Drivers, safety leaders, fleet managers, and companies that own vehicle fleets share a common goal—to reduce injuries, to themselves or others, and avoid collisions. In order to achieve this, they need a driver and fleet safety platform that:
- Alerts drivers before collisions happen; that is, avoid collisions rather than report on the collision after the fact
- Helps drivers improve their driving; especially newer drivers who are statistically several times more likely to be involved in collisions
The challenge is to provide drivers with the right information at the right time, without intruding on their privacy or professionalism. Doing this requires a DRIVER-FIRST approach, versus a "report and coach later" approach. The good news? Artificial intelligence enables this. AI can deliver real-time feedback before an incident occurs, giving drivers a chance to avoid collisions instead of just triggering and reporting that an event has already occurred.
Why Video Telematics and Dashcam Solutions Fall Short
To detect driver distraction, most video telematics and dashcam solutions today require driver video to be uploaded to the cloud for analysis (i.e. human review) before any distraction determination is made. There are significant shortcomings to this approach:
- The time lag, or latency, resulting from data transmission from the vehicle to the cloud and back again prevents real-time alerting. This means the driver doesn’t get a chance to act in time to prevent the incident, and worse, the supervisor knows something has happened even before the driver does (since many systems on the market don’t even let the driver know data was captured).
- Drivers fear in-vehicle video will be used against them, and will find ways to block the system from working as intended. When this occurs, they’re missing out on a chance to be exonerated from the collisions that are not their fault, as well as a chance to learn. This would be possible if the driver was notified of the risk first, in real-time, while they still had an opportunity to change their behavior or avoid the risk.
One of the most alarming trends in video telematics is 24-hour, live streaming views into the vehicle, or “unannounced drop-ins.” The industry has seen drivers and unions alike revolt over this capability and invasion of privacy. So much so that Freightwaves recently published an article on the very topic. Driver and fleet safety does not require surveillance or constant human monitoring of the driver if the right tools are used.
The AI Advantage
The use of AI sensors in the vehicle to detect driver movement, gaze direction/attention, vehicle activity, traffic conditions, and other contextual data to make real-time decisions about imminent risks can provide on average a 40%-60% reduction in collision frequency and collision-related costs. AI sensors and real-time AI intervention in the vehicle help 4 out of 5 drivers reduce distracted driving WITHOUT manager involvement. AI safety systems like Nauto’s do not require human review or video access at all and are perfectly compatible with ensuring driver privacy.
Of course, there are use cases where it is to the drivers’ benefit to enable video uploads. For example, video can be used to exonerate drivers from false, and not-at-fault, claims. So having the option for both capabilities is desirable.
Nauto AI is Road-Tested
Choosing the Right Solution
When evaluating different driver and fleet safety systems, do not be confused by vendors that spin technology deficiencies into “features” that ultimately limit driver adoption and loyalty. Require your vendor’s platform to perform real-time AI in the vehicle, without requiring video upload to the cloud to detect driver distractions or imminent collisions.
The Nauto Driver and Fleet Safety Platform is the only in-vehicle technology leveraging multi-tasked convolutional neural network models to simultaneously assess complete, real-time risk from driver behavior, traffic elements, vehicle movement, and critical contextual data to predict and prevent high-risk driving events—to help commercial fleets save money and save lives. Our goal is to deliver insights and help to DRIVERS FIRST.
Nauto ensures drivers get feedback first—via both audible, real-time alerts in the vehicle and in a mobile, self-coaching driver app. Drivers receive this information well before their supervisor does. In many Nauto deployments, drivers can gain access to all events, while managers can only access collision or severe event data. Nauto puts the power to decide how much and when video is uploaded into the appropriate hands.
With Nauto, you don’t have to make a safety vs. privacy trade-off!
Sources:
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Nauto and Atlas Financial Holdings, Inc. Driver Safety Report (2018)
- Nauto Driver Safety Report: Reducing Distracted Driving with In-Vehicle AI (2019)
