Features
25 oct 22

Nauto and BrightDrop to maximise safety in last-mile through AI

Nauto, a provider of a real-time artificial intelligence (AI) enabled fleet safety platform, and BrightDrop, the electric commercial vehicle division of General Motors, have joined forces to boost safety in the last-mile delivery ecosystem.

The partnership appears remarkable in terms of merging electrification and advanced safety systems to provide maximum safety for last-mile commercial fleets. 

Nauto's AI-powered sensors and alerts are based on machine learning algorithms, which have been improved by analysing over 1.7 billion kilometres. This has lead to avoiding more than 70,000 collisions and saving over $300 million in commercial fleet operations worldwide, Nauto claims. Today, the company's preventive warnings have a 99% accuracy in detecting risky behaviour. 

Launched by GM in 2021, BrightDrop aims to make commercial fleets greener and improve the electrification journey by providing e-vans and e-carts for commercial fleets. BrightDrop made its first move in AI last summer by acquiring AI-based fleet optimisation software company Marain. Having completed the first step in providing AI-based services, BrightDrop now wants to expand this expertise into safety by collaborating with Nauto. 

Indeed, the expected outcome of the AI-based safety systems is to maximise driver and vehicle safety and reduce costs by avoiding collisions, predictive maintenance and lower insurance costs. The real-time AI platform of Nauto manages to reduce risky driving behaviour between 60% and 80%, thus reducing collisions by around 50% to 80%, ending up with highly satisfactory ROI. 

Greener and safer 

The collaboration between Nauto and BrightDrop is a promising sign for the greener and safer operations of commercial fleets in North America. It is expected to extend to other parts of the world in future. 

BrightDrop has already started to pull down the fleet management cost through electrification, having received over 25,000 reservations for BrightDrop Zevo 600 in June. On top of slicing the operational costs, BrightDrop's e-vans will utilise Nauto's advanced alert systems to avoid collisions and risky driver behaviour and improve predictive maintenance. 

For BrightDrop, the aim of boosting safety with innovative partners means fulfilling a holistic approach the company set as a goal, which is to provide last-mile solutions, including e-vans and e-cars, equipped with AI software to make commercial operations safer, smarter and more efficient. 

Image: BrightDrop

Authored by: Mufit Yilmaz Gokmen