While artificial intelligence (AI) is a key component in autonomous cars, it also plays an important role in the entire transportation system. Today, most road users rely on AI applications, be it for navigating or monitoring when driving.

Commercial vehicles in particular have seen an increase in AI adoption as fleet operators look to leverage the technology to not only improve their services but reduce incidents involving their fleet as well.

In fact, Deloitte Insights show that over 37% of organizations have deployed AI solutions, a 270% increase from four years ago. Analysts are predicting AI spending to double over the next three years, with 71% of adopters reporting AI technologies changing their job roles and skills.

For commercial vehicles, truck manufacturers like Daimler, Volvo, Navistar, and others have already begun enabling AI in trucks via autonomous truck technology. Other AI technologies are also being adopted for fleet management and improving driving capabilities.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, driver decisions, such as a driver driving too fast for conditions, and driver focus, such as a driver being inattentive or distracted, are the primary reasons for driver-caused commercial vehicle crashes. There were 4,479 fatal crashes and 114,00 injury crashes among large commercial vehicles in 2019, with each crash costing US$91,000 on average, with that number increasing to US$200,000 if there was an injury and US$3.6 million if there was a fatality.

Interestingly, a study from Keep Truckin, a fleet management tech provider showed that AI in commercial vehicles has significantly reduced the number and severity of accidents and safety incidents. KeepTruckin analyzed over 5,000 fleets across two years to determine the impact of AI-powered dashcams and AI-based coaching on reducing high-risk driving behaviors and crashes.

The research showed that fleets using AI-powered dashcams and frequent coaching had 22% fewer accidents and 56% fewer unsafe driving incidents compared to fleets that didn’t use dashcams or coaching. Multiple safety metrics were analyzed including unsafe driving behaviors, unsafe driving violations, harsh driving events, and speeding. Every fleet analyzed in the study was a KeepTruckin customer with at least 20 vehicles.

According to Abhishek Gupta, Director of Product for Safety, Compliance, and Insurance at KeepTruckin, the data compiled over two years shows that proactively identifying and modifying high-risk behaviors with a robust safety program can help save lives and ultimately drive significant bottom-line improvements for businesses.

“As fleets and drivers experience even more pressures related to the driver shortages and supply chain issues, a proactive safety strategy can improve the safety, productivity, and profitability of businesses with commercial fleets,” commented Gupta.

KeepTruckin uses AI in trucks via an integrated fleet management technology that helps improve the safety, productivity, and profitability of commercial fleets. This includes improving driver performance. Its AI-powered dashcams instantly detect unsafe driving behaviors and alert drivers in real-time, and its technology also automatically filters videos that don’t represent an actual safety risk.

For fleet operators, they will have access to videos with rich, actionable insights and can quickly zero in on the most critical events, so they know exactly which drivers to pay attention to and what behaviors to coach. Fleets can also choose to automatically coach drivers through the KeepTruckin Driver App after they complete their trip.