LightMetrics has ML and AI in its DNA, it is never an afterthought for us. Our partners have rolled out AI features like traffic sign recognition and helped their fleet customers monitor speed and stop sign compliance years ago. Unlike map only solutions, there is an event video that captures violations – making it the real deal when it comes to driver training and feedback. AI on the road facing camera is being used by all our partners and their fleet customers.
There cannot be one ideal video solution aimed at the entire commercial vehicles market – this is a foundational belief for LightMetrics. In other words, one size does not fit all. The needs of the market are varied, depending on SMB/enterprise fleet, type of fleet (school bus, coach, vocational, over the road, construction, waste management, etc), risk profile, the value of the asset (light/medium/heavy), etc. In such a heterogeneous world, for Telematics Service Providers (TSP) to thrive, they need to provide video telematics options that match customer needs across all the key parameters of value, price, and ease of installation and use.
In that spirit, LightMetrics is pleased to offer our next generation smart video solution – SmartCam, in partnership with Micronet. This was jointly announced by LightMetrics and Micronet at the recently held Connected Fleets USA conference in Atlanta.
In this post, I wanted to highlight some key benefits fleets can expect from SmartCam:
- Dual camera: Our RideView SDK supported only a road facing camera till now, with SmartCam, we have extended it to support both road and driver-facing cameras. This means all event videos including DVR clips and custom events will be in the form of a side-by-side mosaic or picture-in-picture composition of both views. As a result, a fleet admin reviewing incidents gets even more context than what the road facing camera could provide alone.
- AI on the edge: On-device and real-time AI provided by the RideView SDK has always enabled real-time driver coaching for road facing camera events like following-too-close, speeding, rolling stops, lane keeping, etc. With SmartCam, we have extended the AI capabilities of the RideView SDK to provide key benefits like real-time alerts for driver distraction and driver drowsiness, by analyzing video from the driver-facing camera. As they say, prevention is better than cure, and real-time alerts go a long way towards enhancing fleet safety pre-emptively. RideView now also supports Face ID – driver sign-in through face recognition. This makes the driver onboarding experience seamless, eliminating the need for email logins, key cards, NFC, etc. All the above is with no data usage – all the AI you need is on your device, at the edge! Only metadata, including event videos, are uploaded as configured.
- Hardware options: One size does not fit all, and in keeping with this, the SmartCam hardware comes in three variants:
- Basic – Dual camera, AI on the edge, storage (internal/SD), GPS, and Wi-Fi for communication with the black box/telematics hub/phone/tablet for data transfer – ideal for a fleet looking for an upgrade without investing too much in hardware.
- Intermediate – All the features of Basic, with the addition of LTE. This variant does not need any connection to an external device at all and is suitable for fleets looking for a standalone video solution that uploads data seamlessly.
- Advanced – All the features of Intermediate, with the addition of OBD2/J1708/J1939 interfaces. This is the ultimate converged telematics device; no other hardware is needed in the vehicle. It is a telematics black box and advanced video telematics solution rolled into one. For TSPs dealing with the 3G sunset and in need of upgrading telematics hardware, this option hits the sweet spot.
- Software variants: In the same vein, the RideView SDK now also comes in 3 variants, supporting the entire gamut of use-cases that fleets encounter:
- Standard – Provides dual-camera recording (DVR) and ability to query videos on-demand, along with G-sensor events and external triggers.
- Pro – All the features of the Standard package, along with ADAS based alerts and dual-camera event videos, using AI on the road facing the camera.
- Advanced – All the features of the Pro package, along with in-cab AI-based driver monitoring features – driver distraction, drowsiness, and Face ID. The most comprehensive AI-based video telematics solution in the market today.
- Open Platform – All versions run Android, and TSPs existing apps and services (HOS, etc.) can be easily ported to SmartCam. In addition, TSPs get to use the full toolbox of Android APIs and services when developing applications.
With SmartCam, we now extend AI from being available on the road facing the camera to the driver-facing camera, providing critical safety warnings and more context, to the driver and the fleet manager respectively.
Interested in building a smart video solution that works for you and your customers with us? Please reach out to me – krishna@lightmetrics.co
