Smart Roadways: How In-Cab Alerts Improve Driver Safety

In this episode of The Road Ahead, Brenda Colombus from Drivewyze by Fleetworthy dives into the transformative impact of Smart Roadways. You'll discover how sharing real-time data through in-cab alerts not only reshapes driver behavior but significantly reduces accidents and makes our roads safer for everyone.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
Welcome to this episode of The Road Ahead.
This is John Van Ortwick, andI'm Rob Abbott.
And we've got a special guest,Brenda Columbus, with us.
We're going to talk about smartroadways, how in-cab alerts are
transforming highway safety.

SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
I like smart roads.
Those are better than driving ondumb roads, aren't they, John?
We like smart roads.
Better.
You're now regretting joiningthis podcast, aren't you,
Brenda?

SPEAKER_02 (00:37):
Good afternoon, guys.
I'm in Crit Adventure, aren't I?

SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
You weren't ready for that opening, were you?

unknown (00:43):
No.

SPEAKER_01 (00:45):
But Dumb Roadways is probably the name you guys threw
out.
So that's good.
We didn't use that one.
How would you just want you toget a little background about
yourself and smart roadways andhow that fit with DriveWise into
the whole Fleetworthyenterprise?

SPEAKER_02 (00:59):
Uh, for sure.
So uh I joined DriveWise uhabout two and a half years ago
now, um, coming from abackground of managing tech
projects.
Um, since joining DriveWise,I've been focused uh really
strongly on our Smart Roadwaysin-CAB Alerting service.
So um in my role as a productmanager, I work directly with
our development team thatactually builds the service.

(01:22):
Uh, and I get to spend lots oftime too with our um internal
teams as well as our externalcustomers who who procure the
service to kind of hear what'sgoing on in their world and make
sure that we're building stuffthat matches their needs and
helps them solve some realproblems.

SPEAKER_01 (01:37):
So why don't you tell us a little bit about
drivewise and we can move intosmart roadways and how that
works.

SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
Sounds good.
Um so DriveWise provides uhtimely specific notifications uh
specifically to commercial motorvehicles.
Um, we got started um in thebypass world, so Ways Station
Bypass World through ourpre-clear product.
Uh, and then over the last fewyears, we've evolved our in-cab
services to include safetynotifications.

(02:05):
And those safety notificationscould be um about anything from
low bridges to uh steep gradesor chain-up zones or even more
dynamic real-time conditions umlike slowdowns in traffic or
work zones.

SPEAKER_00 (02:19):
So, I mean, in its simplest form, this is a
location-specific notificationon the ELD.
So, like the the earlynotifications were hey, there's
a way station ahead, or youcould bypass this way station.
Now you're doing alocation-specific notification
to a driver about some sort ofsafety issue.

SPEAKER_02 (02:36):
Absolutely.
Um, and it could be anythingfrom a static environmental
thing um to real-time changingdynamic road conditions.

SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
Okay, so if I were sitting next to John while he's
driving, and what purelyhypothetically, John were doing
something unsafe in the moment,right?
I I could tap John on theshoulder and say that bridge is
too low for your truck.
But this sort of tells them inthe moment via the ELD, so I
don't have to ride with John.

SPEAKER_02 (03:03):
Exactly.
So so when John doesn't have thebenefit of an expert swamper
like Rob, we can kind of takethat role on and give drivers a
little bit of an extra heads upuh about what's coming up on the
road ahead of them.

SPEAKER_01 (03:16):
Got it.
That's perfect.
And what does it cost?

SPEAKER_02 (03:19):
Uh so smart roadways alerts are part of our drivewise
free offering.
So it is available to fleets anddrivers at absolutely no charge.

SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
That's excellent.
I just wanted to get that out ofthe way so we don't start an
advertisement, we're not sellinganything.
This is a great free servicethat we with the states offer to
the fleets in general.

SPEAKER_02 (03:40):
Yeah, it's no strings attached.
You don't have to put a creditcard in or anything like that.
All you need to do is enable theservice on your device.

SPEAKER_01 (03:46):
What inspired the drivewise free, the smart
roadways portion of thedrivewise service?

SPEAKER_02 (03:53):
Sure.
So um on our own, Drivewise hasplaced thousands of alerts
around the country uh regardingstatic hazards.
So things that don't movearound.
So um, those are the things likesteep grades and areas where
trucks are prone to roll over,low bridges, that sort of thing.
Um we really expanded our uhsafety alerting service, though,

(04:19):
with the with the umintroduction of smart roadways.
And what Smart Roadways does iswe leverage agency partnerships
to get more sophisticatedreal-time data that allows us to
do more sophisticated alertsalong the lines of slowdowns in
traffic or when traffic cues arestarting to build or work zones.

(04:40):
Um, and we can also do um staticalerts with the agency
partnership as well, um, aroundthings that really agencies
would be the only authority thatcould give us that information.
So things like uh roadrestrictions or some of the
closures uh that might not bepublic knowledge, the agencies
know and they can let us know umwhen capacity is reduced or when
lanes are reduced, that sort ofthing.

SPEAKER_00 (05:01):
It sounds like there's there's really two types
here, right?
So one is sort of the the staticor fixed, like hey, they're
always going to get anotification when they come at
this this risk that is a fixedrisk, this low bridge, yeah, or
this this rollover, you know,turn, right?
This turn where there's just arollover risk.
I think what you're describingis more dynamic then, right?

(05:23):
So hey, there's a a risk aheadthat's new.
Can you give us some examples ofthat?

SPEAKER_02 (05:28):
Uh yeah.
So think of things like umunusually heavy traffic
congestion.
Uh trucks are big, they take along time to slow down.
Uh we can ingest dynamic datafeeds that tell us real-time
road conditions, and then we cangive trucks a heads up two or
three miles in advance throughtheir ELD device, that
something's coming up longbefore they can even see it.
Um, we can let them know thatthere's something going on on

(05:50):
the road ahead, whether it's aclosed lane or a work zone, uh,
could be a service vehiclethat's parked on the side of the
road helping a strandedmotorist.
Uh, we can just give them thatlittle bit of extra heads up to
help them navigate whatever itis they're going to come up to.
We'll check dynamic feeds once aminute to understand what's
going on and then push all thatinformation back to the trucks.

SPEAKER_00 (06:10):
That's brilliant.
Because whenever I'm in atraffic slowdown or a stoppage
on the freeway, if I'm just overthe top of a hill, I always
worry about somebody coming overthe top of that hill behind me
at highway speed, not knowingthat I'm fully stopped just over
the crest of the hill, right?
So that's the sort of thingyou're telling people in real
time.

SPEAKER_02 (06:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
The back of the queue is not theplace you want to be.
Um, so so giving giving driversthat little bit of extra
warning, um, often well beforethey can even see it, helps them
prepare.

SPEAKER_01 (06:40):
Cool.
Hey, cool.
I got so many questions.
Um I come from a technologybackground, so I'm gonna ask a
little bit how is it installed?
What is there any additionalhardware I need in my vehicle?
What's that process look like?

SPEAKER_02 (06:53):
No, we're not asking drivers to put any devices into
their vehicle.
Um, what we do is we've built asoftware platform that delivers
all of our services.
And we work with uh electroniclogging device uh manufacturers
and distributors to embed oursoftware platform onto those
devices.
So all you need to do is enablethe drivewise free service and

(07:14):
you'll start getting safetyalerts automatically.
We also have mobile apps aswell.
So while most trucks use theelectronic logging devices, we
do have uh Android and iOS appsas well, all free.

SPEAKER_00 (07:25):
So for some drivers, the the handheld device that
runs apps is also their ELD,might be mounted on that.
Absolutely.
In other cases, it might be anELD tablet that's furnished by
the motor carrier or their ELDprovider.
It can show up on either ofthose, the notification, right?
So is it is it an audiblenotification that speaks to the
driver or what does it looklike?

SPEAKER_02 (07:46):
No, we try to keep it really low distraction and
hands-free.
So our software runs silently onthe device.
So the device can be um, it hasto be running, but it doesn't
have to have anything displayedon the screen.
And uh when the truck crossesone of our geo fences, whether
it's for a dynamic or a statichazard, our software will wake

(08:09):
up and it'll it'll take over thescreen for about 10 seconds with
a full screen alert that showsan M U T C D compliant icon and
very minimal text.
Two lines of text, 25 charactersmax each line.
So the idea is it just issomething you can glance at,
understand what you need, andignore it.

(08:30):
Um, on its own, it'll go away uhafter about 10 seconds.
Um, if you do need your devicebecause you're maybe using it
for your your navigationapplication or something like
that, just a quick touch of thescreen clears our alert as well.
It does come with a chime.
Um so it's just a simpleauditory chime.
What it actually sounds likedepends on the the nature of
your hardware, um, but it's verylow distraction, very low touch.

SPEAKER_00 (08:50):
Well, you mentioned uh M U T C D.
John and I are both uhself-about nerds, so we know
that's the manual on uniformtraffic control devices.
That's right.
Which sort of says, hey, this iswhat a road sign ought to look
like.
So these these images, right,John, that's how you spend your
weekend reading the manual onuniform traffic control devices.
Unfortunately, that are thegreen reg book, but one of the

(09:12):
two.
This is my surprise look.
And so the that's what theimages look like then.
They look like real road signs,but it's on the tablet.

SPEAKER_02 (09:21):
Exactly.
That's exactly right.
So so everybody knows what thethe icon for a work zone ahead
looks like.
Um we use the same icon.

SPEAKER_00 (09:29):
And is it audible as well?
Does it speak to the driver orno?

SPEAKER_02 (09:33):
Uh there's no words, all it comes is with a single
auditory chime just to help grabyour attention.

SPEAKER_00 (09:38):
Okay.
You know, I I know sometimesdrivers can turn off the audible
on their ELDs, and and that'syou know, that's an option that
some people want to do.
Yep.
Yeah, I think a fleet manageronce told me with all the
different things going on in thecab, it's starting to sound like
a casino in there, you know.
So this is visual and justprovides a road sign on the
dash, right?
That's right.

SPEAKER_02 (09:58):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (09:59):
Super.

SPEAKER_02 (09:59):
So you don't have you don't have to worry about
another truck blocking your viewof a road sign that's all that's
static on the side of the road.
It's in your cab.
It's on your ELD device, on yourdash.

SPEAKER_00 (10:10):
And John, that'll look familiar to you from your
weekend reading.

SPEAKER_01 (10:13):
Yes, thank you.
And so it's something they'reused to seeing.
So is is it effective?
Do we do the states look at theimpact?
What do you what how do you testthe effectiveness of the alerts?

SPEAKER_02 (10:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, so with all of our SmartRoadways alerts, we do some
basic program metrics.
So we can understand um byjurisdiction how many alerts
we're sending by type, as wellas how many unique vehicles
we're reaching.
Um, so we can give the states areally good indication of the
reach of their of theirprogramming.
Um, and then on with our dynamicum real-time alerts, so things

(10:52):
like traffic slowdowns, workzones, um service vehicles
stopped on the road ahead, wealso collect additional black
box data or or behavior data.
So, what we do is we collectspeed data, speed and location
data for uh 30 seconds beforethe alerts displayed and five
minutes after the alertsdisplayed.
So we can get a really clearpicture of how drivers respond

(11:15):
after they get the alert.
So we aggregate and anonymizeall of that data, but we can
tell how our alerts affectbraking behavior.

SPEAKER_00 (11:27):
Do the safety supervisors have access to that?
Could they see, hey, these arethe drivers who, when they get
an alert about trafficslowdowns, change their
behavior.
These are the ones who now theystay on the gas.

SPEAKER_02 (11:40):
Yeah, for fleets, we do provide some information back
through our hub portal that'sspecific to their fleet.
Um, for our agency partners whoare sponsoring the alerts for
their jurisdiction, we provideaggregated and anonymized data
back to them.

SPEAKER_00 (11:55):
So to tell them, hey, what you're doing is
working.

SPEAKER_02 (11:58):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
They're they're they'reinvesting dollars with us to
help make these alerts happen.
Um so we provide them back someROI.
We help we help them understandhow their their sponsorship is
impacting traffic, and that samedata helps us make our services
better too.

SPEAKER_00 (12:16):
And that's how you can provide it for free to
drivers.
Exactly.
Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 (12:20):
So a little misleading, it's not free, but
the states are actually payingfor the ability to show these to
the drivers for free, which Ithink that's right.
Something about theeffectiveness and the fact that
it's yeah.
This is particularly any resultsyou can share on the some of the
testing that you've done in thepast?

SPEAKER_02 (12:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, so a couple of our states ora couple of our state partners
have worked with uh third-partyresearch teams to understand um
the impact.
They did a real deep dive intothat black box data that we
talked about.
Um, and they were able toidentify a few really
interesting facts.
So um looking at Ohio's data,uh, the research team from

(13:00):
Cleveland State Universityidentified a 29% reduction in
secondary crashes and a 20.5hours per mile reduction in
delays relating to congestion.
So it's there's real costsavings attached to preventing
accidents.
Um, and we're also able tounderstand how drivers respond.

(13:24):
So we know that uh about 22% ofdrivers in one of the studies,
drivers that were traveling morethan 70 miles an hour, so these
are the speeders, they sloweddown by at least five miles an
hour within 30 seconds ofgetting that alert.
And that's really interestingbecause at the time they get the
alert, they can't necessarily,it's two or three miles ahead of

(13:46):
the actual slowdown.
So they might not even be seeingthat, but we still see a little
dip in their braking behaviorthat indicates that that alert
is is helping get theirattention and preparing them for
whatever's coming up on theroad.

SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
So they're at least have a sense that something's
coming I should be alert to,right?

SPEAKER_02 (14:04):
Yep, that that's exactly right.
So one of the uh one of thestudies that was done by Purdue
University, they looked at datafrom Indiana and they took a
particular driver's route andmapped it, and they mapped his
speed at little dots all alongthat route.
And then for that same locationat the same time of day, for
that same day, they got imagesfrom front-facing cameras from

(14:29):
another from another source, andthey were able to
cross-reference what trafficconditions looked like as that
particular truck was drivingthat particular route.
And what they saw was right whenthe alert is displayed, there's
a quick breaking behavior.
So you're traveling at say 60miles an hour, you'll see a

(14:50):
little dip in speed, and thenthey'll kind of come back up to
60 miles an hour, and then yousee a more prolonged and
pronounced break as theyapproach the actual hazard.
So what you can kind ofanticipate or what you can kind
of imagine is happening isthey're driving along, alert
pops up on my ELD device, takemy foot off the gas, I look
around, I don't see anything,come back up to traffic speed,

(15:13):
oh, there it is, and then youslow down.

SPEAKER_01 (15:16):
And so just in reducing that reaction time.

SPEAKER_02 (15:19):
Yeah, that's absolutely we're we're grabbing
we're grabbing drivers'attention and helping them get
ready for whatever it is they'regonna be approaching.

SPEAKER_00 (15:27):
You know, I imagine for truck drivers, you know, if
you drive 10, 11 hours a day,it's easy to sort of get lost in
thought, right?
Oh, but you you know, your mindmight be somewhere else for a
moment.
And so this kind of brings youback to the roadway, right?
Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (15:42):
Yeah, exactly.
What were you talking about,Rob?

SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
Sorry.
I was gonna say John is lost inmusic.
He's singing along to his hisfavorite heavy metal hairband.
So one thing that I've allobserved a lot is sometimes on
the freeway you see that bigroad sign over the top that
says, you know, left laneblocked ahead or crash ahead,
right?
Why don't they just put up oneof those on every freeway?

(16:11):
Couldn't they just do thatinstead?

SPEAKER_02 (16:13):
Our messaging is geared specifically for
commercial motor vehicles.
So we could we can changeinformation.
Um, so so if you think of a saya road closure, um, and and
you're gonna use one of thosebig gantry signs to reroute
traffic, maybe you need toreroute commercial motor
vehicles differently.
You don't want CMVs goingthrough a residential

(16:34):
neighborhood or going through aroad that's too narrow for them.
So we can give them differentinformation.
We can also give theminformation at a different point
in time.
So we can give we can give workzone information to commercial
motor vehicles earlier to helpthem navigate and and get
prepared because a lot of times,as soon as the four-wheelers get

(16:56):
the same information, they justwant to get ahead of the truck.
So that that extra space thatthe driver has left for
themselves to slow down, you geta little car that zips in and
cut and and and shortens thatspace on you.
So we help them navigate thosechanges before anybody else can.

SPEAKER_00 (17:14):
You know, you touched on something there.
Um it's long been observed whenyou look at crash data that for
whatever reason trucks are, youmight say, over involved in work
zone incidents.
Do you think that's because ofthe stop and go and the people
trying to merge and then the thebraking distance the truck has
provided between the truck andthe vehicle in front of it?

SPEAKER_02 (17:36):
There is a lot of stuff going on when you're
approaching a work zone andeverybody's jockeying for
position and the small vehiclesjockey differently than big
trucks.
And I think they get I thinkthat the big trucks often get
the short end of the stick inthat deal.

SPEAKER_00 (17:51):
Yeah, well, truck drivers will tell you that for
sure that people are impatient.
But that's uh that's reallyinteresting.
So the the other thing aboutthose road signs over the
freeway that, you know, the onesthat are mounted above, I you
know, I see them in urban areas,but those got to be expensive.
I can't imagine they can put oneof those at every mile on every
highway in the state, right?
So this is seems to me, yeah,like a more efficient way to

(18:14):
like get into the vehicles inplaces that aren't served by
those signs, right?

SPEAKER_02 (18:18):
Yeah, we're we're doing everything electronically.
There's no infrastructure.
We don't need any roadsideinfrastructure, and we don't
need any infrastructure in thein the trucks.
We're not asking them to putanother device on their dash.
We're not asking states to putanother physical sign that they
have to maintain on the side ofthe road.

SPEAKER_00 (18:34):
John, did you hear that?
Our taxes are going down, John.
Did you hear that?
Right.
Our taxes are going down.
I love that you're leveragingthe hardware in the cab.

SPEAKER_01 (18:41):
That's yeah, that's perfect.
Uh you mentioned thetruck-specific routing, and I
know you did a little homework.
You do you do you have a 24-7hotline for like emergency
related?

SPEAKER_02 (18:55):
We do, yeah.
Yeah.
For all of our Smart Roadwaysagency customers, we provide
24-7 emergency alert service.
So we have a help desk that theycan access any time of day, any
day of the week, um, to help getup ad hoc messaging around uh
urgent, unplanned events thatare going to impact traffic for
more than a couple of hours.

(19:15):
So things like um interstatesthat get closed in all like uh
all the lanes in one directionwill get closed because of a
major crash.
Um we can hop on, put up somegeo fences prior to the the exit
before to let trucks have anescape route before they get
stuck in a queue uh waiting fora traffic, waiting for traffic

(19:37):
to clear after an accident.
Um we can also do some someweather alerting as well.
Um so last fall with HurricaneHelene, um we did uh probably
close to 60 different locationsfor emergency alerts.
Um, and over the course of a fewmonths, we sent probably about
800,000 alerts to commercialmotor vehicles.

(19:57):
Um the the day of the hurricane,it started with alerts that just
ask drivers to stay away, stayout of the area, keep themselves
safe, keep the infrastructuresafe.
After the storm had passed, asagents on the ground were able
to get a better sense of whatroads were safe for trucks to
pass, we could help withemergency alerts that that let

(20:19):
trucks know where to go andwhere not to go.
So it helps keeps drivers safe,keeps them out of trouble, keeps
them from getting stranded, andit helps agencies protect their
infrastructure because you'renot getting trucks stuck on
roads that aren't appropriatefor big trucks.

SPEAKER_01 (20:33):
And you're able to adjust those able to adjust
those in near real time based onthe changing conditions.
At first, you just want to keepthem off the road completely,
and then what's the correctroute?
I that I'd absolutely talk tosome of our fleets in North
Carolina that just thought thatwas amazing.

SPEAKER_00 (20:49):
So it reminds me of uh you remember a couple years
ago, there was uh a bridge thatbasically caught fire was
damaged in a major fire.
I guess damaged in a major fireis a better way to say it.
And uh that route on I-95 wasdown.
You can't just take I-95 out ofthe mix in the northeast, right?
So uh is that an example of howyou might notify fleets at hey,

(21:12):
you've got to reroute early,right?
And don't go throughPhiladelphia on I-95 right now.

SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Um, we did the same uh inMaryland with Key Bridge as
well.
Um, we were able to get somealerts up to keep them out of
the downtown core.

SPEAKER_01 (21:26):
Right, and the key bridge there that the tunnels
that you can't necessarily use.
So, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 (21:32):
That's cool.
Very cool.
Just to be clear, so you know, alot of people ask me about these
in-cab alerts and they theycompare it to services that are
crowdsourced.
I guess one of the most popularis Waze.
This isn't crowdsourced data, sothis isn't other drivers saying,
hey, there's a a backup here.
This is the state agency tellingthe drivers there's backup here,

(21:54):
right?

SPEAKER_02 (21:55):
Right.
We work with trusted partnersthat give us that give us
real-time data.
Um, so we're not crowdsourcing.
The other thing thatdifferentiates us from some of
those crowdsourced platforms isthe the so what behavior that we
collect after the fact.
So while while Waze can candisplay a similar, hey, the
route ahead of you is congestedkind of alert, what they're not

(22:17):
able to do is provide back tothe agencies any sort of return
on that.
We do they don't know how manyhow many eyes are on those
alerts, how many times they'redelivered, or what drivers are
doing after they get the alert.

SPEAKER_00 (22:29):
Well, and I've always felt that some of that
crowdsourced data can be suspectin some cases when I'm driving.

SPEAKER_02 (22:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're not using crowdsource dataright now at all.

SPEAKER_01 (22:39):
And a million dollar question.
What do drivers think of thein-cap alerts?

SPEAKER_02 (22:46):
So one of the studies that I had mentioned
earlier, um, the Cleveland stateteam actually did some surveys.
So they were looking at uh thealerting service, so traffic
slowdown alerts specifically inOhio.
And they sent grad students outto 16 rest areas across Ohio to
interview drivers.
And they talked to, I think itwas over 600 different drivers

(23:08):
over the course of a few days.
And one of the questions theyasked um was around perception.
So we have a we were getting asense of how how how the alerts
are affecting um brakingbehavior, but we wanted to
understand how drivers werefeeling about the alerts.
And of the drivers who hadreceived uh received a slowdown

(23:28):
alert, uh 89% of them felt thatthey were valuable.
51% of them said it wasextremely valuable.

SPEAKER_01 (23:36):
That seems pretty good.
89%.

SPEAKER_02 (23:38):
Yep.
We were really happy.

SPEAKER_01 (23:40):
That's impressive.

SPEAKER_02 (23:42):
We're gonna keep shooting for yeah, we're gonna
keep shooting for 100.
Um, we're always looking forways to to make the service
better, make sure that thealerts are are accurate and
timely.

SPEAKER_00 (23:51):
Um well, and it it strikes me that drivers are okay
with in-cab notifications aslong as they're meaningful,
limited, and not noisy.
And when I say noisy, not thevolume of them, but just the the
frequency and the volume and thereliability, right?
And so what is what we're doinghere strikes me as very, very

(24:15):
limited, but very strategiclocation specific.
Like, hey, we're gonna tell youwhen you really need to know,
right?
And only when you really need toknow, right?

SPEAKER_02 (24:24):
Yeah, yeah.
We're we we try to make surethat we're not over-alerting
drivers.
Um, so we'll prioritize alertsthat that are proximal to each
other, um, so that we we're notpinging, pinging, pinging,
pinging.
Um, we'll we'll filter thosealerts down.

SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
Super.
So how do you how's the serviceevolving and what are the plans
for the future as you as youmove forward?

SPEAKER_02 (24:50):
Sure, great question.
Um, so our most recentinnovation um was the addition
of a of an integration with apartner company called
Information Logistics.
And Information Logistics has aservice called Help Alerts that
allows their customers to createuh WIA alerts, so wireless
emergency alerts.
So this is like the uh Amberalerts or the tornado warnings

(25:13):
that you get on your cell phone.
Uh the help alerts customers cancreate those uh through all of
the appropriate secure channelsspecific for transportation
emergency.
With our integration withinformation logistics, we can
pick up their same feed andcreate customized in-cab
versions of those alerts.
So using our own simplified UIwith the regular icons and

(25:38):
limited text, we can givedrivers the same heads up about
the same kind of issues that thestate is choosing to send out a
WiiA alert on as well.
Um kind of staying in the themeof emergency alerts as well, one
of the things that we're workingon right now is a way to better
share information aboutemergency alerts across
jurisdictions.

(25:59):
So one of the learnings that wehad when we were when we were
working with our agents, ouragencies throughout the
throughout Helene last year waswhen one state requests some
emergency alerts in theirjurisdiction, the neighboring
states want to know because theywant to understand changing
conditions, they want to makesure that alerts are aligning,
that the information is correct,and they don't necessarily have

(26:22):
visibility on what each other'sdoing.
Time is of the essence in anemergency.
So helping to helping with thatcommunication, I think could
could be valuable.
And I think we have someinformation we can share there
as well.
And even within the same, evenwithin the same state, the DOT
might be doing things that thatlaw enforcement isn't aware of,
or law enforcement is is settingup emergency alerts that the DOT
isn't aware of.

(26:42):
So just making sure that thatinformation is surfaced for all
of the stakeholders is one ofour priorities that we're
working on right now.
Going forward, lots ofopportunity.
Um, as AI and machine learningjust continues to evolve, um,
we're looking for ways that wecan enhance even further our
filtering and and prioritizationof the various alerts that come

(27:05):
into the into the queue.

SPEAKER_01 (27:07):
Sounds great.
So just to recap, it doesn'tcost the fleets anything.
There's no hardware, very simpleinstallation.
Drivers like it, and it'seffective.
So it seems like you got it.
Pretty good opportunity forpolice to take advantage.

SPEAKER_02 (27:23):
We hope so.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (27:24):
Any last words, Rob?
Any great parting wisdom?

SPEAKER_00 (27:28):
Uh no, I I think it's it's really
straightforward, right?
Is that for the driver, there'sno reason not to do this.
Uh, for the states, this isreally a tremendous avenue to
get notifications to thousandsmore people in a very effective
way that can be measured.
And the and the data shows it'sit works, right?
It's very straightforward.

SPEAKER_01 (27:50):
Yeah, fantastic.
Thank you very much.
And uh we'll see everybody onthe next episode of the Road
Ahead.
Thanks for having me.