How video technology can increase driver safety

February 21, 2022 By Brian Richesson

National Safety Council (NSC) data indicates an increase in motor vehicle deaths since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the end of 2020, NSC estimated that 42,000 people may have died on the roads – a 24 percent rise in the death rate while the number of miles driven dropped 13 percent. Through the first half of 2021, the death rate climbed another 3 percent.

With these numbers as a backdrop, Yoav Banin, chief product officer at California-based Nauto and an expert in fleet safety technology, predicts the adoption of video-based vehicle safety technology will be at its highest level this year.

Traditionally, video-based safety meant recording and sending “after the fact” reports to safety managers. Yoav believes that the major trend going forward is predictive and preventive artificial intelligence (AI) that alerts drivers in real time, in advance, to avoid collisions.

Yoav shares some of his predictions on why this type of preventive AI will be imperative for the coming year and beyond:

Deeper understanding of risk: The next layer of intelligence can determine what is important and not important for collision avoidance and an improved driver experience by fusing different risk factors, enriching context beyond basic telematics detection and single isolated events.
Next-level operational point of view: Addressing true risk factors on a per-driver basis, as opposed to a generic bucket of risk, will drive results.
Predictive accident prevention: In real terms, a supervisor may receive a series of warnings about a particular driver, enabling them to check in, have a live, over-the-air conversation and possibly advise taking a break.
Rise of the driver: Fleets will need to adopt safety technology that is driver-centric, meaning it is imperative that a driver feels supported and protected by the technology and not monitored 24/7.
Leveraging data for traffic flow: Municipalities want access to shared data that can create maps and build location-based risk models to create alternate routes and traffic configurations that decrease accident-prone hotspots.