Video as an integrated solution, not an afterthought

The adoption of video based safety systems among commercial fleets, while slow at first, has accelerated in the recent past .

Image of a truck in traffic

Video as an integrated solution, not an afterthought

The adoption of video based safety systems among commercial fleets, while slow at first, has accelerated in the recent past . It is driven primarily by the significant and proven ROI realised through accident mitigation, more effective driver coaching, lower maintenance costs and reduced insurance rates.Most of the early wave of adoption saw video systems installed separate from existing telematics systems, with minimal communication between the two. A fleet requiring a video system would often engage a separate vendor to procure and install cameras on its vehicles. Videos and other data from cameras would be uploaded to the camera vendors web backend, while the rest of the telematics data would be hosted on an entirely different backend hosted by the Telematics Service Provider (TSP). In some cases, it has even been seen that a fleet has installed not one, but two different camera systems from two different vendors, in addition to their existing telematics solution – one for video DVR functionality, and another one for ADAS notifications (forward collision warning, lane drift warning, etc.).Is the complexity that comes with installing multiple independent solutions the hidden cost of installing video based solutions? Fortunately, the answer is a resounding NO. Technological innovations, coupled with the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets in vehicles (some driven by federal mandates like the ELD), has led to a new class of solutions that can integrate deeply into an existing telematics system. The benefits of such solutions for end-users are significant:

  • One unified backend for the fleet manager to review videos and driver scorecards, along with existing telematics data
  • No separate application to run – video based features are built into existing applications through easy to integrate SDKs
  • DVR functionality, event videos and ADAS notifications available in a single comprehensive solution

If you are a TSP looking to provide video-based safety solutions to your end-users seamlessly, please reach out to us at info@lightmetrics.co for more information on our cutting-edge video-safety system RideCam.