Nauto, a California-based technology startup that improves driver behavior, has unveiled an artificial intelligence (AI) powered driver behavior learning platform for commercial vehicles, which will integrate with the safety programs set in place by Nauto’s fleet customers. Nauto’s platform takes a proactive approach to de-escalate driving risks by prediction and prevention of high-risk driving events – a process that has helped decrease distraction events by over 35% on average.
Shweta Shrivastava, the vice president of products at Nauto, mentioned that the development of the AI-platform was an exercise that stretched four years and the company analyzed billions of telemetric data points from over 400 million AI-analyzed video miles. “The main challenge we face when training our algorithms is optimizing the driver experience while influencing sustainable impact,” she said.
To design the algorithms cardinal to the AI platform, Nauto spent considerable time pouring over research conducted by automotive companies and studies put out by universities. For instance, while designing the in-vehicle alerts feature, Nauto looked at studies on real-time alerts, like seat belt warnings and lane departure alerts.
“We have three levels of alerts because this is something people easily understand – three strikes, three lights, etc. It’s not in your face and intrusive, that you have to correct immediately. But it’s also not something where it just keeps gradually increasing where there is no fear, alert or repercussions,” said Shrivastava.
Nauto triggers its first alert at 2.5 seconds and complies with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) guideline that mandates any interface in a vehicle not distract the driver for more than two seconds. The second alert is timed based on driver behavior improvement based on the first alert, and is currently set at 4.0 seconds after distraction. The third and final alert comes at 5.5 seconds of distracted driving, which is timed based on a DOT statistic that found drivers take five seconds on average to send or read a text.
“We have the multilayer alerting system so that the drivers don’t feel like their first strike is something that’s punishable. In-vehicle alerts allow the driver to contemplate, critique and correct their own driving in real-time. So, we’re always assessing and balancing safety design to maximize impact while keeping the driver experience in mind,” said Shrivastava.
Nauto estimates that the in-vehicle alerts feature helped improve behavior in 80% of drivers, with the remaining 20% given on-demand coaching. Nauto creates customized training packages based on its Visually Enhanced Risk Assessment (VERA) scores, which assists drivers with guided workflows and videos of coachable events.
This apart, the platform now features claims management, that can detect collisions and instantly notify fleet managers to file first notice of loss (FNOL). “Leveraging a cloud-to-device AI detection model, Nauto identifies more collisions in real-time than other solutions. Nauto’s claims management can capture precise and relevant video, time, location and other pertinent information, and automatically populates a collision report for FNOL reporting. In the case of frivolous and wrongful claims, fleets can easily exonerate drivers and protect their brand with video evidence,” said the startup in a statement.
Nauto now services over 400 fleets and has received positive feedback on its suite of solutions with clients stating that it provides context to driver behavior, leading to tailor-made real-time and effective coaching programs.
“We designed the Nauto Driver Behavior Learning Platform to be the most important part of a commercial fleet’s driver safety program,” said Shrivastava. “We help commercial fleets protect its most critical assets – its drivers. By alerting drivers to danger before it’s too late, or offering clear and actionable coaching at the moment, companies are quickly learning the power of Nauto’s platform to reinvent fleet economics and keep drivers safe.”