Smart video, smart drivers = modern fleet safety

The technology of tomorrow is here today. Dashcams and smart video backed by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are taking off and helping businesses and organisations make impactful changes, especially when integrated with telematics technology.

According to Berg Insight, the installed base of active telematics systems reached over 900,000 units in Europe in 2021, and is forecasted to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 17.9 percent, reaching 2.1 million units by 2026. 

Furthermore, it is predicted there will be 8 million video telematics systems in use by 2026 across Europe and North America combined (1).

The potential improvements in vehicle and driver safety for smart video technology fuels much of this expected growth. The results from a recent survey conducted by ABI Research for Verizon Connect, showed that customers using telematics solutions saw a 46% decrease in accidents, with 76% of those polled agreeing that driver safety improved. Furthermore, 63% of respondents reduced costs associated with accidents by up to 46.% (2).

Telematics and video technology: A perfect match for fleets

Safety is paramount to the modern fleet - drivers on average travel 11,800 kilometers each year in Ireland, on average 32.3 kilometers a day per year, increasing their chances of being involved in an accident. (3)

But if your business or organisation relies on a mobile workforce, you likely understand how hard it is to get a complete sense of what drivers and vehicles are experiencing on the roads, in addition to gathering and analysing other data points and metrics to help improve efficiency, all while reducing costs.

An integrated system that seamlessly provides telematics with driver-facing and road-facing video data in a single platform offers an invaluable depth of knowledge to businesses and organisations. 

When powered by AI, smart video solutions can automatically classify events by severity and minimise the burden of even more data on fleet owners and managers by only alerting them to events that require immediate attention. Machine learning using collected data continuously improves its analysis and accuracy of assessments, adding to its usefulness over time. 

Smart video solutions also serve as an unbiased witness, an incomparable driver training tool and a data goldmine to support advanced analytics, efficiency and cost measures.

Smart video fuels smart business with total visibility

To help fleets better navigate the road toward video adoption, our new ebook highlights the major benefits fleets can realise from this next-generation technology. Dive in to learn more about the following ways that smart video can help your organisation:

• Protect your investment: One of the most valuable benefits of an AI-enabled, integrated video solution is that it can help businesses and organisations who employ drivers or mobile workers protect their hard-earned reputations without increasing workload. The use of video and telematics data to create a complete picture empowers fleets to protect vehicles, employees, and other drivers on the road, while enabling them to effectively address false liability claims.
• Reinforce trust and boost confidence: It’s common to hear objections about technology that collects data or tracks movement, but smart technology can actually increase trust within your organisation if implemented and messaged well. Suspicion is exacerbated by lack of information, so take every opportunity to establish trust and cooperation from the start by providing access to live demos and having candid conversations with all employees to promote the benefits of video technology.
• Use facts over assumption in coaching: Businesses and organisations using telematics already have a leg up on driver coaching, but video technology enhances coaching efforts by providing real context around areas for improvement. Use data about an event, such as speed and routes driven, with actual footage for customised and more effective driver coaching and safety programmes. Driver-facing cameras can also help provide visual clarity around distracted driving behaviours—helping managers determine what negative behaviours are most pervasive within the fleet, and take action to proactively correct them.

 Download the new ebook How Smart Video Fuels Smart Business to learn more about how an integrated video solution can help protect your business.

What to look for in the whole technology package

Our ebook also investigates what to look for in a fleet-wide smart video solution itself. Video solutions have come a long way, and innovations in hardware and analysis tools such as AI and machine learning mean there’s even more to learn before you sign that contract. For example, the right technology for your organisation should be intuitive and easily integrate with existing telematics and GPS systems.

Features to note can include:

• Wide sightline, field of view
• Ability to transmit directly to a single-source
• Dual view of driver-facing and road-facing video
• Mobile, email and desktop alerts when new video footage is available
• Ability to seamlessly access the right information with a single login
• AI-backed machine learning analytics that classify videos by severity of event

How video telematics helps protect your drivers, vehicles and benefits your business

Video telematics is more advanced than ever before. Using video telematics gives fleet managers more visibility by providing a virtual ride-along. Video telematics helps fleets reduce the likelihood of at-fault crashes. And when crashes do happen, recording the incident can help reduce false claims that in turn can cause premiums to skyrocket. With fewer crashes and false claims, video telematics helps reduce accident costs and keep insurance premiums in check.

What improvements did users of video telematics see? 

• 76% of all respondents saw improvements in driver safety
• 77% of respondents considered in-cab video very or extremely beneficial across all industries
• In the General Freight industry, 85% of respondents considered in-cab video “very or extremely beneficial” 
• 74% of respondents in the Services industry found video telematics to be “very or extremely beneficial”

Video telematics goals achieved from implementing smart video across all industries:

• Improved driver safety: 76%
• Reduced false claims: 73%
• Reduced accident costs: 64%
• Reduced insurance costs: 47%
• Reduced CO2 : 39%

77% consider in-cab video “extremely” or “very beneficial” in all the industries. (4)

For an in-depth dive into the major benefits of fleet video, and to learn more about how it can positively impact operations, download your copy of this ebook today.

Sources: 

(1): https://media.berginsight.com/2022/04/21155248/bi-videotelematics3-ps.pdf

(2&4): https://www.verizonconnect.com/ie/resources/ebook/get-your-new-fleet-technology-trends-report-europe-2023/

(3): https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/transport/transportomnibus