Artificial emotional intelligence firm Affectiva has partnered with GreenRoad Technologies to bring real-time driver impairment monitoring to the fleet management market.

The collaboration aims to enhance road safety by flagging dangerous driving and influencing positive behavioural change to help drivers continually improve.

GreenRoad Technologies chief technology officer Ron Levin said: “At GreenRoad, we’re on a mission to improve driver behaviour and fleet safety. 94% of crashes are due to driver errors, and driver impairments such as fatigue and distraction play a major part in those errors.

“Affectiva’s groundbreaking technology will give us critical insights into these dangerous conditions, helping us to prevent collisions and continuously improve fleet safety with ongoing change management.”

“Emotion AI can significantly improve the safety of drivers, fleets, and others on the road, flagging problematic behaviour before it’s too late.”

Under the collaboration, Affectiva Automotive AI will be integrated with GreenRoad’s Video Solution, which monitors signs of impairments using driver-facing cameras.

The multi-modal in-cabin AI sensing solution Automotive AI monitors drivers’ facial and vocal expressions to detect complex and nuanced cognitive and emotional states, including drowsiness and distraction.

Once, the system detects dangerous driving behaviour, it warns the driver in real-time through alerts and prompts to correct their behaviour.

Additionally, video clips of safety events will be uploaded to GreenRoad’s Cloud-based management portal GreenRoad Central, which can be reviewed by fleet managers and drivers.

Affectiva co-founder and CEO Dr Rana el Kaliouby said: “For companies that rely on fleet vehicles for daily operations, drivers have an important role to play. But, this means that drivers need to be alert and attentive behind the wheel for hours at a time.

“By proactively identifying signs of potentially dangerous driving behaviour, Emotion AI can significantly improve the safety of drivers, fleets, and others on the road, flagging problematic behaviour before it’s too late.”

GreenRoad’s driver behaviour technology is used by organisations in the bus and coach, utilities, oil and gas sectors to enhance the safety and efficiency of their fleets.