By Damian Penney, VP EMEA at Lytx

Damian Penney, VP EMEA at Lytx

The start of any new year is packed with resolutions as commercial fleets set out their goals and aspirations for the coming months. Every year, however, our desire to create a world in which no commercial driver is ever the cause of a collision remains unchanged. As we work towards that goal, it’s important to reflect on some of the new and emerging factors that affect risk, and how technology is changing the way we tackle it.

Identifying risk – the top priority for insurers

How risk is identified has changed dramatically in recent years. Leading insurers have begun to move beyond the traditional First Notification of Loss (FNOL) approach to look instead at First Notification of Risk (FNOR). This is a direction that many others are already starting follow.

FNOL is the traditional way of recording the cost of accidents and describes the initial report made to an insurer after damage to an insured asset – whether that’s a damaged vehicle, damaged or stolen cargo, or an injured driver. It is the perfect example of reactive management with action only taken after an incident that has already happened. This traditional telematics technology relies on G-force readings, such as harsh braking or swerving, and only tells you when an incident has already taken place. Crucially, it doesn’t provide any context or visibility into the events leading up to that incident.

The FNOR approach instead uses intelligent video with advanced machine vision and artificial intelligence technologies to empower drivers by alerting them of risk in real-time – allowing them to adjust their behaviour in the moment and prevent incidents from occurring. With this approach, commercial fleets are gaining insight into ‘hidden risk’ in their vehicles before something happens, not just reactively after it has happened. For example, you could have a driver steering with their knees, using a mobile phone held between shoulder and ear, eating a sandwich and smoking… and traditional telematics technology would not be able to identify this risk. With direct access to live, real-time data, insurers can see patterns in risky behaviour and monitor them over time. Whether that’s peaks happening on a particular day of the week, or a pattern that indicates a lower level of driver risk, these insights allow insurers to calculate risk more accurately and adjust premiums accordingly to deliver significant savings across the board.

The changing contributors affecting risk    

It’s not just how we identify risk that’s changing, but the factors contributing to it. Autonomous and electric vehicles are one area presenting a huge business opportunity for fleets in 2023, and yet, transitioning to a new vehicle with a new layout can present initial challenges for drivers which may result in new distractions and higher risk. For example, are drivers distracted by new beeps or looking away more frequently as they navigate a different dashboard? Or perhaps ‘range anxiety’ and the new routes to find a charging point is affecting their concentration? Fleets may also need to be mindful of any spikes in speeding amongst those stepping into an EV for the first time, with research showing that drivers of compact EVs experience an acceleration risk nearly three times that of ICE vehicle drivers. Counter-intuitively, safety measures such as automatic braking distance control and ‘white line’ alerts that come in today’s modern vehicles can actually contribute to increasing risk. With so many semi-autonomous features there is a real danger that drivers are becoming complacent.

Any change is likely to cause a shift in behaviour, at least initially. Technologies such as machine vision (MV) and artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to combat this by identifying any risky behaviours before they turn into anything more serious, as well as identifying patterns in behaviour over time. When you have actionable insights, you immediately take risk management from reactive and into proactive. This includes the ability to identify where additional support, including driver coaching and professional development, is needed in order to tackle any teething problems before they develop into something more.

Empowering drivers to identify – and respond – to risk

Being aware of what might cause risk and being able to identify it early on is essential in improving driver safety. The final piece of the puzzle is sharing those insights with the most important asset within your fleet – the driver. By doing this, you are empowering your drivers to recognise and reduce risk immediately by adjusting their behaviour in the moment. When fleets take these steps, they are well on their way to meeting the desired outcome of keeping drivers and roads safer.