Pennsylvania-based Napa Transportation, a family-owned carrier of dry van and refrigerated truckloads, has selected Solera subsidiary Omnitracs’ video technology to monitor drivers.

SmartSense for Inattentive Driving+ uses computer-vision-based algorithms and a purpose-built sensor to help ensure fleet safety. It leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and sensor data to identify accurately driver inattention based on head position, eyelids being open or shut, the direction of eye gaze, phone use and so on.

“Solera is excited to be partnering with Napa Transportation in supporting their driver and fleet safety needs with a common goal of saving lives,” said Ayron McLochlin, vice president at Texas-based Solera. “SmartDrive SmartSense for Inattentive Driving+ identifies and mitigates risks by proactively notifying drivers when they are distracted or drowsy through immediate in-cab feedback. This combined with our overall safety and driver coaching platform will allow Napa to meet their expectation of a best-in-class safety culture. We look forward to working with Napa and others who may be interested in making roads safer for all.”

Joseph Salisbury, safety director at Napa, added: “Our goal at Napa Transportation is to integrate and maintain a best-in-class safety culture, one where every action, activity and decision begins and ends with safety at its core. To that end, we look to partner with companies that share our passion and whose portfolio aligns with our safety needs. The proactive nature of Inattentive Driving+ enables my team to effectively engage with our drivers’ workforce – changing behaviour where warranted – and mitigate risk to ourselves and the general public with whom we share this nation’s highways. I look forward to our continued collaboration with Omnitracs for the long haul.”

Distracted driving is a rapidly growing epidemic with 3142 fatalities in distraction-affected crashes in 2019, a number that climbed to above 3500 in 2020.

SmartDrive technology is rooted in a 20-year history of training and informing sensors using insights and data from more than 300 million analysed driving safety events and 50 billion driving kilometres across all transportation sectors.

Using two cameras built into a single unit, Inattentive Driving+ provides complete visibility of the entire cab and details of the driver’s face, eyes and hands to identify safety-critical behaviour. It is only with two cameras that a fleet truly knows if a driver is attentive or not, even if the driver is wearing sunglasses. It prevents inattention before it causes a collision by providing real-time alerts for drivers when they are inattentive or drowsy, offloading video safety technology for expert review and displaying scored and documented video in an easy-to-use coaching workflow for fleet managers and drivers.

Omnitracs offers a complete fleet intelligence software platform. Serving for-hire and private fleets in the transportation and distribution industries, it can accelerate business success, improve efficiency and enhance the driver experience for nearly 15,000 users who collectively travel over a billion kilometres per week. Omnitracs pioneered digital transformation in trucking more than 30 years ago. Today, it offers a one-stop shop for enterprise-grade, data-driven technology across compliance, telematics, workflow, routing and video safety in 50 countries.

Napa Transportation is a family-owned and operated trucking company that provides logistics for companies across the USA. It has more than 1900 pieces of company-owned equipment in operation and employs over 500 individuals across five terminals.