SmartDrive Systems has announced business results and operating highlights for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2017. The company continues to grow rapidly, reporting 30 percent growth in its subscriptions with a 96 percent increase in straight-to-rollout deployments — proof that the SmartDrive video-based safety program is becoming an industry standard. Video is increasingly seen as a necessary safety solution, and fleets are skipping trials and instead relying on the proven track record of the SmartDrive platform to deploy quickly, saving lives and money.
The rate of video-based safety adoption continues to increase rapidly, and SmartDrive expects growth to accelerate now that activity around the ELD mandate is winding down and fleet managers can turn their attention to safety priorities. Independent research reinforces the need for video-based safety. Recent research from AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety stated, “installing video-based safety monitoring systems on all large trucks could potentially prevent as many as 63,000 crashes, 17,733 injuries and 293 deaths annually.”
“While 2017 was the year of the ELD, fleets and insurance companies are stating that 2018 will be the year of video — something we’ve already seen evidenced by our own significant growth,” stated Steve Mitgang, SmartDrive CEO. “Fleets are beginning to understand that it takes more than video to drive results. Our goal with transportation and video intelligence is to help drivers and fleets make better decisions faster and to eliminate the need for unfocused and partially correct data. Our platform stands apart in its ability to provide actionable information to fleets that can make a true difference in their business, instead of making the data overload problem worse.”
The transportation intelligence business for SmartDrive tripled in 2017, demonstrating fleets are leveraging data to optimize operations — from driver scorecards and opportunities to reduce fuel costs to informing driver recruiting, retention and rewards.
“With a database of over 210 million risky driving events and growing, we are in the unique position to help fleets unlock new opportunities for savings,” continued Mitgang. “This wealth of data also positions us to inform new algorithms and technology innovation, whether in our own engineering organization or by partners who leverage our information in their product cycles. The bottom line is that SmartDrive delivers value to our customers — something backed by our SmartDrive Promise and validated by a 98 percent retention rate.”
Operating and Company Highlights:
- Delivered record new customer growth in the fourth quarter, the second highest in company history
- 30 percent year-over-year subscription growth
- Added leading global fleets across a variety of industry categories, including: Hub Group, Decker Truck Lines, Lyman-Richey, Arctic Glacier, Pottle’s Transportation, EnviroSolutions, J.S. Helwig, KL Breeden, Postal Fleet Services, Smithfield Foods, Sunstate Carriers, Virginia Eagle Distributors, Babcock Airports Ltd., Big Bus, Shipley Transport and Mercia Garden Products
- Increased straight-to-roll-out deployments by 96 percent
- Retained 98 percent of contracted units due to superior customer service and support
- Tripled transportation intelligence business over the previous year, validating fleets’ need for timely, actionable data to make informed business decisions
- Closed equity investment in the company led by Michelin North America, whose investment in SmartDrive continues the expansion of its strategy for fleet telematics and mobility services
Impact to Customers
As more fleets adopt video-based safety, the safer our roads become. In 2017, vehicles equipped with the SmartDrive program traversed 3.7 billion miles, which is equal to 20 round trips between the Earth and the sun. SmartDrive customers exceeded 210 million risky driving events recorded in 2017; of those, 30 million were in 2017 alone. As a result:
- The SmartDrive program issued 2.5 million alerts to SmartDrive team members and customers, enabling them to act quickly, resolve issues in a timely manner and make fleets safer
- SmartDrive helped its customers avoid 24,000 collisions — nearly one collision avoided every 22 minutes
- The SmartDrive program captured 23,612 collisions, enabling fleets to reduce time to claims resolution and keep drivers on the road by exonerating them when not at fault
Strategic Initiatives and Product Innovation
- Introduced SmartDrive SmartSense, a new suite of intelligent driver-assist sensors that identify high-risk driving behavior and intervene with drivers before a catastrophic event occurs. When combined with the SmartDrive program and its Extended Recording capability, SmartSense offers fleets the most complete picture of what led to a risky situation, how it manifested and what the outcome was, enabling fleets to provide detailed feedback and actionable coaching to improve driver safety
- Expanded SmartDrive 360 on-demand video capability with triggering on up to four cameras simultaneously based on high-risk maneuvers — providing better insight into frequent causes of collisions and clearly exonerating drivers in all views
- Partnered with McLeod Software to deliver more efficient enterprise-scale driver management between video safety and TMS platforms
Awards and Recognition
- SmartDrive earned a spot on Deloitte’s 2017 Technology Fast 500 for fourth consecutive year
- SmartDrive 360 named to Food Logistics’ 2017 FL100+ Top Software and Technology Providers list; fourth consecutive year a SmartDrive product was included on the list
- SmartDrive SmartSense recognized as a New Product of the Year in 2017 BIG Awards for Business
- SmartDrive named gold winner in Most Innovative Company of the Year Category for Best in Biz Awards International 2017
- SmartDrive received bronze award in the 15th annual American Business Awards for SmartIQ Transportation Intelligence Suite
Customer Comments in the News
“Our priority is to make sure all our drivers get home safely to their families every night and introducing video-based safety technology is the logical next phase of our safety evolution,” stated Jason Letchford, senior director, fleet technology of Hub Group. “After evaluating options, we knew that the SmartDrive system was the best choice for us and will enable us to hit the ground running with this new aspect of our safety program.”
“When we initially installed the SmartDrive program, the numbers were eye-opening. Three years later, the numbers still remain reduced. That’s invaluable,” stated Terry McAdams, vice president of safety at Bulkmatic Transport. “Without a doubt, SmartDrive was the best decision we’ve made from a safety perspective. If we had to do it over again, we would. In fact, we did with this renewal!”
“Our company has experienced tremendous growth — 108 percent over the last three years — and we wanted an advanced, managed service to strengthen safety across our fleet,” said Jeremy Collins, director of business and safety development at Postal Fleet Services. “The review, scoring and prescriptive analytics provided by the SmartDrive program saves our management team significant time and resources. Without this service, we would have had to hire two-to-three additional people to review recorded incidents and provide appropriate coaching to drivers. The SmartDrive program tells us exactly what we need to reduce risk and exonerate drivers.”
“SmartDrive 360 delivers a video safety program with an expanded view of the truck and driver, which maximizes our team’s visibility to what is happening on the road and the risks unique to our operating conditions, enabling us to capture the root cause of an event and then focus our coaching on what matters most,” commented Gary Hewes, vice president of operations support at EnviroSolutions. “Selecting SmartDrive was an easy decision; it was far and away the best solution out there.”
