The word “telematics” is a blend of two terms: “telecommunication” and “informatics.” Telecommunication is the exchange of information using technology. Informatics refers to the use of computers to gather and analyze data and manage real-world systems. Nowadays, telematics becomes a method of monitoring cars, trucks, equipment and other assets by using GPS technology and on-board diagnostics (OBD) to plot the asset’s movements on a computerized map. Also known as fleet tracking or GPS vehicle tracking, telematics is an essential management tool for many commercial and government fleets.

How telematics works with dash cam recorder?

With the development of science and technology, a new generation of dash cam recorder has been developed, which is different from the previous dash cameras. In the past, the dash cameras tends to record the video in the memory card. When the driver needs to use the video, the video is extracted from the memory card in the dash cam recorder. However, the new generation of front dash camera not only stores the video in the memory card, but also uploads the video to the cloud server synchronously with the support of telematics technology. 

The telematics device retrieves data from front dash camera, like GPS position, speed, engine light information and faults. G-force is measured by a built-in accelerometer in the device. Then the telematics device sends the data up to the cloud. A vast amount of data can be processed and analyzed with a telematics device and other connected hardware or sensors, such as position, vehicle speed, trip distance and other engine data. Finally, the data is decoded and brought into the fleet management platform for reporting and analysis. 

The benefits of combining front dash camera and telematics

Traffic accidents are always unpredictable. In the United States, about eight people are killed daily in crashes involving a distracted driver, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These situations can also result in reputational damage to the business, large insurance liabilities, and costly repairs, especially when there are no other witnesses and fleet drivers have no verifiable proof of their actions or intent. 

However, with the help of good dash cam and telematics, driver journey footage is uploaded to the cloud, so fleet managers can view video and image data at any time. When a traffic accident occurs, the fleet manager can extract the video from the good dash cam to understand the specific situation of the accident, and use the video as evidence to maintain the safety of the driver and the interests of the fleet. 

With the useful data from good dash cam, fleet managers can view the driving status of each vehicle and driver behaviors in real time, which is helpful for fleet operation and efficiency improvement. In addition, telematics can also analyze the collected data to help fleet managers better understand all aspects of the fleet, such as driver behaviors, vehicle maintenance, potential hazards, fuel usage, etc. Data analytics also offers a way to get further use from telematics data. For example, fleets can use use benchmarking to see how their fleet performs on safety as compared to other similar fleets or understand if routes are structured in the best way.

Conclusion

The growing benefits of telematics and good dash cams include lower operational costs, an increase in fuel efficiency and productivity. Video telematics in specific is helping businesses improve the way their fleets operate by providing greater visibility to help increase safety.