You cannot go a week without hearing how fleets are trying to implement artificial intelligence (AI) into their businesses. Despite the palpable (and sometimes overdone) hype, AI is improving efficiency, workflows, and video safety technologies—effectively reducing liabilities for some of the largest fleets.
With the integration of machine learning, video safety solution capabilities are evolving quickly in a short span of time, to the benefit of commercial vehicle drivers and everyone they share the road with.
Here’s where and how it’s happening.
WAREHOUSES, FACTORIES, AND MANUFACTURING FACILITIES
Let’s imagine a busy warehouse, where the likelihood of a dangerous or costly incident is high. Heavy pallets and workers are constantly on the move and 30 percent of accidents are forklift-related. Spatial awareness and visibility can be limited and maneuvering a forklift isn’t easy for beginners.
AI-enabled object-detection forklift cameras currently hitting the market raise safety standards in this environment, as they give alerts for risky driver behaviors and eliminate blind spots in high-traffic areas by picking up pedestrian and vehicle movements in a 360° viewing area.
These systems’ blind spot exposure capabilities and around-vehicle awareness go a long way for drivers of all experience levels and their detection systems point out dangerous situations commonly caused by beginners. Utilizing this data, warehouse managers can now easily reassign inexperienced operators to other tasks, where their lack of forklift familiarity would incur less property or personal damage. These real-time adjustments can save businesses millions in the long term.
Forecasting and addressing problems ahead of time also becomes easier with AI-powered features like gesture and object identification, and with machine learning, these systems improve over time. This new generation of forklift systems hitting the markets will decrease future injuries or fatalities, cut insurance and downtime costs, and increase operational efficiency and vehicle life.
Just outside of a warehouse is the loading dock, where box trucks and other large vehicles require tight maneuvering by practiced hands. With the newest wave of AI-powered pedestrian detection systems, both pedestrians and warehouse workers are protected from these large vehicles’ blind spots. The visual and audio warnings create situational awareness and safer spaces in high-risk environments for drivers. AI object identification capability increases the accuracy of these systems, to everyone’s benefit.
ON THE ROAD
Once that driver steps into his box truck’s cab to pull out of the loading dock into the street, he’s vulnerable to costly accidents to the tune of $100,000 to $750,000 or more, if serious or fatal injuries occur. However, investing in the current wave of AI-powered driver-facing cameras helps avoid distracted driving incidents and gives management a powerful look into operator behaviors.
By enhancing a camera’s eye movement and hand gesture detection or using facial recognition software for security purposes, AI becomes the ultimate assistant. When these features combine, they grant fleet managers the ability to harvest critical data in the back end to unlock real-time coaching and driver training. When road-facing cameras get an AI upgrade, driver alerts for speeding, tailgating, and forward collisions can provide ADAS, as incidents are recorded and uploaded to the cloud. All these invaluable data points make the difference between a streamlined operation and an inefficient business.
Side and rear cameras aren’t excluded from the applications of machine learning. When it comes to upfitting larger vehicles with four-camera configurations for 360° coverage, it’s becoming easier to find AI-powered, customized aftermarket solutions for your commercial vehicle, complete with object/gesture recognition, proximity warnings, and visual alerts.
Though useful for highway driving, these features are even more crucial for maneuvering tight urban streets, where the road is shared with passenger vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. Exposing blind spots takes the guesswork out of simple activities like switching lanes, parking, and going in and out of traffic, not to mention avoiding injury and death via rear-end collisions, sideswipes, or underrides.
The presence of AI in your commercial vehicles safety system couldn’t be more timely, as modern streets are now shared with bike lanes, an influx of electric delivery scooters, and large commercial vehicles with poor peripheral vision.
THE FUTURE’S HERE
No, this won’t be the last time you hear about implementing AI. However, you will likely notice how safety has been enhanced rapidly by its integration into the next video safety system your fleet has invested in.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kevin Anderson is a marketing communications specialist, focused on copywriting, editing, content creation, and social media for a number of Safe Fleet’s commercial vehicle brands.
