SAINT-NICOLAS, Que. -- Groupe Robert will receive up to $500,000 for a new fuel reduction project under Transport Canada's Freight Technology Demonstration Fund. 

This project will use data collection software to determine which specific driver behaviors are consistent with optimal fuel economy.

About 250 data collection systems will be used to gather information from more than 1,000 Robert drivers operating in Ontario and Quebec.

Drivers who continually have low rates of fuel consumption will be studied to provide a model for training other drivers. The project will run until July 2010.

"This technology is a great tool to measure, in real time, the performance of professional drivers," said Claude Robert, CEO of Groupe Robert. "We appreciate the funding provided by the Government of Canada for this technology that will help freight transportation companies, like Groupe Robert, to reduce fuel consumption costs and contribute to a better and healthier environment."

The Freight Technology Demonstration Fund generates cost-shared demonstrations to test and measure new and underused freight transportation technologies that reduce greenhouse gas and air pollution in Canadian conditions.

It is part of Transport Canada's ecoFREIGHT Program, which aims to reduce the effects of freight transportation on human health and the environment by promoting environmentally sound technologies and best practices.