPilot, or sent to CoPilot via dispatch, a driver can tap the MAP screen to view the full route path and look for weather alerts. If weather impacts the route, CoPilot displays:

1. Alert icons along the route. Each icon can be tapped to display additional information.

2. A Weather Risk Summary icon for the entire route.

Alert icons

Extreme weather	Miscellaneous Inclement weather
Poor visibility	Rain
Freezing Rain	Snow
Wind

The driver can tap an alert icon to display more information about the alert, including its location along the route, and its distance from their current location (Impact in:).

Risk definitions

The Risk level alerts the driver to the possibility a weather event will make driving more hazardous. Levels include:

• Moderate - Road conditions due to weather pose a moderate threat to drivers. Weather-related accidents are possible. Drive with caution.
• High Danger - Road conditions due to weather pose a high threat to drivers. Weather-related accidents are likely. Some roadways could be impassable.
• Extreme Danger - Road conditions due to weather pose an extreme threat to drivers. Weather-related accidents are inevitable, although driving at all may be impossible. Widespread road closures expected with an extremely high threat to life.

Weather Risk Summary

The Weather Risk Summary provides a high level overview of how weather might impact the trip.

• Max road risk - The highest risk level the driver is expected to encounter at any point during the trip.
• Max/Min temperatures - The highest and lowest temperatures expected during the trip.
• View Trip Forecast - Tap to open the Trip Forecast, which is a list view of all of the weather alerts displayed on the MAP screen. Alerts are sorted from closest to farthest away.
• OK - Tap to close the summary.

Alerts during navigation

During navigation, CoPilot issues a weather alert when the driver is within 10 miles of a weather event.  (Ten miles is the default value and that warning distance can be set using the configuration values described below.) 

1. The driver sees a pop-up message describing the alert.
2. A warning alert sound plays, and the alert is described via text-to-speech, including how close an alert is to the driver (Impact In). 
3. The pop-up closes automatically or the driver can tap OK to dismiss it. See video below.

How to configure weather alerts

Product.cfg settings are available that give you control over how and when alerts are displayed to the driver. 

1. WeatherAlertDistanceInMiles sets the distance in miles from a weather alert at which CoPilot will alert the driver during navigation. The default setting is 10 miles.
2. WarningMode sets how alerts are presented to the driver. Options are:
   • 0 - Alerts are disabled.
   • 1 - Alerts include a beep, audio message and a pop-up. This is the default.
   • 2 - Alerts include a beep and pop-up 
   • 3 - Alerts include a beep and audio message 
   • 4 - Alert include an audio message and pop-up 
   • 5 - Alerts include a beep only
   • 6 - Alerts include an audio message only
   • 7 - Alerts include a pop-up only 

Example

The alerts are set under a Weather Notifications section of the product.cfg.

[Weather Notifications]
"WeatherAlertDistanceInMiles" = 15
"WarningMode" = 3

Frequently asked questions

What do I have to do to enable the weather feature?

Weather is licensed at the account level. Once you are licensed, all of your fleet's CoPilot devices will begin receiving weather alerts as long as they have a mobile internet connection. No additional device settings are necessary.

What happens when a trip is modified, such as adding or removing a stop?

Each time a trip is changed, it is re-calculated, and CoPilot checks again for weather alerts. CoPilot provides an updated trip forecast, if any weather alerts exist along the new route.

Are there any settings drivers can use to turn off or modify alerts?

Alerts cannot be turned off by drivers in the CoPilot app. Customers that integrate CoPilot with other applications using CPIK Libraries or the SDK App can customize the alerts or turn them off using configuration settings. 

What is the expected data usage for the weather feature?

CoPilot requires a mobile data connection to check for and retrieve weather alerts for a trip. The table below shows the data usage during our testing for a trip from Wilmington to Boston, which is about 330 miles.

Mobile data consumption for weather varies depending on several factors including trip distance, duration and the frequency of route calculation and re-routing.