view into the cockpit of the truck from the side

The Top 5 Benefits of AI Dash Cams for Fleets 

Today’s fleet managers face a continuous need to improve driver safety and minimize roadway accidents, a task that often takes them from other important work. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) dash cams for fleets can improve processes and keep drivers safe.

With the use of AI dash cameras, fleet managers gain more insightful and actionable data than ever before. AI is more accessible than ever, revolutionizing commercial fleets in the process. 

What Does AI Have to Do with Fleet Management?

Some of the best dash cam systems now incorporate AI features. AI and machine learning in dash cameras allow for continuous monitoring of driving behaviour and road conditions.

The benefits are expansive, saving fleets time, money and resources.

#1: AI Dash Cams Reduce Distracted Driving

Even under optimal circumstances, drivers can get tired or distracted, leading to a higher risk of accidents or aggressive driving. 

The mere presence of AI dash cams can help keep your drivers focused on roadways. Moreover, this smart technology recognizes distracted driving and notices any changes in the driver’s behaviour. 

AI dash cams can initiate alerts, either audibly or by haptic sensors, to let a driver know that they need to focus their attention on the road, keeping them safe while enforcing compliance.

#2: Monitoring of Road Conditions Reduces Incidents and Optimizes Routes

Weather conditions, road conditions and other motorists can all impact a driver’s delivery schedule. AI dash cams can help fleets by identifying obstacles and risks on the roadway, while providing alternative routes in the event of excessive traffic or inclimate weather.

AI dash cameras can also connect to telematics software, allowing fleet managers to connect with their drivers and offer alternative routes in real-time. Finally, because AI “learns”, it can aid future deliveries and more efficient travel with route optimization.

#3: Mitigating Risk After an Accident

Did you know that 87% of road accidents are preventable? When a collision occurs, and they often do, there tends to be a disconnect between negligence and liability. 

Large organizations with massive fleets are assumed to have more resources (i.e. more insurance), and are therefore targeted for payouts, even if they’re not at fault. For example, there are cases where a company can be identified as 10% negligent and still have to cover 100% of the financial liability. 

AI dash cams can record what happens before, during, and after an incident occurs. Video footage can be used as evidence in a claim and identify who is truly at fault, potentially exonerating your drivers.

#4: AI Dash Cams for Fleets Reduce Costs

The use of AI dash cams can significantly reduce the cost of operations, including insurance premiums, maintenance and operational costs.

When paired with telematics, AI dash cams can provide real-time data around how your drivers operate your vehicles, identifying speeding, distance, idling, harsh braking or speeding. 

These data sets provide insights not only into driver behaviour, but into vehicle repair and maintenance. Using AI footage to identify these behaviours allows you to stop excessive wear and tear before it happens.

#5: AI Dash Cams for Fleets Improve Driver / Management Relationships

Good or bad, all driving behaviour becomes a teachable moment. AI dash cams are changing the way fleet management takes place by offering driver coaching in real-time

In-cab communications triggered by an alert offer transparency between drivers and management, allowing the latter to promote better driving habits and keep drivers safe while enforcing a culture of trust. 

AI dash cams constitute a next-gen approach to coaching, training, accident reduction and better driving. Contact us at GoFleet to see how our AI dash cam solutions can be a great fit for your enterprise.

 

truck in the mirror of car

How ZenduCAM’s Multi-Camera Solution Will Improve Your Fleet

Today, most fleet managers understand the value of including a camera (or two) on every vehicle. Fleet cameras assist with driver supervision, improve performance, and can lower legal liabilities.

One study found that simply including cameras was enough to lower insurance costs for 58% of respondents. And organizations that actively integrate advanced fleet cameras into operations see even more advantages.

JTI-Macdonald used smart fleet monitoring to lower preventable accidents by 64% and reduce its average cost per claim by 64%. Operators are always looking to increase efficiency and cut costs, so it makes perfect sense that fleet camera use is steadily on the rise.

Integrating a vehicle monitoring system is always a smart choice. If you’re a manager, the question is this – what fleet camera solution is right for your organization?

Are standalone dash cams good enough? Or will your organization benefit from using a more advanced multi-camera system?

Why Every Fleet Manager Needs a Smart Multi-Cam Solution

Fleet management can be tricky, especially when it comes to supervising drivers in the field. You need a way to know what’s going on without riding with every driver.

In the past, managers had to rely on indirect methods like driver self-supervision, trip recorders, or MVR monitoring services. Monitoring services are great for ensuring route adherence, catching driving violations, and spotting license-related red flags. But these technologies don’t actually show how employees are driving.

Not having direct fleet visibility makes it difficult to analyze performance, monitor driver activities, and make safety assessments. It’s also harder to defend the organization in case of accidents, insurance claims, or any legal disputes.

Fleet cameras represent the only practical way for managers to always have an eye on drivers. However, not all camera options deliver the same management advantages.

  • A single dashcam will provide forward-facing visibility but miss side or rear views
  • Not all cameras assess driving speed or driving safety
  • Not all cameras include geographic information
  • Some camera footage archives can’t be effectively searched by managers or supervisors

Rather than generic dash cameras, choose a fleet camera solution developed with management in mind. ZenduCAM is a smart, multi-camera solution built to make your work more efficient and extend your capabilities. It enhances driver visibility, facilitates remote supervision, and assists with training and performance improvement.

1. Get Complete Driver and Fleet Visibility

Unlike other fleet camera options, ZenduCAM’s multi-camera system shows everything that happens inside the cab and around its periphery. Having a complete view of the driving environment is essential for legal record keeping, performance reviews, and improving safety training.

It’s difficult to understand how well a driver is doing or determine what caused an incident without seeing the driver and what’s around them. A single dashcam doesn’t provide this and neither does a dual camera system where one camera points forwards while the other looks in at the driver.

ZenduCAM doesn’t rely on one or two views. You can have up to four cameras set up on any vehicle. Choose from:

  • a driver-facing camera
  • a forward-facing wide-angle camera
  • a forward-facing driver distraction camera
  • a rearview camera
  • a sideview camera

This fleet camera setup provides a complete 360-degree view of the cab’s interior and exterior. You can view the driver’s actions while understanding what road conditions they are responding to. The footage recorded gives complete context on driver behavior, performance, road conditions, and road safety.

2. Monitor Everyone’s Location

Fleet managers need to see what drivers are doing and know their locations at all times. That’s why all our fleet cameras come with location monitoring technology. You can either use our built-in GPS or integrate the system with a 3rd party telematics device, like Geotab.

This is real-time GPS tracking designed for active fleet management. You get complete fleet visibility, along with tracking control and geographic-based record keeping.

You can track the assets you want – when and where you need to – by setting up a few geofencing rules. Then sit back and watch the entire fleet on a single dashboard.

3. Preserve Driving Footage

ZenduCAM is the easiest way to amass a significant driving footage archive for training purposes and internal use or managing insurance claims, compliance verification, and providing legal backup.

Our fleet cameras automatically upload recorded footage to the cloud with complete location and driver information. In addition, any footage around an accident, dangerous driving, or other event is also stored in a separate library.

Want to use physical storage as well? Each device can store anywhere from 3 to 30 days of footage.

The archive is easy to sort through and can be filtered by time, area, driver, or type of incident. ZenduCAM was designed to streamline the claims management process and improve fraud prevention.

4. Screen For Dangerous Driving

Unless you plan to stay glued to the screen, you need a fleet camera system that can supervise drivers for you. ZenduCAM does this with AI, facial recognition, and night vision technology. It watches for unsafe conditions, driver errors, and road incidents.

The AI algorithms identify dangerous driving patterns like sudden accelerations, turns, swerving, or braking. We paired this with facial recognition technology to identify distracted or fatigued drivers.

When abnormal driving is detected, ZenduCAM gives drivers instant feedback, logs the event, and sends management alerts.

5. Customize Driver Training

Organizations are always looking to improve driver performance and safety. You can leverage ZenduCAM’s real-time driving analytics and camera footage archives into a customized internal training program with a few steps.

  1. Find preventable driving errors and incidents
  2. Use the insights to understand what caused them
  3. Check the footage to see how drivers could have prevented errors
  4. Train or retrain drivers as necessary.

This is similar to how JTI-Macdonald dropped its preventable accident rate. The organization used smart telematics to identify problematic drivers and then developed a targeted retraining program.

You can jumpstart any safety training program by checking ZenduCAM for the most common errors or drivers with the worst performance levels.

6. Customize Alert and Recording Triggers

Whenever a driving rule is broken, ZenduCAM sends alerts via email, text message, or the app. These alerts include video footage, location information, and incident descriptions.

You can customize ZenduCAM’s triggers to control what alerts you get and what driving events it should single out.

Most fleet managers use this to get instant notifications on accidents. But you can also use it to follow new drivers more closely or set alerts for repeated safety violations.

7. See and Manage Everything On-The-Go

Fleet management can’t be confined to office environments and desktop computers. Does the fleet you manage run according to your personal schedule? Do drivers stop working whenever you need to go on break? Probably not.

If your fleet is always on the go, you need a way to manage them on the go. With ZenduCAM’s mobile and tablet apps, you can always keep an eye on drivers and vehicles assets – no matter where you are or what device is available.

The apps are robust enough for full mobile fleet management. You can view live fleet camera footage, check on individual drivers, watch recordings, and see all your alerts.

Get The Fleet Camera Solution You Need

At GoFleet, we leverage advanced and emerging technologies to build world-class fleet cameras and monitoring solutions.

ZenduCAM is an innovative fleet camera system with an array of smart technologies. Ready to improve your management capabilities? Contact us today for your free demonstration.

illustration of driver facial recognition

AI in the Driver’s Seat: The Beginner’s Guide to Facial Recognition and ADAS

Most car accidents are the result of human error. According to Brake Road Safety Charity, The most common distractions are physical (smoking, eating), visual (looking at other people or objects), mental (thinking about things other than driving), and auditory (music, listening to your phone).

If you are a fleet manager, your vehicles, assets and drivers represent a considerable investment. As the requirements of your fleet continue to evolve, it’s more important than ever to protect your investments and maximize the efficiency of your business.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are quickly becoming a must-have for any operation that involves commercial vehicles. ADAS act as a second pair of “eyes”; they are safety systems that remove the human error component when operating a vehicle. ADAS aims to reduce the possibility of death and injury by:

  • Detecting and avoiding pedestrians
  • Recognizing traffic signals
  • Detecting blind spots
  • Warning and correcting the driver about lane departures
  • Applying automatic emergency brakes

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a critical component of ADAS technology and works synergistically to create a driving experience that is safe, secure, and efficient. ADAS algorithms are based on visual perception, making them virtually indispensable to drivers and vehicle manufacturers alike.

In this post, we’ll explore how ADAS and AI dash cams can help keep your drivers safe while positively impacting your bottom line.

AI Facial Recognition

To that end, AI facial recognition, such as that found in dash cameras, aids drivers in staying alert and focused when they’re on the road by detecting distractions such as fatigue or cell phone use. In the event of a distraction, the system will deliver a visual and/or audio alert in real-time to bring the driver’s focus back to the road ahead.

With regards to reducing driver fatigue, AI facial recognition uses cameras that scan the driver’s eyelids and the retina to monitor alertness. When a driver falls asleep, the retinas become darker and less responsive when exposed to light changes. Within the first few seconds, the system notifies the driver with an alarm.

Why ADAS Technology Matters

As car manufacturers race towards automation, their commercial truck counterparts are starting to catch up, though there’s still a considerable distance between them. AI dash cams are the most advanced way to protect drivers while reinforcing positive driving behaviours and compliance on the road.

Safety

A recent study found that even 1.5 seconds of warning could potentially prevent 90% of collisions. The potential for reducing accidents on the road makes ADAS essential. By scanning the road ahead for potential hazards, an ADAS can provide reliable tracking, video evidence and protection for your fleet, your assets and your brand.

Authentication

AI facial recognition has the capacity to identify any driver employed with your fleet. Each time a driver enters an enabled vehicle, the system “recognizes” them and gives them access to the vehicle. This reduces potential theft or unauthorized use of company property.

Training

AI dash cams provide full transparency between drivers and fleet managers, offering the opportunity to coach in real-time and encourage learning from past behaviours to improve future outcomes.

Time-Saving

AI dash cams will only provide data to fleet managers based on the triggers they specify. No more wading through hours of dash cam footage to find a single event. Alerts are sent in real-time, as events happen, and provide immediate footage to either exonerate or train your driver.

Cost Savings

When you know where your assets are, you can reduce the likelihood of theft or loss. AI dash cams and ADAS can help reduce a list of costs attributed to running your fleet, including:

  • Insurance claims and liability in the event of an accident
  • Maintenance costs associated with harsh driving
  • Repairs as a result of maintenance or accidents
  • Compliance fines
  • Time and labour costs

The Bottom Line

Whether you want to detect distracted driving, automate coaching or avoid collisions, ADAS is an essential component to every fleet. Contact your GoFleet specialist today to discuss the right AI solutions for you.

how to choose best fleet camera in 2022

How to Select the Best Dash Cam for Fleet Vehicles – 2022 Guide

From cars to commercial fleets and everything in between, there isn’t a vehicle in production that couldn’t benefit from a dash cam solution. But what is the best dash cam for fleets?

The road can be a dangerous and precarious place; new and emerging dash cam technology makes transportation safer for drivers, passengers and fleet managers.

Dash cam strategies significantly improved this past year, right alongside improved driver safety records. Fleet navigation strategies and capacities likewise increased dramatically, allowing businesses of any size to thrive in this globalized world.

AI technology also took a quantum leap forward this past year.  While we’re not yet at the stage of employing a fleet of fully autonomous vehicles, AI has revolutionized and streamlined the fleet industry, from fleet management software to dash cam technology like Smart Witness.

Imagine having the capture and retrieval capacity to provide diagnostic engine data and maintenance servicing reminders—long before a vehicle breaks down. Or the video capacity and resolution to show conclusive evidence exonerating drivers falsely accused of causing accidents.

What if it were possible to give driver safety alerts in real-time, helping prevent accidents, reduce drowsiness, or warn of tailgating—even at night? Try to picture fleet operations managers receiving video alerts triggered by any range of incidents—immediately, rather than waiting for formal accident reports or written tickets.

Who knew that by 2022 command centres could conduct virtual ride-alongs or in-cab coaching, record training sessions, detect unsafe behaviours and reward safe drivers in real-time?

That’s the beauty of dash cam technology today: All of these leaps in fleet operation strategies are actually here. From AI-equipped dash cams to infrared technology, 2022 is going to make smart fleets wiser, safer, and more automated.

Here are what the smarter fleets are focusing on this year.

2022 Dash Cam Wish List

As the world becomes ever more interconnected, dash cam digital technology strategies are providing more peace of mind than ever before. Emerging trends for the upcoming year give fleets an advantage over every generation that came before.

  • Thermostat sensors in commercial transportation vehicles now provide temperature readings once a minute.
  • Multi-camera solutions for armoured trucks and emergency vehicles mean command centres can now receive live stream of both the driver and contents in the back of the vehicle.
  • Delivery vehicles and ride shares now have facial recognition software to authorize driver use, or log in route details.

Fleet managers, command centres and anyone hurrying on the road are sure to benefit from the following vast technological improvements—coming to a fleet near you.

Improved Driver Safety

When digital dash cam technology first came about, drivers were wary. But given the remarkable evolution of responsive navigation and its impact on road safety, drivers soon began requesting this emerging technology as an added protection for them on the road.

Technology like MobilEye 560 continuously scans the road ahead to analyze driving patterns and speeds, warning drivers of potential collisions or other road hazards.

MobileEye and Samsara AI dash cams also come equipped with infrared LED and low light camera video recording capability, allowing for clear night vision.

The ZenduCam multi-camera solution provides drivers a microphone and a panic button to reach fleet managers in real-time.

Reduced Vehicle Incidents

Avoiding collisions and offering warning alerts in critical situations can make the difference between life and death on the road. GoFleet’s integrated 5-Driver Assistance warns of pedestrian and cyclist collisions, speed limit indications, lane departure warnings, harsh breaking and more.

ADAS, or Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, have become a leading industry trend due to their ability to prevent accidents. For example, MobileEye uses ADAS technology to warn of objects ahead, tailgating, even distracted driving. When it comes to road safety, every bit helps.

Incident-based reporting now allows dash cams to filter the footage surrounding an accident or event, and automatically stream it to the fleet command centre. No longer will fleet managers have to review hours of footage to localize an event. Today, that tedious task is fully automated.

Improved Driver Training

GoFleet’s seamless integration of emerging dash cam technologies allows real-time alerts, so drivers are warned before accidents happen.

Alerts are sent immediately after an event—such as crossing a lane boundary or tailgating—and received within a few tenths of a second.

Automated reports—on individuals or entire fleets—provide detailed driver scorecards and can even measure safety improvements over the life of your drivers.

Driver safety software can even be ‘gamefied,’ allowing for healthy team competition that makes road safety more engaging and fun. For example, Drivewyze rewards hard-earned driver safety scores by offering bypass opportunities at inspection sites and weigh stations.

Seamless Integration

GoFleet’s future-focused vision has stayed miles ahead of emerging technology, allowing for a seamless integration of customizable platforms loaded with the best features available to fleets in the new year.

Better data and vastly improved interconnectivity has allowed GPS tracking solutions such as GeoTabs to be paired with emerging dash cam technology. This gives fleets the following capabilities:

  • Connecting to a vehicles engine to provide ongoing diagnostic codes, engine data, fuel use and more, under any weather condition, anywhere on Earth.
  • Compliance rules, such as the ELD mandate, are merged into the navigation software so driver logs are automatically registered, and driving hours compared against regulation hours.
  • Timecard reports, detailed diver records, real-time streaming dash cam footage, video incident management solutions, even requisition sign-off forms can all be automated by triggering digital signatures or electronic logs, with encryption features for data security.

Streamlined and simplified, automating paperwork (and guesswork) means that the daily administration of fleet operations has become a less onerous task, allowing managers to focus on what matters most.

The Best Dash Cam for Fleets: Strategies

With the many recent advances in smart dash cam technology, the selection process can be daunting. There are dual-facing dash cameras, wireless cameras, rear-view mirror dash cams, even multi-camera devices that employ backup cameras—just in case.

GoFleet can help you integrate your required services with the right dash navigation system platform.

Dash cams in 2022 are powered by an ever-growing number of sources, including wireless, GPS, Bluetooth, lithium batteries and even solar-powered sensors. The sky is now, quite literally, the limit.

Before committing to any dash navigation system, fleets are strongly recommended to seek the advice of telematics experts. Our GoFleet advisors offer free trials and live demonstrations, so your team can effectively evaluate different dash-cam options in live action.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ to fleet monitoring. Like any good diagnosis, the trick lies in being laser focused on individual needs, then adjusting the available technology appropriately to effectively measure and support the impacted operation areas.

With that said, our experts, designers and engineers are excited to recommend the following next-generation top-rated dash cams for fleet vehicles and cars in 2022.

ZenduCAM Z6 Dash Camera

This GPS active dash cam provides real-time video and advanced AI technology, with audio-visual alerts, analytic reporting of unsafe driver behaviour, driver coaching capability, even ‘panic button’ video alerts from drivers in the event of an incident.

Live video footage can record incidents both day and night, and exonerate your drivers from false accusations or accident liability.

Features include:

  • HD Recording Support: 1080p high-definition footage
  • Facial AI: Detects distracted or drowsy driving
  • Real-time Coaching: Contact drivers remotely to provide live training on the road
  • Supports Remote Retrieval & Streaming: For critical recorded events; know your company’s liability within minutes
  • All-in-one Coaching Dashboard: Insights enabled for fleet managers and drivers

Samsara AI Dash Cam

The beauty of this wide-angle, full HP 1080p HDR video camera with infrared LED for night vision is simple: they’ve thought of everything. This intelligent dual dash cam combines internet-connected cameras with cloud-based software and real-time visibility.

It helps your team coach drivers in real-time by using AI detection of unsafe or distracted behaviours, helping prevent accidents, litigation and preventable losses.

Features include:

  • Real-time Visibility: Live video streaming, accident retrieval, and distracted driving detection
  • Optimize Dispatch Routes: Custom dashboards and reports for managers to monitor GPS locations and driving behaviour
  • Stay Connected with Live Updates: Data, security and privacy that is GDPR compliant and are monitored 24/7

ZenduCAM Multi-Camera Solution

This intelligent, next-level dash cam unit has multiple camera inputs for the same device, connecting up to 4 cameras in a single vehicle. This solution also comes equipped with a panic button, GPS receiver, microphone, 3-Axis G-Sensor, all translating into 360-degree visibility and real-time footage of driving events.

This solution is available for Android or iOS platforms, and the cloud.

Features include:

  • 360-Degree Visibility: Connect up to 4 cameras to reduce blind spots and view live HD footage at any time.
  • Set Rules & Alerts: Get real-time footage of driving events triggered by defined rules in the Geotab telematics solution.
  • View Footage Anywhere, Anytime: View events on a smartphone or tablet. Available on Android and iOS platforms.

ZenduCam AD Plus

The ZenduCam AD Plus continuously captures video events using AI and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) functionalities, so you can review incidents in real-time and conduct driver coaching on the go. This solution integrates seamlessly with popular fleet management platforms (such as Trax and Geotab) to provide a holistic overview of your fleet.

Features include:

  • This driver-facing camera has facial AI recognition to authenticate drivers and detect risky driving behaviour.
  • This plug-n-play 3-channel dash camera allows for easy installation, no technician required.
  • The AD Plus supports live video streaming, so you can upload video playback and crucial events in real-time.
  • Receive notifications of all critical road and driver-facing events with harsh driving detection.
  • ADAS means your drivers can prevent accidents before they happen.

Mobileye Integrated Collision Avoidance System

Mobileye was designed with one priority in mind: Protecting the driver. It uses a single forward-facing camera that scans the road ahead, providing the driver with critical safety feedback in real-time.

Features include:

  • Prevent Collisions: Mobileye’s collision avoidance system warns drivers of potential hazards in real time with audio and/or visual warnings.
  • Stay Connected: Receive critical real-time alerts on your smartphone, in addition to the EyeWatch that is included with the system.
  • Night Vision & Weather Resistance: Works in all weather conditions and has night vision capabilities for accident avoidance in any situation.

Used in conjunction with Geotab integration, transmission of alerts and video footage of the road are captured and sent, all under one operating system equipped with IHC analog output.

Mobileye provides five different Driver Assistance warning mechanisms:

  • Pedestrian Collision Warning (PCW)
  • Forward Collision Warning (FCW)
  • Lane Departure Warning (LDW)
  • Headway Monitoring and Warning (HMW)
  • Speed Limit Indication (SLI)

Get Smart

Despite the speed with which technology evolves, GoFleet dash cam solutions keep the pace, making it easier for fleets to optimize.

The coming year is sure to lower insurance premiums and preventable thefts by protecting fleet management agencies and drivers.

Smart dash cam technology frees fleets and drivers from false claims, preventing needless accidents and helping fleets stay in compliance.

Despite current global supply chain issues and derailed logistics, our integrated dash cam solutions will keep you ahead of any curve—even helping measure and lower fuel maintenance costs.

GoFleet’s quick response and expert flexibility will help ensure your fleet stays robust. Schedule a demo and see what GoFleet can do for your business.