Driving is dangerous and the statistics will shock you.

In an attempt to moderate our behaviour, legislators are imposing stiffer sentences for the most serious of driving offences. At the same time, insurance premiums are rising at record rates, and despite the industry’s efforts, fraudulent claims continue to be an issue.

But positive changes are on the horizon. Technology is transforming the motor industry, and it’s hardly started. Digital advancements such as smart devices are being combined with machine learning capabilities to deliver formidable solutions to address these problems directly.

The Solution

An exceptional example is VisionTrack whose platform, initially aimed at vehicle fleets, is leading the way. Unlike traditional telematics and camera solutions which are installed separately, making them complex to install and expensive to operate, VisionTrack’s single cost-effective solution streams high definition video footage in near real-time.

The solution delivers numerous benefits. These includes :

• intelligent use of data to provide previously unseen insights
• positive effect on driver behaviour improving safety
• detecting fraud, reducing the cost of claims and lowering insurance premiums

As a UK-based technology provider, VisionTrack built its own cloud-based platform from the ground up, which utilises the latest technologies. The platform is able to receive enormous amounts of data from the latest generation of sensory device. Each device is connected via a mobile SIM allowing for the near real-time streaming of video and telemetry data.

VisionTrack has distinguished itself through the working partnerships it has forged with the device manufacturers, which has led to the intelligent transmission of data, a key attribute of successful IoT platforms.

Watch this video closely, who do you think was responsible?

This footage shows how quickly an incident can occur.

Markerstudy Insurance used it to resolve an insurance claim involving their policyholder. The film shows the insured travelling across a junction on a green light, and a vehicle in the opposite direction driving through a red light, causing a collision.

Initially, the third party blamed Markerstudy’s customer, making three personal injury claims. After the footage was disclosed, the third party insurers admitted liability, removed costs of in-excess of £16,000, and settled the claim. This demonstrates how VisionTrack can prove non-fault claims, saving time and money.

The Technology

VisionTrack’s platform reports on location, speed, driving style, and the force of any impact. This allows driving standards to be improved through the tracking of vehicles, predicting behavioural patterns and identifying driver training needs.

Text to voice functionality allows the platform to send audible alerts to the driver, notifying them their actions need moderating.

All this is totally transforming customer engagement.

To accelerate VisionTrack’s machine learning capabilities, it has partnered with another market leader, DataRobot, whose toolset enables data science to be applied without the need for data scientists.

Over a very short period, VisionTrack has seen its platform achieve positive results in changing driver behaviour, and lowering insurance costs.

This success has been attracting attention from the technology industry too – VisionTrack won Most Innovative Digital Product in EMEA in the Gartner Financial Services Eye on Innovation Awards 2016 and Innovation & Emerging Technologies: Reducing Fraud in the Celent Model Insurer Awards 2017.

The Future

The speed of progress is exceptional. VisionTrack is continuing to move with it, introducing the next generation of camera. These latests devices features lane departure and collision warnings, taking driver protection to a whole new level.

Gartner has estimated that there will be more than 21 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020 and VisionTrack’s platform has been built very much with this future in mind. New sensors can be added to it and tested within weeks. It can integrate with unlimited third party devices for any use across all markets, so there’s scope for the business to develop into a global IT company.

To Conclude

Platforms such as VisionTrack’s are clearly going to have a lasting positive impact on the motor industry. By using a combination of smart connected devices and assisted artificial intelligence, they are able to carve a path to the future which both drivers and businesses will benefit from.

Finally, if you only take one thing away from this article, please remember that driving is the single most dangerous activity most of us do. Thank you for reading this post and please drive carefully.

Exciting times!