Software company 5DT’s (Fifth Dimension Technologies’) new DriveVUE is an automated artificial intelligence (AI) driver behaviour improvement system that aims to improve driver performance and safety.

“DriveVUE, [our] latest AI product, is a device mounted behind the rear-view mirror of a vehicle and has two cameras – the first is pointed at the driver and is referred to as the cab-cam, while the second is pointed at the road and is referred to as the road-cam,” explains 5DT CEO Paul Olckers.

While the cab-cam detects, for example, talking on a mobile phone, not using seatbelts, drowsiness and distracted driving, the road-cam detects failure to stop at a stop sign or red traffic light, incorrect following distance or crossing barrier lines, that is, solid lines on the road.

Moreover, other built-in DriveVUE sensors detect speeding, aggressive driving or braking and aggressive cornering.

When the DriveVUE device detects an event, it gives the driver an audio warning –essentially speaking to the driver. For example, if the driver uses his/her mobile phone, the device detects it and tells the driver: “Stop using your mobile phone”, says Olckers.

When the driver stops using the mobile phone, the DriveVUE device will even respond with a “thank you”, he adds.

DriveVUE monitors driver performance continuously while reinforcing behaviour after trips through short five-minute e-learning courses, which are sent to the driver to be done on a mobile phone or computer.

It also features a powerful Web application that enables a truck fleet operator to track DriveVUE devices, drivers and vehicles. The device provides actionable metrics that enable the fleet operator to systematically improve the performance of the drivers.

While the product was released in South Africa at the Road Freight Association yearly conference in May 2021, and in the US at the American Trucking Association’s Management Conference & Exhibition in October 2021, it is being presented and demonstrated to fleets and tracking entities, with trial units available for evaluation purposes, concludes Olckers.