NZ Company Vehicle is no stranger to the world of the dash cam and yet we have just been introduced to a new one, this is the DriveTrain unit from IVCSONE and it’s a little gem.

The DriveTrain is the latest release from IVCSONE, a company with a long standing and enviable reputation since 2006, serving the New Zealand transport fleet. The products and services offered are a global mix of various scaleable and interactable option levels depending on the type of risk which a company is looking to resolve, the fleet size, the resources available to coach drivers and the type of vehicles they operate.

The vast array of scaleable solutions has origins in South Africa and the United States where dash cams are as popular as tow bars are here.

You can read more about IVCSONE elsewhere in this edition. For now, we’re looking at the DriveTrain dash cam – how easy it is to use, how effective it is for your fleet and why it’s different.

To address this last first, the DriveTrain video telematics dashcam unit, to give it its proper name, incorporates Machine Vision and Artificial Intelligence.

Machine Vision gives the DriveTrain unit the ability to see through images and recognise specific activities or behaviours, while Artificial Intelligence interprets information and learns to use it to achieve a desirable result or goal by offering immediate feedback to the driver on the fly.

Physically, DriveTrain comprises two camera lenses, one facing out to the highway and one looking back into the vehicle.

The in-cab camera can be easily switched off in accordance with your specific company policy, but the forward-facing camera is on constantly because, well, it wouldn’t be a lot of use otherwise. This being said, to make the most of DriveTrain’s ability to teach or coach, utilisation of the internal lens is paramount for best reduction of poor driving behaviours and thus constant real-time risk mitigation for each driver and for the overall fleet risk footprint.

The outfacing camera is on all the time, but the driver can – should the need arise – take a snapshot at the push of a button for those times when an event needs special attention.

All camera footage is Cloud accessible, which makes it a breeze to get at on demand and in real time, rather than have all the recorded data and event occurrences clutter up a work computer and requiring continual monitoring.

Aside from being a perfect and very economical fit for large fleets, this also plays into the hands of the small fleet user who might lack the personnel or other resources to commit to a dash cam monitoring role, and a small fleet operator/owner will likely be taking a personal interest in the dash cam’s performance anyway.

Also, having a pretty solid GPS tracking solution included, it would be a good option to upgrade from your existing tracking solution to DriveTrain, allowing for the best of both worlds.

Cloud accessible information makes the whole “Was this gadget worth it?” question go away. It is so easy to use thanks to the dashboard with dropdown menus.

For me, the cloud-based accessibility proved very useful. With a few keystrokes, I could turn my smoldering word processor into a comprehensive fleet management tool and give myself a few reprimands about my driving behaviour.

My misdemeanors did not warrant any legal action, so IVCSONE were not called upon nor compelled to contact Waka Kotahi, not that this would have happened anyway as the data I had generated is ‘my’ data and as I am my own fleet manager, it’s up to me as to whether I share it with anyone else. The same can be said for any IVCSONE customer.

Aside from the real time in-vehicle feedback the driver receives fleet managers can take the information provided to aid in hands-on coaching to ensure safer driving protocols are fully achieved.

Across the entire product and service range on offer, the stated mission of IVCSONE is to change driver behaviour before an incident occurs and the DriveTrain camera and telematics unit is an excellent method of doing this.

It is kind of like getting stopped for speeding, reprimanded on the spot by artificial intelligence but avoiding the ticket and the potential demerit points. For many of us, this has the effect of slowing our speeds – or at least paying a great deal more attention to it. The same can be said for other behaviours the AI system alerts drivers to.

The DriveTrain camera though, is always in view and even experienced drivers who might ‘bend’ the rules once and a while, are soon going to pick up on the fact that transgressions are going to reflect poorly on their driving record. Another massive upside is the unit’s ability to really reduce risk in less experienced drivers as well.

With the camera in the vehicle with them, it prompts better driving behaviour and good habits such as putting your cellphone right out of reach, making sure you are wearing your seatbelt, not smoking, eating, or drinking in the vehicle. All that sort of stuff.

Then watch what happens: because the driver is no longer distracted, their driving improves.

Speeding incidences drop away, following distances are increased, harsh braking instances are reduced and thus the behaviour improves for the better, all prior to an incident occurring.

With speeding and distraction being the major killers on our roads, having DriveTrain operating in a vehicle the ambulance has now been moved back to the top of the cliff rather than being at the bottom picking up the pieces.

A dash cam which can train you and stop you making bad or risky decisions? Come on, does this really happen?

My daughter drives with me just about every night. Two nights ago, we were out in a – well, yeah, it was a hot hatch.

She asked me why, if I had all this power to play with, was I driving so sedately. Did we have half a tank of gas or something? Wordlessly, I gestured with my head to the camera – keeping both hands on the wheel – and replied with, “The camera’s teaching Dad to modify his driving behaviour honey.”

And there, your Honour, the Defence rests.  Oh, and with IVCSONE offering free trail units you would have to be artificially un-intelligent not to give this latest technology a red hot go!