Samsara Redefining Its Fleet Management Portfolio with Enhanced Video Telematics Solutions

A fleet's success has usually depended on the uptime of its assets. As more and more challenges arise, the operational success of a fleet now depends on its ability to leverage data and connectivity tools. Samsara seems to be looking to address a lot of these challenges through these new data-driven additions to its Connected Operations Cloud. Last month, at its annual Beyond user conference, Samsara unveiled its new technology features. Samsara showcased its latest product enhancements and reiterated its vision for more connected and increasingly data-driven physical operations. CEO and co-founder Sanjit Biswas explained how the landmark technologies of recent decades have achieved widespread adoption at an accelerating pace, from desktop computers to smartphones and now Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, such as generative AI. He went on to explain how technology-enabled driver behavior coaching and AI-supported dashcams are yielding significant real-world improvements in fleet safety, efficiency, and environmental sustainability. Extrapolating from improved safety and efficiency results, Samsara projected that its customer base helped prevent more than 120,000 crashes, while digitizing more than 110 million workflows and eliminating 130 million hours of engine idling to save fuel and reduce carbon emissions.

Samsara introduced several new product features at its Beyond user conference:

• Virtual Coach: On the driver safety front, Samsara is extending its support for driver behavior monitoring and coaching. It introduced its new Virtual Coach feature, which allows drivers to review their safety performance, learn from their errors, and improve their driving behavior while they are out on the road. A major benefit to this solution is, rather than waiting for in-person coaching from a supervisor, drivers can simply access videos of instances of unsafe driving and receive personal notes.
• Connected Operations Cloud: With the goal to unlock greater operational efficiency for fleet businesses, Samsara is pushing forward with its efforts to connect disparate data sources. The Connected Operations Cloud now supports more than 240 integrations with various technology vendors, equipment manufacturers, fuel card providers, insurance companies, and other industry partners.
• Additional Integrations: The company also announced its intentions to add new data connectors with third-party data integration platforms Fivetran and Apache Kafka, and data analytics software Microsoft Power BI, enabling fleets to gain more holistic visibility into their operations.
• Mobile Experience Management: This is a new feature that has been introduced. It enables drivers and other workers to receive customized support, such as remote training and troubleshooting, through their mobile devices, while preventing unnecessary digital distractions.
• Find My Asset: Samsara is also expanding its asset monitoring capabilities. The company’s new Find My Asset feature enables managers to quickly pinpoint the location of trailers and other assets.
• Plans with Cold Chain: Samsara also added a new two-way integration with Thermo King’s TracKing system to make it possible for customers to monitor and remotely control their Thermo King transport refrigeration units from the Samsara dashboard.

Driver fatigue is the root cause of nearly half of all trucking accidents in the United States in which the commercial driver is at fault. Each accident results in substantial losses for fleets. In addition to vehicle damage, companies face costs from loss of cargo, unscheduled downtime, Service-Level Agreement (SLA) breaches (i.e., delivering cargo after an agreed-upon deadline), and insurance claims. In the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that 91% of car-truck accidents were the fault of the driver of the passenger car. Despite this, costs thought to be worth US$10 million or greater have been increasing. Video telematics and its advancements will be key, so Samsara making advanced video telematics a highlight of its offerings, especially driver behavior monitoring, falls in line with how the industry is shaping up.

The industry seems to be heading this way. Earlier this year, Geotab, the world leader in connected transport solutions, reached an agreement with Lytx, the global leader in video safety and video telematics, to offer the Surfsight integrated camera solution in the Geotab Marketplace. In order to provide customers with a streamlined and unified experience, Geotab will provide ongoing technical support for the Surfsight offering and additional third-party solutions that join the program. This solution also seems to be very data driven. The Lytx Surfsight Al-12 dashcam is specifically designed to help improve fleet safety through its continuous recording and advanced Machine Vision (MV) and Al technology. The benefit of combining Lytx’s cutting-edge solution with Geotab’s award-winning platform that provides fleets with access to a robust solution that offers enhanced in-cab driver safety and security features through a combination of MV+AI, sensors, and live video streaming will undoubtedly stand out in the market. According to ABI Research, commercial dashcam shipments will exceed 4.3 million shipments globally within the next couple of years, as forecast in the Commercial Telematics market data report. Additionally, the same report states that the global Driver Monitoring System (DMS) market is expected to be valued at over US$2.4 billion by 2030, growing at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20% between 2022 and 2030. Given the advancements in video telematics and driver monitoring, and the growing number of use cases that address a lot of fleet management pain points, this level of growth shouldn’t come as a surprise.