Why video telematics belongs in vans and cars

WHY VIDEO TELEMATICS ALSO BELONG IN VANS AND CARS

@DieterQuartier

The trucking business has long discovered the added value of video telematics. Large delivery van fleets are starting to show interest too. The next step could be company cars, even if privacy concerns are a tough nut to crack.

The integration of cameras to enable various video-based solutions in commercial vehicle environments is one of the most important trends in the fleet telematics sector, says IoT market research provider Berg Insight. In their recent report, they found that the installed base of active video telematics systems in Europe was less than 0.5 million units in 2019. The active installed base is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth

rate (CAGR) of 16.1% to reach about 1 million video telematics systems over the next four years.

The first industry to realise the added value and cost-saving potential of the technology was the trucking business, followed by passenger transport providers (buses). In recent years, the technology has been trickling down to Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) operators as well as the Ubers and Lyfts of this world. Some believe the next segment to open up to the technology is passenger cars. Not to coach drivers, but to avoid wrongful insurance claims.

Insurance-driven

“The initial concern is insurance and claims costs,” explains Damian Penney, VP of Lytx Europe. ”Until recently, large corporates that operate trucks and LCVs have not typically prioritised installing cameras in their fleet’s passenger cars. One reason is the lower incident risk – company car drivers are less involved in collisions than van drivers, which makes for a less convincing business case.” “Still, as the costs of running a fleet are rising, companies are looking for ways to manage their expenses. They want to use video telematics in a reactive way – to see what happened and what caused the collision – rather than trying to proactively change behaviour by coaching the driver. The ability to see what happened in the past helps to improve driver safety and reduce insurance claims which can result in a significant saving. For example, our data shows that, using Lytx’s video telematics, we help fleets reduce claims costs from between 50-80%,” says Mr. Penney.

Privacy versus lives

Privacy does remain an issue and it’s not uncommon for drivers to be wary

about camera technology – especially if cars are not used strictly professionally, but also for personal trips. However, once drivers learn about the experience and benefits – including how video can be used to exonerate those who find themselves in a risky situation where they were, in fact, blameless – many insist on having a camera installed.

“In addition, videos are only captured when something happens. If no incident or risky behaviour occurs, then no video is captured – and safe driving can be rewarded. Lastly, you can also manage the amount and the type of data it captures,” Mr Penney explains.

Damian Penney, VP of Lytx Europe: “We are very happy to talk to our competitors, because that’s the way forward.”

the decision process, they’re much more likely to get driver buy-in. One of the ways this can be achieved is to work with drivers to shape a safety programme which provides a sense of ownership and accountability, which you’re less likely to get if drivers simply have a programme imposed on them by management. Instead, you see engaged drivers who are supportive and have an opportunity to see the safety and claims benefits of video telematics.”

One of the biggest benefits for drivers is that video footage shows the truth,

which in many cases demonstrates

The true added value of video telematics resides in its capability to expose a lot more risks than telematics alone – and far more proactively so.

©Lytx

that they are not at fault. Knowing that everyone can clearly see what’s happened spares drivers any fear of wrongful claims that could damage their driving record, and of stress or worry about uncertainty or grey areas.

Exposing risks

OEMs are also keen on grabbing a piece of the blooming video telematics business by offering their own connected video hardware and platforms. “They have some catching up to do – they are vehicle builders, not tech companies after all. What matters when choosing a provider is the quality of the video data plus the ability to cope with complex algorithms and to make decisions ‘on the edge’ – not in the cloud, but decisions as they happen.”

Here, artificial intelligence is a true game-changer. It is able to interpret video data and determine whether certain behaviour is risky or not.

“Technologies like Machine Vision and Artificial Intelligence (MV+AI) means we can identify whether somebody picks up their phone, whether someone drives through a stop sign or whether they are wearing a seatbelt or not. This level of actionable insight into driving behaviour can only be achieved through large quantities of high-quality data. At Lytx, we review around a million videos per week,” explains Mr Penney. “The true added value of video telematics resides in the fact that it exposes a lot more risks than regular telematics could ever do – and far more proactively so. That might be scary at first, but it also allows you to prevent more incidents from happening.“

Future outlook

Today’s telematics market is pretty crowded, but consolidation is already

happening, whereas smaller players might not survive the challenging times we are currently facing.

‘‘One thing that’s becoming increasingly important to fleet managers is that they can go to one place for their data. In the future, this may mean that suppliers will have to work more closely to serve their customers, who want one dashboard to monitor everything they need. APIs today are very good. We at Lytx are very happy to talk to our competitors, because that’s the way forward.” Mr Penney concludes.

< 0.5 million The number of units of active video telematics in Europe in 2019

WHAT IS VIDEO TELEMATICS?

A definition can be found on Geotab’s website: “Video telematics combines vehicle data and driving data to provide more context around any incident footage while transmitting the video evidence in real-time over a cellular network.”

Lytx formulates it as follows: “Simply put, video telematics combines video data, computer vision technology, and vehicle data to deliver insights that telematics alone cannot.”