Uncategorized – Positioning Universal

Positioning Universal and Syntiant Unveil AI-Powered Sound Sensing Telematics Device

Geoff Weathersby — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 18:10:47 +0000

New Edge AI Solution Brings ‘Smart Hearing’ to Vehicles, Detecting Crashes, Collisions and Break-In Attempts with Faster, More Accurate Alerts

Positioning Universal (PUI), a pioneer in connected vehicle technology, and Syntiant Corp., the recognized leader in ultra-low-power edge AI deployment, today announced the availability of an aftermarket telematics tracker with AI-powered sound sensing, setting a new industry standard for vehicle security, smart monitoring and operational insight.

Developed using Syntiant’s NDP100 Neural Decision Processor and PUI’s advanced acoustic sensors and software, the new PUI TM94 enables vehicles to actively listen, interpret and respond to their surroundings in real time at significantly lower power, expanding telematics beyond passive tracking to active environmental sensing.

Building on its deep IoT and telematics expertise, PUI’s proprietary acoustic sensors and embedded software work seamlessly with the NDP100 to distinguish between everyday background noise and high-risk events, such as glass breakage, metal impact and vehicle intrusion in noisy environments, without relying on cloud connectivity.

“Telematics has historically focused on location and driving data,” said Mark Wells, CEO of Positioning Universal. “By integrating AI sound sensing, vehicles can now detect critical events like collisions or unauthorized entry attempts, giving fleets and drivers smarter, faster, and more actionable intelligence. This is a major leap forward for vehicle safety and operational awareness.”

A CES^® Best of Innovation Award Honoree, the Syntiant NDP100 delivers on-device AI processing with up to 100x better energy efficiency than traditional microcontrollers, enabling faster, more reliable detection of critical events such as crashes, collisions or break-in attempts, while consuming minimal power and avoiding the latency and reliability issues of cloud-based solutions.

“By embedding sound sensing directly into the device, we eliminate cloud delays and bandwidth dependence, delivering instant, reliable alerts with fewer false alarms,” said Mallik Moturi, chief business officer at Syntiant. “That level of precision ensures users can trust their telematics system to provide actionable intelligence whenever and wherever they need it.”

The AI-powered PUI TM94 sound sensing telematics device is now available. Contact Geoff Weathersby at geoff.weathersby@positioninguniversal.com to arrange a demo or for more information.

About Positioning Universal (PUI)
Positioning Universal is a leading telematics and IoT innovator, delivering connected solutions for vehicles, fleets, and enterprises worldwide. With a focus on custom hardware, connectivity, and AI-driven applications, PUI helps customers unlock new value, improve safety and security, and gain actionable insights from their assets. Visit https://www.positioninguniversal.com/ for more information.

About Syntiant
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Irvine, Calif., Syntiant^® is Making Edge AI a Reality by delivering highly efficient processor, sensor, and software solutions. With more than 100 million purpose-built silicon and ML models deployed, along with billions of MEMS microphones and sensors, Syntiant’s technology is powering edge AI applications for speech, audio, sensor and vision processing worldwide. From earbuds to automobiles, the company’s turnkey solutions enable advanced edge AI capabilities across diverse consumer and industrial use cases. More information on the company can be found by visiting www.syntiant.com or by following Syntiant on X @Syntiantcorp or LinkedIn.

Media Contact:

For Positioning Universal:

Geoff Weathersby
geoff.weathersby@positioninguniversal.com
(619) 639-0235

For Syntiant:

George Medici/Natalie Mu
PondelWilkinson Inc.
gmedici@pondel.com/nmu@pondel.com
(310) 279.5980

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7c032144-5717-48df-adfb-c42ffb4bfcb4

What is Telematics?

Jennifer Curley — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 20:41:08 +0000

Telematics is the merging of the terms telecommunications and informatics. The “tele” comes from telecommunications and the “matics” is from informatics. Therefore, telematics is by definition the combination of those two terms.

Telecommunications is the transmission of information from different types of technologies through fast mediums such as wire, radio, satellite, or other electromagnetic systems. Basically, telecommunications are any form of communication done in a fast way using some sort of electricity. This allows us to communicate with people far away but at the same speed as if they were close. Examples include listening to your favorite radio station from Los Angeles when you are in San Diego, texting your family member happy birthday from a different state, and even older forms such as sending a telegram.

Informatics is the study of the structure, behavior, and interactions of natural and engineered computational systems. This is essentially information processing—or looking at how a device computes data and what it does with that data. For example, part of informatics could be looking at how a calculator returns 4 when a user types in 2 x 2. Or it can dive deeper into how a computer reads in binary data and runs different programs from it.

Telematics, then, deals with both the processing of information and resulting communication of that processed information. This term sprung about in the 1970s and has vastly grown as telecommunications networks have spiked with the emergence of the internet. Telematics help in many different fields, including fleet management.

Telematics in Vehicles

In the fleet management field, telematics and vehicle telematics are often synonymous. Vehicle telematics deals with devices processing vehicle information and communicating that to an outside source. External devices such as Positioning Universal’s FT7500 utilize vehicle telematics to provide fleet managers accurate GPS tracking and other valuable metrics. Likewise, using video telematics, devices such as the AI Fleet Camera Solution provide another angle of analysis by communicating video footage of important events to fleet managers.

How Telematics Work

The process of vehicle telematics at a higher level goes through 5 steps. In the figure below, we show the telematics process of GPS trackingcl.

Data Processing
Device processes data to be communicated to the end user
For GPS tracking, this will be done via satellite signals sent to the vehicle. This is done automatically without any request from the device.
Other actions use cloud computing or edge processing, which is where the device needs certain information and computes either using the cloud or by itself. Learn more here about edge vs cloud computing
Vehicle communication
Device sends the data (GPS position in our example) to a secure server through a Telecommunications company via wireless connection (or satellite communications)
Telecommunication Company
The Telco manages this communication between vehicle and secure server
Server to Browser
Secure server receives information and uses the internet to upload the information to any computer requesting the information
This is usually accessed through a user interface that a fleet uses
User Receives Information
You receive the information from any device that connects to the internet
Information is real-time and accessible from any location

Benefits of Telematics

Telematics offer a surplus of benefits, and almost all of them center around helping the fleet manager do their job best. The main benefits include fleet safety, visibility, cost reduction, and maintenance optimization.

Safety

Fleet safety is one of the most important benefits that telematics solutions can offer. Keeping drivers safe from thousands of miles away is a very difficult task, but telematics allows fleet managers to keep track of their drivers as if they were in the passenger seat. Features from devices like Positioning Universal’s FT7500 allow fleet managers to see when drivers are exhibiting good or bad driving behavior and adjust them accordingly through customized training programs. Likewise the AI Fleet Camera Solution allows managers to identify collision risks and other driving violations, and receive in cab as well as on road vision of those events.

Visibility

As illustrated through the GPS example above, fleet managers can have increased, real-time visibility of where all of their fleet drivers are. Having this visibility allows for better response times to trip issues (accident, vehicle failure, etc.) and adds to overall fleet safety of drivers.

Cost Reduction

Telematics can greatly reduce fuel costs by relaying the vehicle’s fuel consumption and idling time. By being able to monitor this, as well as the driver’s route performance, fleets can now save immensely on fuel costs as fleet drivers can adjust their routes to be more fuel efficient and managers can work with drivers to minimize vehicle idling time.

Maintenance Optimization

Since telematics devices such as the FT7500 connect to the vehicle through the CAN Bus, the device can utilize telematics to easily communicate diagnostic data such as engine load, fuel consumption, and more so that managers can set up a better schedule for maintenance checks. Have consistent, real-time reports of this information allows for smoother scheduling and less on road delays from uncaught vehicle issues.

Conclusion

In all, telematics deal with both processing information and then communicating that information to whoever needs it. By harnessing this process, vehicles can better communicate what is happening on the road. This helps fleet management operations immensely as vehicles thousands of miles away can be very well monitored on a real-time basis, which can not only help the fleet save on costs and maintenance, but more importantly can keep drivers and managers better connected and safer.

Critical Events Deep Dive

Jennifer Curley — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 22:10:10 +0000

Positioning Universal’s AI Fleet Camera Solution offers many standout features and insights that help keep drivers safe on the road and optimize fleet fuel efficiency. One of these features includes the monitoring of “critical events.” This feature perfectly illustrates the thoroughness of the AI Camera Solution as a whole.

As an overview, the AI Camera records live video footage of both the truck cabin and the road while the ignition is on. However, instead of uploading up to 12 hours of footage every day, for every vehicle in a fleet, the critical events feature filters the footage that is actually uploaded to the fleet management cloud network. As the name suggests, the filtered footage only includes events that are denoted as critical — events that fleet managers want to be aware of and which could threaten the driver’s safety. These serious situations include:

The AI Camera can detect these situations in real time, and when it does, it records the event and uploads the footage to the cloud for fleet managers to see and respond to, if necessary. Also, each uploaded event is tagged according to its category, allowing for managers to easily filter through what critical events they want to look at.

So, how exactly does the AI Camera recognize these events, and why are they important? In this deep dive, we will break down each critical event and answer these questions.

Crash/Impact

For crashes and impacts, the importance of having footage of the event is easy to understand. These situations represent direct threats to driver safety, and require immediate action from fleet managers, especially in more severe accidents where the truck driver might be unresponsive. Because of the “critical events” feature, the fleet manager is notified immediately when an impact occurs, which is vital. Likewise, having the footage is invaluable for post-crash procedures. In many cases, having dash camera footage has saved companies from immense liability lawsuits, as they provided evidence that the driver was not driving recklessly. This footage also can be important to help provide context to crashes and provide better instruction to drivers in similar, future situations. For example, say a crash happens while a driver tries to navigate a slick road. Having footage of what they were going through —tight turns, other potential cars they tried to avoid, etc.— can help fleet managers understand exactly what happened and better prepare for the future.

To detect crashes, the AI Camera works with its coupled device, the FT7500, to identify objects and recognize harsh changes in acceleration. By utilizing those two measurements, the devices can flag an event and determine if a collision has occurred.

Harsh Acceleration, Braking, & Turns

Much like crashes and impacts, harsh driving events —including sudden acceleration, braking, and turning— pose significant threats to drivers and can indicate a dangerous situation on the road, whether from outside circumstances, or from risky driving practices. For both of those reasons, these events are considered critical and must be uploaded to the cloud and tagged for review. It is important to have this footage because it can help give context to the fleet manager about the driver’s conduct. Let us consider the footage below. Without the AI Camera, only the harsh braking and swerving would be identified, but the fleet manager would not know why it happened. In this instance harsh braking and turning saved the life of an animal crossing the road and is in fact an example of safe, aware driving.

For this critical event, the FT7500 gateway solution utilizes its accelerometer to identify the situation, and trigger the AI Camera to record and upload the footage.

Tailgating & Collision Risk

Tailgating and collision risk events are considered critical because they can lead to crashes with other vehicles. Tailgating is an unsafe driving practice and leads to many accidents. By uploading the relevant footage and allowing fleet managers to see the occurrences of this practice, supervisors can establish better programs and driver training to help prevent the issue. Likewise, a relative absence of these events can let managers know that this is not a pressing issue for their fleet, or one that requires attention for only a few drivers, not the entire group. The same goes for collision risks.

The FT7500 alone cannot detect events like these, but the AI Camera Solution allows for these more difficult events to be picked up. Let us start with collision risks. The AI Camera accurately identifies objects on the road, both moving and still, and can calculate distances from the object to the vehicle. If the object is moving, the speed of the moving object is also calculated by measuring how much the distance is decreasing or increasing based on the vehicle’s current speed. Finally, the solution can calculate whether the vehicle can safely brake in the current situation. If it can’t, the event is triggered. Tailgating operates very similarly and relies on the AI Camera detecting consistent proximity to an object.

Reckless Driving

Reckless driving is another critical event category, and much like tailgating and collision risks, this is a behavior where video footage and notification can improve future driver training and safety programs. If a driver engages in reckless driving, it is important for fleet managers to address the behavior immediately to keep their fleet as safe as possible.

Reckless driving is recorded by the camera and its edge AI technology identifies bad behavior. This can be swerving, drifting, drastic speeding, etc. The advanced object pickup of the AI Camera allows it to identify reckless behavior and then flag and upload the instance in question.

Stop Sign & Red-Light Violations

Finally, stop sign and red-light violations are especially important critical events for fleet managers. These violations pose significant threats to fleet safety and can prove costly to fleet operations. Many of us don’t always respect stop signs and come to a full stop — especially in neighborhoods and areas with low traffic. While in most cases this does not lead to any adverse consequences, it is a common road infraction. And for large fleets these infractions can lead to operational nightmares. By being alerted each time a stop sign or red-light violation occurs, fleet managers can be better prepared to address the issue and build out proactive programs to minimize these occurrences.

The detection of these violations shows another facet of our AI Camera technology. Not only does this camera have impeccable object pickup, but it also can identify the importance of the objects it sees. The AI Camera recognizes if the vehicle is approaching a red light or a stop sign and the FT7500 sends a report if the vehicle does not come to a complete stop. For stop signs, if the vehicle does not stop completely, the critical event flag is triggered. For red lights, if the vehicle moves before the AI Camera detects the light turning green, the critical event is triggered.

Conclusion

Having the ability to upload and alert fleet managers of critical events is critical to achieving the safest fleet operations possible. As you have seen many of these events are impossible for fleet managers to recognize without the help of the AI Fleet Camera Solution. And the critical event feature of Positioning Universal’s AI Camera allows for streamlined access to high-resolution video footage of events that actually need attention.

This not only makes fleet operations vastly more efficient, but also greatly reduces video storage costs. Likewise, it reassures drivers that the only footage that will be uploaded to the cloud is footage that can affect their safety on the road. Overall, the AI Fleet Camera Solution’s ability to detect, flag, and upload critical events makes it a complete and thoughtful solution that vastly improves fleet safety and reduces fleet costs.

What is Edge Processing and its Role in Video Telematics?

Jennifer Curley — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 20:34:29 +0000

When I first read the term “Edge Processing” I will admit that I did not even try to comprehend what it meant. It comes off as a highly technical term that is for the engineers to know and me to benefit from. However, understanding the basics of edge processing helps a lot with understanding our future roadmap in connectivity as well.

In its simplest form, edge processing is a method for IOT (internet of things) devices to process data that it collects. These devices can be anything that collects data. Vehicles contain a plethora of these devices—just think of all the data being collected every second the car is turned on, especially now with innovative assisted driving technologies. Let us focus on one example to explore edge processing and other ways to process data.

Lane Assist Technology & Edge Processing

Lane assist technology is a great and innovative feature that monitors the cars position on the road and detects if a driver is unintentionally leaving their lane. This is especially helpful for fleet drivers who log lots of hours on the road and can be vulnerable to drifting from fatigue or distraction while driving. But how does the car do this?

At its core, a camera is placed in the windshield of a car and picks up the lane markings—the white or yellow lines contrasted by the dark surface of the road. Should the car start getting too close to these lines without having their turn signal on, an alarm of some sort (beep, visual, vibrating wheel, etc.) will trigger and if the driver fails to correct the car’s position, the vehicle will re-center the car on its own.

To do this, data is constantly being collected and processed in real time. There are two main ways that vehicles make this happen: cloud processing and edge processing.

Cloud Processing-

The way cloud processing works is that the device collects the data (in this case the camera collecting the footage it sees on the road) and sends it to a cloud processing server that then executes the processing and sends back any action items if necessary (alerting the driver they are drifting).

Edge Processing-

Using edge processing, the device would handle the processing right there at the device level and only send a result signal to the cloud. So instead of sending the footage to the cloud, a message saying “good position” or “alerted” would be sent to the server. This is mostly for logging purposes so people can look back on what happened. In all, the data is processed on the “edge” instead of at a central cloud server.

To imagine this concept, refer to the figure above. All the pipes/tunnels are connections from the different devices and the nucleus is the cloud server. Handling data on the edge is like going to the very edge of each pipe and putting a processor there, which means in the device. The data no longer needs to travel through the pipe and back for an action to be taken.

Cloud vs. Edge Processing

Both cloud and edge processing have different advantages and disadvantages.

Latency: Edge processing allows for data to be processed much faster. Normal cloud computing will take 200 milliseconds for the data to travel to the server, amounting to a roughly one fifth of a second latency period (event to response time). In our lane assist example, that can be life or death. In that time the car can be well into the other lane and potentially crashing into another vehicle. Edge processing takes less than 10 milliseconds to respond to an event, allowing for real time responses in critical situations like our example.

Device Cost: Devices that use edge processing will cost more than cloud computing devices since they need to capabilities to process data within itself. Because of this, cloud computing can be advantages for noncritical functions that are not affected by delayed response times. Examples of this can be in car entertainment.

Network Bandwidth: Edge processing is not only fast, but it also vastly reduces the amount of data sent to the cloud server, which ultimately saves on storage and costs. For our example, using cloud computing would mean sending raw images of 1000KB+ size constantly. Most of these images would be insignificant but would take up a very large amount of storage and cost a lot to store and handle. Edge computing sends a result message of only a few bytes, saving both storage and resulting costs from it.

Internet Connection Dependency: For cloud computing to function, it needs stable connection to the internet. However, roads are not always in areas of good service. But we still need to keep drivers safe regardless of service or not. Edge processing does not solely depend on the internet connection as it can process the data without the need for the cloud server. So, lane assist would still be able to work using edge processing.

Taking this into consideration, devices can be optimized to save money without costing performance. For solutions such as Positioning Universal’s AI Fleet Camera Solution, edge processing is utilized to produce real time results that can have life saving impacts on their drivers. By utilizing edge processing, every alert triggered can instantly go to the driver and help them avoid potentially dangerous situations. Likewise, this allows for minimal storage as the device can dictate what needs to be recorded and uploaded to the cloud based on whether the event is a “critical event” or not. We have all seen the skits of security guards skimming through hours of security footage to find what they are looking for, but with edge processing, the AI Fleet Camera Solution allows fleet managers the ability to skip the unwanted footage and have cloud access to important events in high resolution video.

Edge Processing and 5G

While edge processing right now means more expensive parts for the device, the future looks to mitigate that and lower latency even further. Right now, edge processing is used with 4G technologies as 5G is still being fully fleshed out, especially in the vehicle telematics world.

To visualize what this means, lets zoom into our initial pipe and nucleus diagram. 5G and 4G in cloud computing describe how fast the data can travel through each pipe (with 5G being a much faster method). However, the actual data does not necessarily move faster, but rather the pipe is like a freeway for the data, and the data now has more lanes on the freeway with 5G.

Since 5G is not fully accessible yet, edge processing allows similar speeds to 5G while still operating under the 4G atmosphere. But we still have the problem with the more expensive hardware. Likewise, when 5G does become fully accessible, it also has non-latency related flaws that edge computing solves (network bandwidth and no-coverage areas). So, the future of IOT data processing actually involves a merging of both technologies.

5G widens the pipe for data to move faster, and edge processing shortens the pipe so the data needs to travel less distance. The future of 5G is merging both aspects into one system. Instead of adopting hardware into the device itself, edge-processing servers will be installed locally to vastly decrease the distance the data needs to travel. In our example of vehicle telematics, local servers will be placed alongside roads just like normal cell towers. From there the data will be processed and the action items sent back to the device while also sending the result and any other relevant data to the main cloud server.

It is the best of both worlds. Only minimal and significant data will be uploaded to the cloud, everything will be done faster, and device cost will be lowered. Utilizing both edge and 5G cloud computing will unlock even more capabilities while also driving costs down. For drivers and fleets as a whole, that means less collisions and safer roads.

What is the CAN Bus?

Jennifer Curley — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 20:29:23 +0000

Cars have drastically evolved since their creation. Instead of being internal combustion engines with four wheels and a seat, cars like the Tesla boast large computers on their dashboards and doors with no handles. Even more, cars can drive themselves.

Drivers continue to reap the benefits of technological advancement and never even notice all the inner workings that make it possible. Cars contain vast amounts of features, triggers, buttons, sensors, and more to bring one cohesive driving experience. We never even stop to think how when we change our gear to “reverse” the dashboard screen shows the backup camera footage. Or how when we finish a turn the blinker automatically stops blinking. One might say, “well there is a connection from the gear to the screen, telling it to read in the backup camera when the gear is on the reverse position”. While that could work, think about all the connections that would be needed for every feature the car brings. Connecting each feature would create a labyrinth of connections that would be impossible to wire. So how do we have million feature cars? The answer is the CAN Bus.

CAN Bus Overview

The Controller Area Network (CAN) Bus is like the nervous system of the car. The devices in the vehicle, or Electronic Control units (ECUs), are like the parts of the body that both transmit and receive information through the CAN Bus. Some ECUs include airbags, audio systems, and power steering. In cars today, there are 80 or more ECUs. The CAN Bus allows each of them to communicate without needing to all be connected to one another. The CAN Bus offers a centralized path for ECUs to transmit messages to one another.

As seen in the diagrams above, with the CAN Bus, the wiring is much simpler and because of that, more low cost and efficient. Every ECU can communicate with each other through a centralized system.

CAN Bus Nuts & Bolts

In the CAN Bus network, there exits two lines that complete the network, CAN High and CAN Low. These are bookended by resistors (acting as terminals) to prevent data from being reflected from the lines and echoed back in (which would cause interference). Each ECU has three parts that play roles in the CAN Bus: CAN Controller, CAN Transceiver, and CAN Node (the microcomputer inside the ECU). In a functioning CAN Bus, the three interact based on whether they receive or send a message in the network.

ECU Sends a message:

CAN Node (microcomputer) sends transfer data to the CAN Controller
CAN Controller sends data to CAN Transceiver
CAN Transceiver processes data and converts it to electrical signals that then get sent out into CAN Bus data lines

ECU Receives a message:

CAN Transceiver receives message from CAN Bus data lines
CAN Transceiver converts data and sends it to CAN Controller
CAN Controller receives data from Transceiver, processes it and relays the data to the CAN Node
CAN Node checks to see if data received is important for their functions or not
If data is important, data is accepted and processed
If data is not important, data is ignored

Each CAN Bus message in the network is called a CAN frame. These frames can either be broadcast to all ECUs in the CAN Bus, or they can be directed to specific ECU. The standard CAN frame has the same 8 field format.

Standard CAN Frame Structure

SOF: Start of Frame. Signals the beginning of a frame with a dominant ‘0’ bit (versus the recessive ‘1’ state).
Message ID: Defines the priority of the message based on which CAN Node is delivering the frame. The lower the number, the higher the priority. Standard arbitration ID’s are 11 bits and Extended arbitration ID’s are 29 bits. The ID is based on the Node, and not the actual message being delivered. Lower priority CAN Nodes must wait for openings to transmit their messages.
RTR: Remote Transmission Request. Part of the arbitration portion of a message frame. Indicates whether the message frame is a data frame or a remote frame (“0” for data frame and “1” for remote request frame).
Control: Consists of six bits. It includes the data length code (4 bits) and two bits reserved for future expansion. Shows how items of data are being sent in the frame. Allows receiving nodes to verify that they have received all the information sent.
Data: Contains the data being transferred. Can be anywhere from 0-64 bits.
CRC: Cyclic Redundancy Check. This field is to make sure there are no transfer faults, also called Safety Field.
ACK: Acknowledge Field (or Confirmation Field). Sends a signal to transmitting node that the message was received. Likewise, if an error is detected, the transmitter is notified of the error and resends the data.
EOF: End of Frame. Marks the end of the CAN frame.

CAN Bus Implementation in a Vehicle

As mentioned earlier, modern vehicles have up to 80 or more ECUs. While the CAN Bus offers a much more efficient method of ECU communication than point to point, handling 80+ ECUs through one CAN Bus channel could lead to information backup. To mitigate this problem, there are several CAN Bus systems that feature in a vehicle, and they are grouped by priority and function. These groups include Powertrain, Body, Comfort, Chassis, and more. These subnetworks can be connected by a gateway that allows for communication between CAN Buses if necessary. This gateway is normally the Body computer but can also be the Instrument Cluster or a different computer.

Each subnetwork operates on a different speed (low, medium, and high) based on the priority of their data/functions. For example, the CAN Bus controlling Engine data would operate on a high-speed network since its data is very high priority and critical for the car to properly function. A low-speed CAN Bus would feature ECUs such as interior lighting, in-cab entertainment, etc. High speed CAN Bus networks are the most expensive, so creating lower speed buses with less critical devices helps cut costs while maintaining efficiency.

CAN Bus Compatibility with External Devices

The centralized CAN Bus system allows for easy implementation of external telematics devices such as Positioning Universal’s FT7500. The FT7500 syncs to the vehicle through simple, seamless installation and then can read data from all the ECUs present in the vehicle. From there, the FT7500 reads the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and sends it to the cloud. where it is parsed. Then a file is returned that allows the FT7500 to read custom parameters from that specific vehicle. This allows for exceptional customization of monitoring from vehicle to vehicle, optimizing fleet management.

Conclusion

The CAN Bus allows for a centralized, efficient method for car devices to communicate from one to the other. By creating this centralized system, external devices like the FT7500 and its paired AI Fleet Camera Solution can seamlessly connect and access critical data from all the ECUs in the vehicle, tremendously improving fleet management and fleet safety.

Fleet Management: Keeping Drivers Safe and Operations Efficient

Jennifer Curley — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 20:20:59 +0000

Fleet trucks traverse from the coastal interstates in Los Angeles, to the rural highways in Indiana, to the bustling freeways in New York all to fulfil our essential operations. Fleets bring us our Amazon “coffee-making alarm clock” and edible “relationship savors”, but also our food, our water, and very relevant today, our medicine. Through the power of fleets, we are able to globally connect the world and solve problems that seem impossible to solve.

Take the COVID-19 vaccine. Each different vaccine required a different incubation temperature, had a different shelf life, were all vitally important, and required unrealistic urgency. However, logistics companies and fleets around the country tackled this problem and now we have an expedited timeline of full vaccination set at end of May. Fleets are crucial to our existence as an interconnected society and are the well-oiled machine in fulfillment.

Fleet Managers

Fleet managers exist to take on the labyrinth of fleet operations and create a sustainable system for companies to excel. Fleet Managers oversee things such as vehicle maintenance, fuel consumption, driver management, vehicle acquisition and disposition, among other things.

Fleet Management Roles

Fleet Strategy

The first role and responsibility in fleet management is developing a strategy for the fleet. This takes the shape of setting specific goals and priorities for the fleet. Each fleet will have a different strategy as they serve different functions and have different makeups. One example of this includes fleets deciding whether to purchase or lease vehicles. Generally, though, fleet strategy centers around safety and efficiency for their drivers, as well as cost optimization for their operations.

Fleet Acquisition & Services

Acquisition- The next role of fleet management acts on the fleet strategy: acquiring the fleet vehicles. In this, managers must consider the benefits and losses of purchasing used or new vehicles, the make and model of the vehicle (and class of vehicle their drivers are eligible to drive), and the branding for these vehicles. Acquiring the vehicles is crucial because every vehicle acquired is now a representation of the company.

On top of that, fleet managers must properly forecast how many vehicles to acquire to effectively complete their operations. Besides just the appearance of the fleet, properly predicting the vehicle’s lifespan and load capabilities are essential to having successful fleet acquisition, and ultimately optimizing the cost of the inventory.

Services- Fleet services include registration and registration renewal of the vehicles, as well as monitoring and adjusting overall fleet structure. Proper fleet management is a continuous process of restructuring the fleet strategy to better execute the company’s end goals. This can mean rebalancing the fleet, relocating certain vehicles, and constantly being proactive to prepare for the future.

Vehicle & Driver Management

Maintenance- Maintenance of fleet vehicles helps extend the vehicle life, saving money in the long run. Good fleet management not only repairs and fixes problems in vehicles swiftly but takes preventative maintenance measures to avoid long repairs. This can range from proper driving practices to routine checkups and constant monitoring.

Energy- Energy management, like maintenance management, can save or lose companies huge sums of money. An integral responsibility of fleet management is to monitor fuel usage and continuously look for ways to become more fuel efficient. Some fleets travel immense amounts of miles every day, leading to massive expenses on fuel. When fleet managers can identify ways to save gas (optimized routes, sustainable energy sources, etc.) it can vastly help their bottom line. On top of that, today incentives are increasing in transforming the fleet to a more sustainable model, one that contributes a smaller carbon footprint overall. Fleet managers are responsible for planning an eco-friendlier future.

Driver & Safety

Safety- Safety is another integral responsibility and challenge of the fleet manager. Safety of every driver can be very difficult when drivers are hundreds of miles away from the fleet manager. However, it is still extremely important to keep drivers safe. Technology like Positioning Universal’s FT7500 and AI Fleet Camera Solution can heavily help with fleet safety and will be described more in the next section. Other practices such as driver policies, education, and testing also help prepare and ensure a safe fleet. Another effective practice includes rewarding safe drivers and incentivizing safe driving practices.

Driver- Driver management extends beyond just driver safety though. The truck driver life is a unique experience, and fleet managers find ways to keep their drivers motivated and excited about their work. Driver retention is very important in the fleet world today. Especially because there is a truck driver shortage nationwide.

Technology

Technology allows for fleet managers to execute and optimize things never before possible. Devices like Positioning Universal’s FT7500 and AI Fleet Camera Solution allow fleet managers to monitor driver location, behavior, and even allow for better fuel optimization. Fleet managers may be hundreds of miles away from their respective drivers, but with technology they can sit in the passenger seat with all of them (this will link to other blog post about advantage of dual facing dash cam).

Disposition

The final responsibility of the fleet manager is disposing (reselling in most cases) of vehicles. This requires managers to know when the right time to sell is and where the right place to sell is. Fleet managers maximize the resale value of their vehicles to decrease the loss of that vehicle and help acquire a new replacement vehicle. Properly executing this function allows for a seamless transition of vehicles with minimal down time.

Conclusion

Fleet management is a very crucial role for a very crucial function. Fleet efficiency and consistency is vital to the functioning of our country and economy, and fleet managers ensure both. While a daunting task, technology such as the FT7500 and AI Fleet Camera Solution simplifies fleet management and allows for fleet managers to make confident decisions and keep their drivers as safe and productive as possible.

The Advantages of a Dual-Facing Dashboard Truck Camera

Jennifer Curley — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 19:33:23 +0000

In the fleet management sector, dash cameras have proven to be more beneficial than not. Critics of the dash camera fear and argue that it will only cause more damage to the company because it will showcase all the faults of their fleet drivers and end up hurting them in a future lawsuit. However, truck drivers are very safe, trained drivers. In fact, the American Truck Association found that 80% of truck related crashes were actually caused by passenger cars. The University of Michigan reported 81%. With that said, the dash camera can help bring the truth to the scene and more often than not, protect the driver and the company from financial burdens.

What exactly is so beneficial about dash cameras though? Do they really provide significant insights that cannot already be found? Do they really help the fleet owner’s pockets? The quick answer is yes, absolutely. Dashboard truck cameras not only record footage of the road, but they also offer many intangibles that help fleet drivers and owners. Jeffery Oster, partner with Vaughan Baio & Partners, recounts two stories where dash cam footage helped save companies from financial ruin in ways nobody could have expected. In the first story, the truck camera captured footage after an accident and saved one company from having to pay false injury expenses as it showed the passenger walking around unaffected by the accident. In the second story, the camera’s scope showed the reflection of a closed device on the truck’s windshield, proving that the driver was not driving while distracted when the collision occurred. In both cases the outward facing camera helped in unorthodox ways, but also hinted at some of its limitations as well. Seeing the road has significant advantages, but incorporating a second, inward facing camera can help even more.

Dual Camera vs. Regular Dash Camera

As it alludes to in the name, the dual-facing dashboard camera has two cameras that capture both the road, and likewise the cabin. This adds the ability to see how the driver reacts to road events and to see what they were doing when the critical event occurred. Solutions like the AI Fleet Camera Solution from Positioning Universal execute this concept.

To see why this matters lets revisit the closed device situation. The outward facing solution was only able to capture this pivotal evidence because it happened to reflect off the windshield. However, what if there was no reflection? What if the device were on the ground and not on the seat (where it could reflect off the windshield)? What if on that particular camera they installed it a little higher on the dashboard? What if? Then, the evidence is lost, and the fleet pays. However, the dual camera captures this evidence regardless of where the device is. The inward facing camera records the entire cabin, so the device will be seen without need for a reflection. If the device was on the floor, then the inward facing camera would still show the driver not looking at the ground continuously and prove the point indirectly.

In this case as well, thanks to emerging technologies, the AI Fleet Camera Solution will be able to use its footage to detect distracted driving on its own, a feature impossible with only the outward facing camera. Dual facing cameras take away any doubt and allows fleets escape lawsuit hits due to ambiguity, which prove very, very costly. But more importantly, dual-facing dash cameras insurmountably help with collision prevention.

Dual Facing Cameras for Safe Driving and Collision Prevention

Dual-facing dashboard truck cameras offer a surplus of advantages. Specifically, the complete AI Fleet Camera Solution enhances the dash camera experience and takes a step further with collision prevention features powered by video telematics. These features include:

Ability to capture both the road and the cabin
Enhanced driver scoring capabilities with vision inside of the cabin
Collision risk calculation, monitoring, and in cab notification to drivers
Emerging distracted driving detection utilizing the inward facing camera
Seamless video upload to the cloud for remote access

All these features create invaluable advantages for fleet management. First, it incentivizes drivers to not engage in distractions on the road and practice safe driving habits such as not speeding and/or tailgating. Fleet managers can also diagnose problems easier before they become costly. Cabin views allow fleet managers to catch bad driving practices and address them with the drivers before an accident occurs. And in the meantime, the dash cams utilize AI to help drivers prevent accidents through real time in cab alerts of dangerous situations (i.e. collision risk). But, if something does happen, the cloud footage upload allows fleet managers to access the content and assess the event quickly and send support even if the truck is thousands of miles away. All these things can save lives in a dangerous profession. Dash cams can catch the mistakes drivers make, but more importantly, they significantly help in the bigger mission of fleet management: fleet driver safety.

The Electric Vehicle Revolution and the Future of Fleet Vehicles

Jennifer Curley — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 19:07:52 +0000

Electric vehicles have sparked a new era in the automotive manufacturing industry. Every car manufacturer seems to be joining the movement quickly before they are left behind. Companies like Ford and GM recently announced new Electric models of their engine revving, tailpipe roaring F150 and Hummer, a paradox symbolizing the new era unlike any other. Both are set to release sometime in 2022, and the first edition of the Hummer has already sold out. It is clear that companies like Tesla have proven the high demand for electric vehicles and have likewise shown they can be successful in more than just a sedan.

Even in the trucking and fleet world, electric vehicles are emerging quickly. Amazon has committed to EV vehicles as part of their “zero emission” goal, purchasing 100,000 EV trucks to be fully implemented by 2030. Also, the California Air Resources Board is investing $45 million in EV trucks into companies such as Volvo Trucks, and already has 5 electric trucks in Southern California with more coming in the future. But the grass is not all green. Right now these current trucks are for short trips, and even with significant innovations in the car batteries, the trucks can only travel 150 miles per day. Compounded with that is the nuanced question of how sustainable and truly eco-friendly EV really is. Both issues pose serious questions and obstacles in the fleet world, an industry that contributes immensely to the overall carbon footprint in the United States.

EV Trucks and the Open Road

The open road. Everyone can visualize it. One to two lanes on each side, and nothing anywhere else. And long. Very, very long.

Open roads connect cities to other cities and are one of the main reasons we can grow corn in Nebraska and enjoy it at our Bar-B-Que in sunny San Diego. That corn travels approximately 1,395 miles (according to Google Maps) to feel the sizzle of the propane tank and smell the salt of the west coast beaches. However, corn, like all produce, does not live forever. Because of this, fleet managers and businesses optimize their fleet systems to traverse those thousands of miles in minimal time. So, tasks like this make EV trucks unusable. At peak innovation today, the 150 mile estimate before recharge would put distribution of this corn at 9.3 days. Uncooked corn, even when properly refrigerated, last about 5-7 days after harvest.

Even for goods that do not perish, the economic hit of extending trip times/days renders EV useless for longer trips, and even medium length day trips. 14 hours is the maximum a truck driver can drive consecutively. Feasibly a driver could make the 5 hour 51 minute trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back within 1 workday. However, with the EV truck that trip would take 3 days just to reach San Francisco as the route is 380 miles. The lost productivity makes for drastic economic hits and deteriorated operations systems. So, while the EV revolution continues to roar on, the fleet world still has to progress a lot before being feasible. Also, we need to ensure EV is the proper investment to make.

Eco-Friendly & EV

The most advertised reason for the creation and rapidly growing traction of EVs is that they are sustainable and eco-friendly. Electric Vehicles produce zero tailpipe emissions. Meanwhile, regular gas-powered vehicles account for approximately 23% of all U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. The disparity is staggering. However, electricity itself faces a battle with sustainability. Electricity is overwhelmingly produced from fossil fuels (61%), amounting to 27% of all U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. The entire renewable energy movement began with ways to substitute electricity production. So, electric vehicles are not enitrely emission free. Coupled with the residual emissions and pollution from battery manufacturing, EVs might not be the saving grace to eco-friendly transportation that it advertises.

Overall, though, that same Forbes article illustrates how electric vehicles are still more eco-friendly than its gas-powered counterparts. But not nearly as much as hoped for, and certainly not worth revolution. That is unless we can revolutionize electricity production. As shown in this graph, the total emissions of the electric powered Nissan Leaf varied by country. This is based on where their electricity is pulled from. Norway’s main source of electricity is hydropower, which means the electricity put into the Nissan (its fuel cycle) produces zero emissions. However, the U.S. has one of the largest fuel cycles because of our dependence on fossil fuels.

While it looks bad on the surface, this is actually the gleaming light. If renewable energy can surpass fossil fuel in electricity production, then EVs will truly serve as the eco-friendly transportation solution that it is advertised as right now. EVs are necessary for the uphill battle of sustainable and eco-friendly transportation. But it is renewable energy that must be revolutionized for EVs to shine.

In the fleet world, many obstacles exist in becoming emission free and truly eco-friendly, but never bet against innovation. It is how we can enjoy corn on the beach.

The Midwest Cold Storm and its Effects on the Fleet World

Jennifer Curley — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 19:04:37 +0000

This past week the Midwest has been hit with a devastating cold storm. Many power plants have been shut down due to the icy conditions. The entire state of Texas now faces an electricity crisis as millions of people are without power and rolling blackouts continue. To make matters even worse, a power shortage does not just mean houses without electricity, but also the forced shut down of many of the vital services that our communities depend on. Many of the automotive companies such as Ford, GM, and Honda have shut down operations because of the conditions, and likewise companies like Walmart shut down nearly 500 locations across the Midwest region. In the technology era we live in today, power leaves its footprint in almost everything we do, and when diminished, ripples into devastating consequences everywhere.

The Cold Storm and Fleets

What does this mean for fleets? Icy roads, freezing conditions, and power shortages have all harshly affected the fleets in the Midwest. Even the biggest fleets that service the United States have been substantially hit. According to the New York Times, FedEx’s largest site hub in Memphis has been “substantially disrupted”. This hub normally sorts through 500,000 packages and documents every hour. Likewise, the USPS has shut down post offices, hubs, and other facilities across several states including Texas and Alabama.

Impact of Logistics Fleet Delays

For fleets like FedEx and the USPS, a closure in the Midwest damages more than just that region. These mega-fleet companies service the entire country and optimize their service through main “hubs” that sort and distribute the packages. With a lot of these hubs, and especially their bigger hubs, located in the Midwest, other regions outside of the cold storm are affected as well. Drivers can no longer access the packages from these hubs due to closure, and likewise are not able to distribute the packages they do have access to because of the severe weather conditions. UPS expects delays in non-affected regions due to this. But the Nike sweatpants you ordered from online is only a small price to pay from these delivery delays. Even the massive economic hits are not the worst effect of the cold storm delaying distribution.

Now more than ever, logistics and fleet distribution are pivotal in the United States. For almost a year now, we as a country—and world—have been isolated from many of the things that make life special. But as of mid-December 2020, hope seemed on the horizon. A variety of companies created vaccines to protect against COVID-19, and next came a call to action for massive distribution and vaccination as quickly as possible. Extreme efforts have been made to ramp up vaccine distribution, totaling more than 65.9 million distributed doses as of February 11, 2020. However, because of the cold storm, vaccine distribution is being delayed. States and cities delaying/shutting down vaccination sites include:

Chicago
Florida
Ohio
Colorado
Pennsylvania

More delays across more states are likely to ensue as well. Unfortunately, the vaccines have short shelf lives, meaning these delays could cause the spoiling of massive amounts of vaccines that could save lives.

What we can Learn

In terms of fleet safety, shocking situations like this illustrate the immense need for centralized ways to track and monitor all fleet vehicles. The cold storm did not hit when all fleet vehicles were in the garage and drivers safely in their homes. Being able to monitor and see exactly where the driver is and what their conditions are is vital to quickly problem solve when unexpected events arrive. Using technology such as the AI Fleet Camera Solution paired with its FT7500 gateway, every fleet manager can be assured of accurate GPS tracking and notification—with dual camera footage—of critical events that happen on the road.

What makes the cold storm in Texas so damaging is the shock of the event and resulting unpreparedness. Having the right technology in place can help alleviate the damage of unexpected events, and more importantly help keep drivers safe.

Distracted Driving: Impacts and Solutions for the Leading Threat in Road Accidents

Jennifer Curley — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 18:35:36 +0000

In today’s age of mobile technology, distracted driving has surpassed drunk driving as the leading threat of accidents on the road. With the constant innovation of smartphones and 5G technology, access to a phone and other handheld devices will only continue to grow, causing even more concern for driver safety. Sure, smartphone and car companies have taken some measures with Bluetooth and “car mode” features, but that still renders insufficient. In fact, engaging in a hands-free device while driving is 4 times more distracting than talking to an adult passenger. In that same report, it was shown that 56% of drivers use their phones while driving, and 1 out of 3 people text while driving, which increases the risk of crashing by 23 times.

Distracted driving is a prevalent, complex problem with harsh consequences. For the general public, the stakes of distracted driving are already high, but for fleets, the stakes—and likelihood—are even higher.

Distracted Driving: What is it Exactly?

Distracted driving comes in many forms, with cell phones quickly emerging as one of the most prevalent and therefore most consequential. The most common forms of distracted driving include:

Being lost in thought/mind wandering
Cell phone usage
Eating or drinking
Adjusting a radio or navigation system
Rubbernecking
Reaching for something on the floor or back of vehicle
Drowsiness

All these practices can cause the driver’s performance to be compromised. This results in swerving in and out of lanes, harsh braking, delayed reaction to lights, slowed driving, and more. While some of these listed practices seem less consequential and manageable, driving demands acute attention, and even small lapses in judgement can cause accidents, injuries, and even death.

Impacts of Distracted Driving

General Public

For the everyday driver, the impacts of distracted driving are exceptionally high. Even though driving can appear as a mundane task to get from the house to work (with a brief stop for morning coffee), it can have life-altering consequences. Nearly six million reported car crashes occur in the United States each year, with approximately 10 million more going unreported. Roughly 1.3 million people die from car crashes every year and 2 million report serious injuries.

The staggering fact: 1.6 million accidents (~26.7% of all accidents) involve cell phone usage and roughly 90% of all accidents are driver related (error, impairment, distraction).

There is no doubt how costly distracted driving can be to the everyday driver. Individual’s lives are at stake. And even for minor accidents, car damage, insurance rates increasing, and other consequences all add up to a nightmare nobody wants to deal with. For fleets, however, not only are the consequences compounded, but likewise the likelihood of accidents is higher as well.

Commercial Trucks/Fleet Systems

Truck driving is the most dangerous occupation in the United States, with 28.3 fatal injuries per 100,000 full-time workers in 2018. Truck car crashes also account for 11% of all motor vehicle crash deaths totaling 143,000 deaths. This stems from the fact that truck drivers spend much more time on the road. The general public drives 12,000-15,000 miles annually, while a fleet driver drives roughly 20,000-25,000 miles or more each year. This high travel time increases the risk of accidents and the number one factor for these accidents is distracted driving.

Compounded with the safety of the driver is the financial hit. On average, the cost of a fleet accident totals $70,000, which is double to cost of the average workplace injury. When a fleet accident occurs, not only do all the concerns of a general driver ensue, but further losses accumulate. Lost sales from shipments, potential third-party liabilities if the driver caused the crash, lost productivity, and more all follow a fleet accident. So, how do we reduce the risk?

Solutions for Fleet Safety

The power of technology is how you use it. Just as technology can create problems, so can it solve them. So, the first step towards tackling this complex and critical problem of distracted driving is with technology. Positioning Universal’s new AI Fleet Camera Solution offers tangible steps towards improving driver safety with AI powered driver scoring and soon-to-come distracted driver monitoring. Having eyes into the scene is crucial to changing behaviors. Likewise, driver scoring incentivizes drivers to stay as focused as possible while on the road.

On top of implementing AI dual cameras like the AI Fleet Camera Solution, creativity can help tremendously. Properly diagnose “why” the driver gets distracted and look for ways to substitute that. The voice of the driver is imperative in finding the proper solution. See the problem, and listen to what motivates it. For something this critical and costly, do not be afraid to use your resources, as it will benefit not only your bottom line, but more importantly, your driver’s—and the drivers’ they share the road with—safety.