SmartWitness’ in-vehicle cameras decrease traffic incidents and reduce disputed insurance claims by 38%

Quick Facts

Company

SmartWitness
www.smartwitness.com

Customer Profile

SmartWitness is a world leading designer, manufacturer, and supplier of in-vehicle cameras, recorders, and software. The company’s lineup of network connected products and accompanying RESTful API have allowed SmartWitness video and data to be seamlessly integrated with GPS tracking and fleet management software, ushering in the new era of video telematics.

Objectives

SmartWitness wanted to move their existing solution from 3G to 4G and offer additional connectivity options
Not satisfied with the vendor they had selected for their current embedded connectivity modules, SmartWitness wanted a partner who better fits their technology and business requirements

Results

This in-vehicle monitoring system has been proven to greatly reduce disputed insurance claims from 40 percent to 2 percent
Traffic incidents and risks have been greatly reduced

Sierra Wireless Products & Services

SmartWitness uses the industrial-grade Sierra Wireless® HL Series embedded modules with 4G LTE Cat-3/4 technology to enable a reliable connectivity for real-time, two-way communication that’s scalable from 3G to 4G

Challenge

According to a recent BCG analysis, the growth in autonomous vehicle adoption will accelerate significantly during the next two decades, with more than 12 million fully autonomous vehicles sold per year globally by 2035. One of the main goals for vehicle automation is increased road safety, which has been a priority for SmartWitness since it began developing products in 2007. The company’s industry leading safety technology has produced solutions that redefine the way vehicle risk is analyzed to both prevent accidents and provide accurate collision information to strengthen insurance claims.

“Without our products, our customers would not have the visibility into their fleet’s locations and traffic incidents, so their claims costs and disputed claim rate would stay high,” said Chris Pflanz, product director for SmartWitness. “Fleet driver behavior would not be monitored and reported, resulting in less incentive to follow the rules of the road, which ultimately creates a higher risk of incident.”

SmartWitness offers a variety of in-vehicle camera recording systems with accompanying API stack that open a window into the fleet and ensure that all evidence is captured and transmitted instantly and securely to the fleet owner or manager. Advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) technology and two-way audio increase safety and help to prevent accidents by alerting the driver when unsafe behavior is detected and communicating with the driver in the event of a road emergency.

SmartWitness’ next generation in-vehicle camera recording system, called KP2, can be added-on to an existing telematics solution or be used as a stand-alone system, combining in-vehicle video with telematics data into a single windshield-mounted device. The company wanted to move from 3G to 4G and offer additional connectivity options. Not satisfied with the vendor they had selected for their current embedded connectivity modules, SmartWitness began to search for a partner who better fit its technology and business requirements.

The friendliness and accessibility of the Sierra Wireless team combined with their advanced technical knowledge and robust product capabilities made it easy for us to decide to start with Sierra.

Chris Pflanz
Product Director, SmartWitness

Solution

For its upcoming KP2 all-in-one cellular and Wi-Fi-enabled vehicle accident camera with live tracking & real-time image transfer, SmartWitness selected Sierra Wireless HL Series wireless modules to provide highly reliable 4G LTE connectivity. “The Sierra Wireless® HL Series offers the scalability we need going from 3G to 4G LTE Cat 3/4,” said Pflanz.

“The friendliness and accessibility of the Sierra Wireless team combined with their advanced technical knowledge and robust product capabilities made it easy for us to decide to start with Sierra,” said Pflanz. “Reliable connectivity is critical for the real-time, two-way communication that makes our in-vehicle products effective. Any downtime can be detrimental to a tired driver and his/her employer.”

SmartWitness’ KP2 has a sleek, low-profile design, which attaches to any windshield with ease, making a small footprint important for the embedded components. The camera recording system is also tamper-resistant, with a tamper switch that sends out an alert if it is forcibly removed from the windshield. In addition to the integrated Sierra Wireless HL Series IoT Modules, the KP2 also includes a 1080p HD video camera with 170-degree wide-angle lens, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS/Glonass, a 6-axis accelerometer, expansion capability up to 10 cameras, built-in CAN interface, and a RESTful API available for integration with any web application.

“We’re most proud of the ADAS and two-way audio features because they help to prevent accidents from happening in the first place,” said Pflanz. “Our ADAS technology alerts the driver if he’s following too closely to the vehicle in front or if he/she changes lanes without signaling, the assumption being the driver is tired and drifting. The two-way audio allows fleet management or dispatch to easily call the driver via hands-free, or speak with the driver in the event of an emergency. None of this would be possible without a reliable communication technology.”

Results

According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel, nearly 1.3 million people globally die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day. Unless action is taken, road traffic injuries are predicted to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030, which is why SmartWitness is focused on improving roads safety through surveillance.

SmartWitness currently has in-vehicle monitoring and communication solutions installed in more than 250,000 vehicles worldwide with industry leaders such as FedEx and DHL, large city taxi fleets in New York, Chicago, and London, and integrated deployments with Geotab, Mobileye, Navman/Teletrac, and TomTom Telematics. The company will be launching KP2 in the United Kingdom this summer, followed by the United States in early 2018.

“Our product has been proven to greatly reduce disputed insurance claims from 40 percent to 2 percent,” said Pflanz. “But what we’re also really focused on is the movement toward technology-based road safety improvements, continuing to reduce risk and incident frequency to better serve our customers.”

Reliable connectivity is critical for the real-time, two-way communication that makes our in-vehicle products effective. Any downtime can be detrimental to a tired driver and his/her employer.

Chris Pflanz
Product Director, SmartWitness