Intel hosts the Safety Pioneers Conference to boost road safety in India

Intel reinforces its goal to use technology to enhance road safety in India. At the Safety Pioneers Conference, inaugurated by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi, Intel brought together leading organizations such as technology and transportation providers, vehicle makers, academia, and government to collaborate and bring solutions to address road safety-related challenges. With their unique experiences and capabilities, the collaboration will act as a catalyst to not just save lives on roads, but also promote local innovations. The Safety Pioneers Conference will serve as a platform to introduce pioneering road safety initiatives & technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), ADAS, and other emerging technologies that can bring impact at scale.

Furthering its focus on using technology for road safety, the company showcased Intel Onboard Fleet Services (“Solution”), an AI-powered fleet safety solution for commercial vehicles. As a first of its kind initiative, this comprehensive Solution brings world-class and road-tested technology, exclusively designed for Indian conditions. It offers Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS), Driver Monitoring Systems, fleet telematics, fleet health, and fuel efficiency features. The Solution is already deployed by 16 customers like Sure Group Logistics, Sankyu India Logistics, Allanasons across sectors such as HAZMAT, Cold Chain, Third-Party Logistics (3PL) and Employee Transport and it indicates that this technology can reduce the probability of accidents by 40 - 60 percent and estimates that overall efficiency losses can be reduced by up to 50 percent.

Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India, and Vice President, Intel Foundry Services says, “Road safety has always been a pressing issue in our country, with the highest rate of traffic accidents in the world. Advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence are playing a transformational role in enabling smarter and safer vehicles, roads, transportation systems and drivers. Intel along with its ecosystem partners from the government, industry and academia has been relentlessly working towards leveraging the power of technology to help achieve India’s road safety goals. And this conference further extends the commitment by bringing together critical players to collaborate, innovate and advance road safety for India.”

Intel Onboard Fleet Services is powered by a portfolio of in-cabin devices, along with a state-of-the-art cloud portal that includes actionable insights, analytics, and reports for fleet managers. The Solution includes a best-in-class advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) from Mobileye, a world leader in AI based Collision Avoidance Systems. With its integrated offering, the Intel Onboard Fleet Services cloud portal offering can help improve overall efficiency, enable preventive maintenance, and reduce operating costs. In addition, public sector transport organizations can achieve significant economic benefits via reduced accident compensation payouts by adopting the Solution.

Intel’s solutions also include advanced telematics, covering vehicle health and fuel analytics along with a unique driver scoring and rating module. This can significantly help fleets reduce the risk of accidents and downtime, while encouraging good driving practices through targeted incentivization and reward programs. At the heart of the Solution is driver coaching, which activates 15 different inputs to provide individualized coaching recommendation for commercial fleets, who lose up to 25 workdays per accident involved.

India has one of the highest rates of traffic accidents in the world – responsible for nearly 11 percent of all road fatalities across the globe with just 1 percent of the world’s vehicles. There are 17 deaths every hour and an accident every minute on Indian roads. Six out of 10 accidents involving commercial fleets can be prevented with timely driver interventions. Moreover, the commercial fleet industry suffers efficiency losses up to INR 48,000 crore per year due to accidents and fleet breakdowns.

Now, more than ever, it is imperative for technology and transportation providers, vehicle makers, academia, and government to form alliances and work in a cohesive manner to find the root cause and address the problem of road safety. A safety-first mindset can significantly advance MoRTH’s goal of reducing the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 percent by 2025, while also providing commercial fleet operators a business edge via efficiencies gained. Moreover, tapping the capabilities of advanced technologies such as ADAS, IoT, etc. can drive significant operational efficiencies, add local innovations for the Indian fleet market, and save lives on roads.