Everything You Need To Know About Video Telematics

Until quite recently the idea of having a vehicle kitted out with a suite of HD video cameras was a luxury reserved for the fleets with the biggest budgets. But as technology has improved and efficiencies in manufacturing have brought the price down, companies everywhere have asked “what’s next?”.

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Well, in short – it’s video telematics.

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Pretty much every fleet manager out there now runs a piece of telematics software to help track vehicle movements, manage timesheets, and monitor driving standards across all their vehicles. Video telematics takes that to the next level, so to get you up to speed, here’s everything you need to know about it.

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What Is Video Telematics?

Video telematics combines fleet tracking with cameras and analytics. The key difference between a standalone camera system and one that is integrated with telematics into a single solution is that you get a live picture of everything all in one place. You can see your standard telematics data like locations, routes, speed, fuel efficiency, all lined up next to the cameras you have connected to any particular vehicle.

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Having a complete live view of your fleet means that you can spot unsafe driving while it’s actually happening. This gives you the chance to address a driver or operator before it’s reported by a member of the public or worse, before an accident happens.

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If an incident has happened you immediately have every piece of information at your fingertips. Whether you need to provide evidence to your insurer, a third party, or the police, you can demonstrate everything they might need to know without doubt how fast a vehicle was travelling, the moments leading up to the incident – basically, a complete picture.

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How Does Video Telematics Work?

Video telematics systems transmit the images from your cameras, via a data connection on a SIM like you’d find in your mobile phone, back to a secure server where it can be accessed from a web browser, desktop software or mobile device. This means that you get a live view of what your drivers and vehicles are doing 24/7.

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The great thing about a video telematics system is that it is compatible with almost any camera you already have installed on your vehicles. This cuts down reworking your existing systems while still giving you the opportunity to add more cameras in the future.

What Features Should You Expect From Video Telematics?

Whichever video telematics platform you look to choose, make sure it has this key list of features, because they’re critical to an efficient service and a return on your investment.
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• Scheduled, manual and automatically-triggered downloads and email reports
• Fully customizable alerts and flags, based on conditions such as excess speed or harsh braking, prohibited areas
• Fleet location management – drive times, arrivals, departures, speed
• Pixelation function
• Driver-activated flagging and alerting
• Remote management of hardware settings & firmware updates
• Remote access to all available historic recordings on the vehicle hard drive
• Real-time alerts on system health

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Sentinel’s Fleet View has all of these features and is built from the ground up to help improve fleet efficiency, driver safety & asset protection.

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Where Is The Technology Headed?

It’s a big question and although it’s not set in stone we’re likely to see other emerging technologies begin to filter into the makeup of video telematics systems.

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For instance, machine learning and artificial intelligence are both featuring in more and more aspects of our lives, and these constructs may well help to unlock new ways to track things like driver alertness, road conditions, as well as optimised re-routing based on traffic and accidents.

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We’re certainly excited to see where new technology can take the industry.

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Interested in video telematics for your fleet? Reach out to Sentinel Systems today.