AI is one of the most revolutionary technologies available in our society today. This technology can make traffic more efficient by easing traffic congestion, freeing driver time, making parking easier, and encouraging car and ridesharing. It also helps reduce fuel consumption that traffic causes and improves air quality in doing so. In fleet management, AI has various uses that many fleet managers may not even know. How can a business become an AI fleet and take advantage of these many benefits? We’re here to help.
AI for Safety
One of the most prominent uses of artificial intelligence that makes fleet drivers safer is its integration into dash cams. AI dash cams can use machine learning to detect signs of distracted, drowsy, or aggressive driving. These dash cams can catch a variety of behaviors, including the following:
- Eating and Drinking
- Using Phone
- Smoking
- Yawning / Fatigue
- Face not visible
- Not Focused
These behaviors are all signs of distraction or tiredness, both of which cause thousands of accidents each year. When the dash cam detects these behaviors, it will first alert the driver to correct these behaviors. If they do not, then it alerts the fleet manager so they can take action. Limiting distracted driving not only keeps the fleet driver safe but everyone else on the road as well.
AI for Route Planning
Route planning is an advantage of AI that fleets can use daily. Route planning or route optimization uses historical and real-time data, complex algorithms, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to create the quickest and most cost-effective, fuel-efficient route to each destination during the day. Sometimes, this is simply a trip between Point A and Point B, and sometimes it’s a trip with multiple stops along the way. Route planning takes various factors into account to make each trip easier, safer, and more efficient. These factors include:
- Types of roads: Can be the difference between surface streets versus highways, single lanes versus multi-lanes, or one-way versus two-ways.
- Traffic patterns: The AI would take into account traffic throughout the day, detours, and roadblocks.
- Number of turns, traffic lights, intersections, and roundabouts
- Left-hand turns
- Pickup times
- Depot locations
- Best access points
- Closest or best-suited driver on the route to add a stop
- Driver schedules
- Vehicle type with cargo capacity
- Delivery time
Route planning works in real-time, so managers and drivers will always be up to date with accidents, construction, and other delays that may affect their routes. Real-time tracking allows drivers to provide automatic updates to their customers when they are nearby, improving the customer experience.
It also allows for distraction-free step-by-step navigation. Drivers can’t be checking their phones to know where to turn or stop. Voice navigation with route planning software helps drivers get to their destinations safely and easily.
AI for Analyzing Data
Fleet management software tracks driver behavior and vehicle information to generate reports, but AI helps the software go further with predictive analytics. Predictive analytics analyzes data obtained from statistics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to make predictions for your fleet. This usually involves generating a score for the likelihood of an event occurring. We’ve already mentioned one use of predictive analytics: route optimization. But there are a variety of uses of predictive analytics.
It can help vehicles keep up with maintenance by analyzing past issues with a vehicle and determining what issues might come up. Predictive analytics can promote safety by helping managers track driver behavior and detecting dangerous driver behaviors, and highlighting what issues a particular driver may have that need to be addressed.
Predictive analytics is immensely useful for drivers of all types of fleets.
Start Taking Advantage of AI Today!
Azuga offers all of the AI features mentioned in this article and more. If you want to check them out for yourself, try out a demo and see what our software can do!
