Samsara’s AI-Powered Drowsiness Detection Now Generally Available to Customers Globally

Rhea-AI Summary

Samsara Inc. (NYSE: IOT) has launched its Drowsiness Detection feature globally, using AI models to detect signs of driver fatigue. The system triggers real-time in-cab audio alerts and notifies managers, aiming to reduce drowsy driving and improve road safety. Trained on 38 billion minutes of video footage, Samsara's AI considers multiple behaviors indicating fatigue, including head nodding, slouching, and prolonged eye closure.

Early adopters have reported significant decreases in drivers falling asleep during shifts. The feature is part of Samsara's Video-Based Safety solutions, which have helped prevent over 200,000 crashes among customers worldwide in one year. Drowsiness Detection is now generally available to Samsara customers globally, leveraging the company's extensive dataset to enhance accuracy and impact in detecting this critical safety issue.

Positive

• Launch of AI-powered Drowsiness Detection feature globally
• System trained on 38 billion minutes of video footage for high accuracy
• Video-Based Safety solutions prevented over 200,000 crashes in one year
• Early adopters report significant decrease in drivers falling asleep during shifts

Negative

• None.

Insights

Tech Expert

Samsara's launch of Drowsiness Detection is a significant advancement in AI-powered safety technology for the transportation industry. The feature leverages Samsara's vast dataset of 38 billion minutes of video footage to train comprehensive AI models that can detect nuanced signs of driver fatigue beyond simple yawning.

Key points:

• Real-time in-cab audio alerts and manager notifications
• Aggregated reports for pattern analysis and targeted coaching
• Considers multiple fatigue indicators aligned with clinical standards
• 77% of drowsy driving events detected by behaviors other than yawning
• Early adopters report significant reductions in drivers falling asleep during shifts

This technology has the potential to substantially reduce accidents caused by drowsy driving, which accounts for 17% of fatal crashes. For Samsara, this feature strengthens its position in the connected operations market and could drive increased adoption of its platform among transportation and logistics companies prioritizing safety.

Safety Analyst

The general availability of Samsara's Drowsiness Detection feature marks a important step in proactive road safety measures. By addressing drowsy driving, a leading cause of severe accidents, this technology could significantly impact the transportation industry's safety records.

The system's ability to detect multiple fatigue indicators aligns with best practices in safety management. The real-time alerts coupled with managerial notifications create a multi-layered approach to incident prevention. This not only enhances immediate safety but also provides valuable data for long-term safety improvements and driver training programs.

The reported reduction in drivers falling asleep during shifts among early adopters is particularly promising. If these results can be replicated across Samsara's customer base, it could lead to a substantial decrease in fatigue-related accidents, potentially saving lives and reducing costs associated with crashes and insurance claims.

Drowsiness Detection accurately detects and alerts against leading cause of severe road accidents to keep drivers safe

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Samsara Inc. ("Samsara") (NYSE: IOT), the pioneer of the Connected Operations^® Cloud, today launched its Drowsiness Detection feature into general availability for customers globally. Drowsiness Detection uses Samsara’s comprehensive AI models—trained on its large-scale dataset—to proactively detect when signs of drowsiness occur. Then, it triggers real-time in-cab audio alerts for drivers, while notifying managers via text or email to triage fatigue-related events in the moment. These insights can be viewed as aggregated reports within the Samsara Platform, allowing managers to analyze patterns of fatigue across their fleet, focus on driver coaching, and ultimately reduce drowsy driving to improve road safety.

The National Safety Council reports that drivers are three times more likely to be in a crash if they are fatigued, and according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, more than 17% of all fatal crashes involve a drowsy driver. In the commercial trucking industry, drivers are even more at risk given long hours and unpredictable road conditions. That’s why preventing drowsiness is a top priority for Samsara’s tens of thousands of customers. While advancements in AI and machine learning have made proactive alerts possible, drowsiness remains an incredibly nuanced behavior to train AI models to detect.

“It’s hard to detect when someone is truly drowsy. It’s more than a single behavior, like yawning or having your eyes closed. Drowsiness can be less common than other risky driving behaviors, so accurate detection is only as good as the data that feeds and trains AI models,” explained Evan Welbourne, VP of AI and Data at Samsara. “That’s where the scale of Samsara’s data sets our solution apart. We train our models on more than 38 billion minutes of video footage within our platform to provide high accuracy and impact for our customers.”

To ensure accuracy, Samsara’s comprehensive Drowsiness Detection is trained to consider several behaviors that indicate fatigue, in alignment with leading and clinically validated standards for defining drowsiness. These behaviors include: head nodding, slouching, prolonged eye closure, yawning, rubbing eyes, and more. Yawning alone is often not a sufficient detector of drowsiness. In fact, an analysis¹ among early adopters of Samsara’s Drowsiness Detection found that approximately 77% of drowsy driving events were detected by behaviors other than yawning alone.

Samsara first announced Drowsiness Detection at its annual Beyond conference in June, which gathered more than 2,000 physical operations leaders across the industry. Since then, customers have already experienced meaningful impact. For example, one of the largest oilfield services companies in the U.S. has seen a significant decrease in how often drivers are falling asleep during shifts since using Samsara’s Drowsiness Detection. According to their VP of Health Safety and Environment, “We used to have multiple drivers falling asleep at the wheel. Now, we've gone as long as 30 days without a single driver falling asleep due to these alerts.”

Samsara’s petabyte-scale dataset collects more than 10 trillion data points each year and is used to train AI models that automate workflows, accelerate time to value, and provide personalized, actionable insights for customers. In one year alone, Samsara’s Video-Based Safety solutions have helped prevent more than 200,000 crashes among customers worldwide.

Drowsiness Detection is now generally available globally to customers. To learn more, visit https://www.samsara.com/products/safety/dash-cam

Additional Resources:

• Now available for Samsara customers globally: AI-powered Drowsiness Detection
• Fall 2024 Product Quarterly Webinar

About Samsara

Samsara (NYSE: IOT) is the pioneer of the Connected Operations^® Cloud, which is a platform that enables organizations that depend on physical operations to harness Internet of Things (IoT) data to develop actionable insights and improve their operations. With tens of thousands of customers across North America and Europe, Samsara is a proud technology partner to the people who keep our global economy running, including the world’s leading organizations across construction, transportation and warehousing, field services, manufacturing, retail, logistics, and the public sector. The company's mission is to increase the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the operations that power the global economy.

Samsara is a registered trademark of Samsara Inc. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

¹ Aggregated analysis of over 35,000 detections across a cohort of fifty customers since July, 2024

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241022248622/en/

Media Contact

Andie Rodriguez

Samsara

media@samsara.com

Source: Samsara

FAQ

What is Samsara's new Drowsiness Detection feature and how does it work?

Samsara's Drowsiness Detection is an AI-powered feature that detects signs of driver fatigue using comprehensive models trained on 38 billion minutes of video footage. It triggers real-time in-cab audio alerts for drivers and notifies managers via text or email when signs of drowsiness occur.

How effective has Samsara's Drowsiness Detection been for early adopters?

Early adopters of Samsara's Drowsiness Detection have reported significant decreases in drivers falling asleep during shifts. One large oilfield services company in the U.S. reported going as long as 30 days without a single driver falling asleep due to these alerts.

What behaviors does Samsara's Drowsiness Detection (IOT) system monitor?

Samsara's Drowsiness Detection system monitors multiple behaviors indicating fatigue, including head nodding, slouching, prolonged eye closure, yawning, rubbing eyes, and more. The system is designed to consider several behaviors rather than relying on a single indicator like yawning.

How many crashes has Samsara's Video-Based Safety solutions helped prevent?

According to Samsara, their Video-Based Safety solutions have helped prevent more than 200,000 crashes among customers worldwide in one year alone.