Can a driver behavior learning platform prevent accidents?
How do your driving skills measure up? New technology for fleets can tell you, and it could be on its way to consumer vehicles soon.
A company called Nauto, a provider of fleet safety products, just announced what it claims is the first and only in-vehicle, real-time AI-powered driver behavior learning platform. The in-vehicle, bolt-on integration is able to actively predict, prevent, and decrease high-risk driving events by observing conditions outside the car and, crucially, analyzing how the driver is handling those conditions.
It works by tapping into a vehicle's onboard sensors to continuously analyze sensor data from driver behaviors, exterior hazards, and vehicle movement in real-time. That sensor data comes together and is compared by the AI software to benchmarks gathered from over 400 million AI-analyzed video miles. When something seems out of whack, or when a dangerous situation seems to be developing, often without the driver's awareness, the system prompts in-vehicle notifications.
"We designed the Nauto Driver Behavior Learning Platform to be the most important part of a commercial fleet's driver safety program," said Shweta Shrivastava, vice president of products, Nauto. "We help commercial fleets protect its most critical assets — its drivers. By alerting drivers to danger before it's too late, or offering clear and actionable coaching in the moment, companies are quickly learning the power of Nauto's platform to reinvent fleet economics and keep drivers safe."
It's estimated that about 90 percent of accidents are the result of human error. A system like Nauto's can help mitigate the risk the by reacting to and staying ahead of a driver's incompetence.
Crucially, Nauto's system does all the computing onboard. That gives it a leg up over traditional telemetrics systems that send sensor data to the cloud for computing, a process that increases reaction times and introduces latency and connectivity issues.
Nauto develops technology for fleets, not consumer vehicles, but it's a safe bet this kind of technology, which allows for on-demand coaching, instructive safety insights, and even claims management in the event of a collision, is coming to consumer vehicles soon. With fully autonomous cars still a decade or so out, insurance companies and auto manufacturers are rapidly developing stopgap technologies to make driving safer.
"With Nauto, I have changed my drivers' behavior for the better," said John Ufheil, Executive VP of Strategic Planning and Business Advancement and Co-owner of Daytona Beverage, which uses the AI driver behavior platform. "Nauto is the only solution that's both proactive and provides the context needed to provide real-time and effective coaching. It is by far the best AI safety platform I've seen on the market."