Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to make a huge improvement in road safety as more and more HGV operators introduce both forward and rearward facing cameras to predict dangerous situations.
But British fleets taking on this technology for the first time have been issued with a warning after experts studied its more advanced use in the USA.
Suppliers say fleets should avoid lowering camera sensitivity to reduce the number of alerts, as this can increase the risk of missing genuine safety events.
Users will already be familiar with this concept when thinking about an over sensitive lane departure warning system or forward collision alert. These advanced safety systems can sometimes trigger incorrectly when driving.
The equivalent for dashcams could be something like flagging mobile phone use when drivers are scratching their ears.
Mark Miller, founder and chief executive of InsureVision, said: “Lowering sensitivity can mean the system misses events, including lower speed impacts that can still have serious consequences.”
Instead, he urges fleets to maintain higher sensitivity settings and rely on improved AI video analysis to filter incidents more accurately.
Jaime Lox, senior product marketing manager for data platforms at Geotab, added: “One of the biggest challenges is false positives. Once you lose the driver’s trust, the technology isn’t very useful.”
