Action Environmental Group kits out fleet with connected camera tech

Garbage trucks belonging to Action Environmental Group are to be equipped with camera technology that improves the safety of drivers.

It’s a great example of a pilot project proving so successful that the technology is subsequently rolled out on a much wider scale.

In 2016, Action Environmental Group, a commercial waste collection company based in New York City, began trialling connected camera technology from 3rd Eye, a provider of safety equipment for commercial vehicles, in just one of its business divisions.

The goal was to see the impact on driver safety and risky behaviour – and thanks to the results the company has seen, Action Environmental has unveiled plans to equip its entire fleet of 300 trucks with the technology by the end of the year.

Improving driver safety

3rd Eye’s technology records both the driver and road, making drivers aware of what’s happening inside as well as outside their vehicle. The combined camera/radar offering is part of the company’s wider Enhance Vehicle Behavioral Analytics product, which provides access to information captured by 3rd Eye cameras, collision avoidance radar, body sensors and chassis data.

The camera/radar hardware itself is an important aspect of the system, but there’s also a reliance on big data. A specialist at team at 3rd Eye analyses video footage to generate insight into potential problems or issues.

That information, according 3rd Eye, can help companies develop effective training schemes and regulations on safe driving. It can assist with service verification and route optimisation and enable customers to conduct post-crash fault analysis within the system. That’s important, because it can help them to tackle false or fraudulent claims of damage – a commonplace occurrence in the transportation industry.

Big results

Ken Levine, director of safety at Action Environmental Group, said that, despite using the system for only a year, the company is pleased with the results. The cameras serve two main purposes, he explained: “to provide day-to-day training and analysis; and to learn from individual instances.”

“In the first three months of deployment,” he continued, “I have personally seen a 30 to 50 percent reduction in risky behavior. And in some cases, we have even seen the system play a serious role in workers’ compensation claim investigations.”

But the biggest benefits are the most important: driver safety is up and employee injuries are down.