Artificial intelligence (AI) is now “baked into” Geotab’s customer platforms, as the battle for supremacy in the telematics sector heats up.
Talking to Fleet News, senior sales manager UK&I Oliver Holt said the company was leveraging the benefits of AI when it came to internal workflows and product development, as well as externally to speed up data processing and the provision of insights for fleets.
Adoption by fleets and acceptance by drivers are both rising, too.
“We did a study and found that 97% acknowledged that risk on the road is increasing,” he said. “There was concern about AI, by around two-thirds, but a similar proportion saw the benefits of AI in-cab coaching.”
Holt added: “There is certainly higher interest in live/immediate feedback versus retrospective. But feedback has to be constructive and not used as a disciplinary tool.”
Geotab has recently launched its own AI-based cameras. Called Go Focus, they offer 360-degree or dual-facing video for real-time risk detection and driver coaching, including for commercial vehicles.
“We are seeing uptake of the combined telematics and video as a package,” Holt said. “Customers will see a dramatic reduction in at-fault incidents as well as insurance improvements.”
Adding further motivation for drivers is the partnership with Vitality which enables drivers to earn points and rewards for safe behaviour. Initial trials are underway with several fleets.
Holt predicts that AI will change the way in which data is consumed, from a ‘one platform, one dashboard’ approach to direct ingestion via automated workflows resulting in an immediate driver task.
“The same data will still be available to the fleet manager, but it will also be passed to the manager and the driver automatically, so the fleet manager and line manage do not have to be involved in the feedback process,” he said.
“There will be no delay in the feedback getting to the driver and it will free up fleet manager time to do high value tasks.”
Recognition of faults is another area, with the vehicle being automatically booked into the workshop for maintenance and repair work.
“We can accelerate automation through our tools; it’s moving quickly,” Holt said.
Geotab partnered with Bosch at the end of last year to deploy its machine learning tool for electric vehicle battery health and degradation. It can certify the battery at end of lease which could result in a stronger re-sell value and offer peace of mind to procurement teams.
“We believe it’s an opportunity for fleets, leasing companies and rental companies to help protect residual values,” Holt said.
As vehicles becoming increasingly connected, with some manufacturers offering their own telematics-based solutions, Holt believes the role played by Geotab will evolve to adapt. It already works with 80% of global manufacturers.
“As we move to OEM-embedded solutions, there will still be a need for aggregated platforms for fleets running multi-marques,” he said. “We can be the single source solution delivering standardised reporting and insights.”