How the in-cab camera helps the fleet improve safety

COCVES tip: Clear, well-documented company policies and "complete transparency" by fleet managers about why in-cab camera systems are deployed and how to use them can help drivers accept it.

Fleets increasingly rely on sensors and telematics capabilities to track driver behavior. These include lane departure and collision avoidance systems, as well as monitoring sudden braking, vehicle speed and other such data. There is increasing interest in using camera systems to enhance these tools. The camera focuses on the road, sometimes on the side of the vehicle or on the driver, and can provide more background information for alerts provided by other systems.

After all, if the driver is following too close or driving distracted, sudden braking may indicate a problem. However, paying attention to hard braking events without knowing what was happening on the road at the time may lead to false alarms. For example, a video system can show whether a car suddenly changes lanes and causes the driver to apply the brakes. Or, the built-in camera can identify driver behaviors that may cause sudden braking, such as looking down at the phone or reaching for a drink.

However, we need to protect the privacy of drivers. We do not recommend to directly watch the truck driver’s mobile DVR remotely. The team should fully maintain the relationship between the driver and the company, and provide driving safety protection if the driver can accept it.

COCVES manufacturers provide such video systems. From mature transportation management software and telematics providers to independent camera systems, the fleet has a variety of options to choose from. Our excellent camera monitor systems are all waterproof and shockproof IP: 69K, they will increase the confidence of the driver, you can fully rely on the COCVES camera monitor system to protect the safety of employees and the protection of fleet assets
Security event trigger
Most video systems will continue to record when the truck is powered on, but only when triggered by events such as a collision or emergency braking, lane departure or too close to the car, will the video be saved and uploaded to the supplier or fleet. COCVES MDVR also allows the driver to press a button to manually capture the latest video.
More complex systems use software and artificial intelligence to help determine when these events are important. For example, if you trigger a sudden stop without the ability to discern when it is related to unsafe driving, “you will end up misreporting 90% of them,” said Petter of COCVES.

Vendors that provide more complex systems are committed to improving their trigger mechanisms. For example, COCVES combines the trigger event with information from the engine, computer vision information, and other data to determine whether the trigger system is actually an unsafe driver behavior.
Petter said that while sudden braking is a common example of an event that triggers the system to save video, lane departure is by far the most common trigger, so much so that many customers choose not to activate the camera for lane departure. He said this may be a good choice because the supplier is continuing to work to determine when the lane departure is caused by the driver’s distraction, rather than the driver’s departure from the lane, as this is required by road conditions. Because of road work or stopped vehicles. Videos often show the situation where the driver is doing this in a safe way.

Petter of COCVES said that many trigger events can be traced to driver distraction, which he believes is more of a problem than driver fatigue. However, the main problem facing suppliers is to be able to understand what "distraction" is. He said that there is more work to be done in this regard.
In addition to using a mobile phone, "there are a lot of distractions," Petter pointed out, including reaching for something when the driver might look away from the road for a second or two. But it becomes complicated. "Extending down is a series of events, it’s almost like you have to build a more detailed view of distractions.

This may include compiling relational data that can decompose the various parts of a particular interference. For example, smoking is thought to be distracting, but some parts of it may be more distracting than others. Video data may help to find a way to score the relationship between reaching for a cigarette, lighting a cigarette, and popping ash into an ashtray, which will help to better quantify the distraction potential of these behaviors.

Although artificial intelligence offers hope in this field, it still cannot replace the human brain. Petter recalled an experienced fleet safety manager who was able to identify driver distractions, new drivers and false alarms after watching three anonymous videos.
He said this is the challenge facing video providers-creating software that can apply this experience and knowledge to every truck and driver in the fleet.
In the final combination, the camera in the truck is just a tool that the fleet can use to improve safety and minimize risk. As always, the key is how the fleet uses the data provided by these tools to guide drivers to be safer and more efficient.

Regardless of the level of development of artificial intelligence, COCVES believes that the camera monitor system has always been born to care about human safety. Artificial intelligence cannot replace humans. People are more willing to talk to people. It should be humans that dominate trucks. Safety equipment From beginning to end, it is to assist the driver to ensure that the truck is safer and more efficient on the road. Everyone doesn’t like to be invaded of privacy. This is true for drivers, the same is true for fleet managers, and the same is true for COCVES. When we enter truck MDVR to watch driving videos, we should seek the consent of front-line employees. In order to ensure the relationship between employees and the company, the relationship between the company and its suppliers is a process of enhancing feelings and enhancing trust.