What Is an AI Dashcam?

AI dashcams with telematics have so much to offer fleet managers. These groundbreaking smart products have come a long way in recent years. They can more than simply record what's in front of them. Dashcams with AI (artificial intelligence) capabilities leverage the latest technologies to help you achieve optimal fleet performance and protect you from legal liabilities related to collisions.

They protect your business, drivers, and reputation while meeting your goals for fleet performance. Read on to learn more about how this innovative technology can help you achieve your business objectives.

AI Dashcam Overview

AI dashboard cameras or dashcams are cameras that drivers can affix to vehicle dashboards to record footage.

What distinguishes these devices from regular dashcams is that they are equipped with AI technology that can scan the road conditions ahead and detect when adverse driving events occur. With a conventional dashcam, users will have to sort through hours of footage to find a video recording of the event that they want to see. AI dashcams make it easier to track these events because they can analyze what's happening with the vehicle and driver.

The features of these devices may vary. Dashcam manufacturers may offer a single device or a system of cameras to capture multiple angles on the road and inside the vehicle. Anyone can use these tools, but they're widely used by fleet and safety leaders to encourage safe, fuel-efficient driving and reduce costs within fleets.

What Is the History of Dashcams With AI?

In 1939, the first dashcam was featured in a popular science article. The article showed one of these cameras mounted on a police officer's dashboard. It wasn't until the 1980s that this technology became standard for many police departments. They're also quite popular in countries where insurance scams and police corruption are common. People use them to capture footage that they then use as evidence in a court of law.

These devices have evolved in recent years. The earliest dashcams were low-quality, simple devices that recorded footage. Eventually, some models were outfitted with more complex features, like sensors, but they were far less advanced than the streamlined dashcams we know today.

Now you can find devices that leverage the latest technologies to offer users advanced features. The most cutting-edge dashcams feature dual-lens cameras, wireless connectivity, and telematics integration. These smart dashcams make use of AI, telematics, cloud, and deep learning technology to deliver vast amounts of data and insights about vehicle performance. These cams often are paired with fleet management software and cloud-based applications that make it easy to supercharge your operations. Fleet managers use this data to improve the efficiency and safety of their fleets.

What Are the Benefits of AI Dashcams?

Fleet managers are busy. They must coach new drivers, implement initiatives to encourage fuel-efficient and safe driving practices, and speak to drivers when incidents like tickets or accidents occur. If their fleet utilizes dashcams that lack AI functionality, they have to sort through hours of footage whenever a collision or other negative driving event occurs. But there's a more proactive way to achieve your objectives for your fleet: AI dashcams. A departure from the usual reactive approach to fleet management, these devices offer many benefits that help drivers and managers alike. Read on to find out how AI dashcams can help give you a competitive advantage.

Capture HD Video of Critical Events

Anything can happen with your fleet on the road. From scams to unsafe driver behavior, you're at risk when your vehicles are in motion. Sometimes an officer has to decide who is at fault for a collision based solely on the information both drivers provide, and you can't afford for a driver to be wrongly accused of causing an accident. It's costly and will cause your insurance premiums to skyrocket. Don't leave it up to chance. A dashcam with AI technology can record critical driving events, from collisions to speeding.

This device encourages transparency among drivers and managers. Drivers can rest easy when another driver causes an accident, knowing they have footage that will exonerate them against false claims. It's protection from scammers who brake hard in front of fleet vehicles to trigger a rear-end collision. Additionally, managers can identify drivers who need extra coaching on how to drive safely and efficiently. Fleet managers who implement this technology should work to get drivers on board and help them see how these cameras benefit them.

Store Video Evidence

A challenge with old dashcams was accessing and storing relevant footage. Managers had to go through hours of footage and ensure that the captured evidence was safely stored for when they needed it.

Dashcams with AI technology can automatically tag video footage of risky driving behaviors or collisions and store them for review. This is a helpful feature for insurance claims and collision reconstruction. If the evidence exonerates a driver in your fleet, it will save you from costly payouts and insurance premium hikes. When your fleet drivers are at fault, you can use this footage to identify what went wrong and coach drivers on how to avoid the situation in the future. Both drivers and managers can access this footage, ensuring transparency and fostering accountability on your team.

Reduce Distracted Driving

From loading up podcasts to returning texts, drivers are more distracted than ever, and drivers of fleet vehicles are no different. It's become so common that they may not even realize how dangerous these behaviors are.

The National Safety Council estimates that cell phone use while driving results in 1.6 million crashes every year. You don't want your fleet vehicles to be part of that statistic.

The right dashcam can alert drivers about distracted driving. Whether it's fatigue, phone use, smoking, or other distracted driving behaviors, dashcams with AI functionality can alert drivers and managers when these events occur. The real-time alerts remind drivers to pay attention, and fleet managers can identify which drivers struggle with distractions on the road and work to correct the problem.

Reap the Business Benefits

Dashcams with AI provide a great return on your investment. In fact, of all the telematics tools, they provide the best ROI. They help you save money on fuel and maintenance costs. Some AI dashcams with video telematics can deliver significant benefits, such as:

• 10:1 return on investment
• 15% or higher savings on fuel costs
• At least a 20% reduction in maintenance costs
• 60% reduction in collisions
• 25% reduction in insurance costs
• 25% improvement in productivity

As you can see, this technology can give your fleet the necessary tools to gain a competitive advantage and improve operational efficiency.

Improve Your Reputation

If your fleet delivers goods or services to customers, estimating their arrival time is a constant challenge. Customers like to know when to expect your drivers, and telematics tools help you give your customers accurate, reliable information about when they can expect a delivery.

GPS technology tools that feature vehicle tracking help you manage your customer's expectations and can mean that they don't have to spend half their day waiting around on your driver. Customers appreciate the convenience and flexibility that telematics tools provide, and accurate tracking leaves them with a positive first impression of your business. If you can foster that relationship early on, you can build on it with other aspects of the customer experience.

Driver Coaching & Alerts

Every good fleet manager knows that drivers are the backbone of the fleet, and their behaviors have the biggest impact on the bottom line. Fleet telematics tools that include AI dashcam technology provide real-time coaching and alerts that help with safer and more fuel-efficient driving.

AI-powered dashcams alert drivers when adverse driving events occur and can even prevent collisions. Many cameras are packaged with applications that drivers can download on their phones, which help you engage drivers when they're off the road. These applications help drivers access footage of driving events and provide them with driver scores. It can help you stop bad driving and engage with your drivers on how to improve performance.

Some drivers may perceive these telematics tools as a kind of unwelcome surveillance, especially if you don't think carefully about how you roll them out. However, if you help drivers see how these tools can help keep them safe and protect them in the event of a collision, you're more likely to get drivers on board. It can also help to incentivize good driving habits. By offering financial incentives, time off, prizes, and other rewards, drivers will work hard on their own without a fleet manager having to intervene.

MiX Vision AI

Not all AI dashcams are the same. You need technology you can trust from a reliable brand. AI dash cams by MiX by Powerfleet have much to offer you and are backed up by solid results.

MiX Vision AI simplifies driver performance management for fleet managers. It provides real-time alerts to the driver and captures footage of risky driving events, which are stored in the fleet manager portal. You can select which driving behaviors you want to monitor so that these telematics tools work best for your fleet's needs. Moreover, the MyMiX driver engagement app ensures that drivers continue to think about their performance after their trip.

No matter what your fleet's needs are, MiX by Powerfleet has products that can help you achieve your objectives. Contact MiX by Powerfleet to find out all the ways we can help your fleet achieve optimal performance.