Highway collision data indicates a spike in fatalities during the first half of 2021 and an uptick in truck-involved incidents in recent years, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The troubling trends have the U.S. Department of Transportation looking for solutions, and AI driving systems may hold the answer.
“More than 20,000 people died on U.S. roads in the first six months of 2021, leaving countless loved ones behind. We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply a part of everyday life in America,” DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg reportedly said. “Today, we are announcing that we will produce the Department’s first-ever National Roadway Safety Strategy to identify action steps for everyone working to save lives on the road.”
The NHTSA’s data estimates 11,225 fatalities occurred during the second quarter of 2021, the highest Q2 deaths in more than 30 years. The Federal Highway Administration reports that vehicle miles traveled from January through June increased by 13 percent over the previous year, exceeding 173.1 billion. The death rate also ticked up from 1.28 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled to 1.34. Although truck-involved fatal accidents increased by a nominal 18 from 2018 to 2019, the fact death rates have not waned is reason for concern. Fortunately, the technology being employed in companies such as Smarter AI integrates warning systems.
“Thanks to sensor fusion, Smarter AI is able to understand not only what’s the driver behavior, but also what is happening in terms of maybe the location or the speed or acceleration of the vehicle, and also to understand what is happening around the vehicle, to provide a very high precision in terms of the AI,” Chris Piche, founder and CEO of Smarter AI, reportedly said.
Piche indicates that his company’s dashcam system provides more than passive visuals while truck drivers are backing into tight or congested spaces. The cameras function as active devices that analyze the surrounding environment. The industry leader reportedly said cameras, sensors, and AI worked together “to understand, in real-time, what’s happening both inside and around a vehicle.” Truckers benefit from predictive analysis of driver habits that might otherwise cause a roadway danger.
Researchers at MIT are also looking into driving technology that can predict congestion and risky situations in advance. MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and the Qatar Center for Artificial Intelligence, reportedly created a deep-learning system that predicts areas likely to sustain crashes.
“By capturing the underlying risk distribution that determines the probability of future crashes at all places, and without any historical data, we can find safer routes, enable auto insurance companies to provide customized insurance plans based on driving trajectories of customers, help city planners design safer roads, and even predict future crashes,” MIT Ph.D. candidate Songtao He reportedly stated.
Commercial motor vehicle operators could leverage that same data to avoid high-crash zones or plan routes during low-traffic periods. The technology echoes the theme of the Tom Cruise sci-fi movie, “Minority Report,” which glimpses into the future. Any product or technology that reduces highway accidents, injuries, and fatalities is part of the solution.
Sources: news.mit.edu, ccjdigital.com
One of the problems is young immature drivers with there flip flops resting up in the driver side window…and steering with one arm…thinking they look cool. They are not paying attention. 2nd problem is passenger cars cutting the trucker off by moving into that safe space in front of the truck. We have to swerve and slam on the brakes to avoid running over the top of them.then you have weather that’s a big factor. Wind ..snow ..ice ..rain…
Hate to brake it to ya, butt-plug, but until I’m paid by the hour it doesn’t matter what routes ai determines are best, I still choose the route.
You should dash cams in the trucks and watch to see how cars cut trucks off and cause most of the accidents but the truck drivers get the blame and maybe they could write tickets or pull the folks licenses it crazy out there.
I have been involved in transportation and safety for over 40 years. First as a traffic safety officer in Texas and now as a Commercial Vehicle Operator. Adequate training is the key to reducing the truck related accidents. Bus drivers have less preventable accidents than truck drivers because they are trained to drive with less distractions and good defensive driving skills.
Not true cause most bus drivers have the same mapped out route everyday even the greyhound drivers have routes , OTR drivers usually are are different route all the time different states and towns everyday what cops need to do is start actually good after the car driver that are cutting in and out of traffic or across traffic instead of wanting to just use the excuse of a dot inspection to give CSA points
I agree that proper, thorough training, (which few companies seem to provide), is key. Regardless of weather a driver drivers the same route, the potential for accidents is still there. Yes, going to unfamiliar areas can require even more concentration and planning, but there’s still no substitute for quality training.
Technology is going to be what kills in the end. You hear people make comments as a joke mostly of what’s going in the end, I’ve decided this is it for me..I reckon I’m just to old, baby boom gen..
How many drivers are driving tired due to elogs and time restrictions? I know with a timer counting down in your face, it adds to the stress of the job as well.
Engineers need to stop pretending to be truck drivers….I don’t see any truck drivers telling engineers how to do their jobs.
How about using your engineering expertise to develop a safe and efficient highway system. You can start by imagining needing to walk elephants through china shops…safely and efficiently.
Do u think you would have all the people in the same isles as the elephants??
I have the Bendix Anti-Collision & Predictive Cruise from the factory in my Kenworth T 680. I HATE IT! IT CREATES A SAFETY PROBLEM by automatically applying Engine Brake and Foundation Disc brakes. This creates a dangerous slosh in my tankers. I as the owner cannot even go to a dealer to have the system disengaged. DO NOT BUY IT! IT IS DANGEROUS!
Why not try enforcing the speed limit and the rules of the road? It’s not difficult so before looking for innovative technological solutions why not try the cheaper, simpler approach of making people obey the laws first. People have gotten even more aggressive since the start of the pandemic.
How bout instead of loading all this “AI” crap on truckers, how bout clamping down on the 4-wheelers, which statistics prove cause majority of car-truck crashes. As a professional driver, I’m required to not only drive my truck, but every car within a half mile radius of my truck. You can stick your “ai” technology where the Sun doesn’t shine cuz it won’t do a damned bit of good unless you crack down on car drivers also.
Trucks are required to have speed limiters. Why not cars? Trucks are being loaded down with all of the latest “safety” crap. Why not cars? Truck drivers are required to get a physical every year or two. Why not car drivers? Truck drivers are limited in how many hours they can drive. Why not car drivers? Why not apply the same rules to ALL users of the highways?
Totally agree. Just one more piece of electronic equipment to make a tractor shut down.
I agree with almost all of the points made, but let’s not forget the percentage of non- English speaking, non- English reading drivers we have on the roads these days. Not prejudice, just saying.
Big tech industry knows how to state case for more continuous funding for this
‘going nowhere’ AI research. NASA set standard for that.Trump was first Pres to give NASA open unlimited cheque in US history. NASA was already up near $400 billion a year in public funding to begin with before that.What has NASA accomplished with unlimited public funding? Keeps lots of people working,that’s about it.
Binary doesn’t have ‘decision making’ capability.It must be instructed by code.
For example,a short computer program can be written enabling a binary system to calculate all squared numbers between 1 and 10000 and output the answer (161 700) in a split second. Another computer program,about 50 lines long(no whitespace)instructs binary system(with 4 ‘workers’ programmed in) to search and output all prime numbers starting at 100_000_000..(one hundred million to infinity in an infinite loop). People don’t care that the sequence starts at 100 000 000. We notice the ‘zero’ at the end of that figure and there’s no need to pile through
100 000 000 to get the answer. Prime numbers are 7,37,39,49,81,etc..etc..etc..
So,100 000 007, 100 000 037, 100 000 039… etc.Doesn’t matter to us. Binary can’t do that. There’s no way to get binary to do that.This is just one example of binary’s shortcomings. There are many more.A human can start delivering prime numbers way faster in this case that the fastest,most powerful computer systems that there are.