The KeepTruckin electronic logging device and simplified fleet-dispatch software and solutions provider announced the launch of what it calls Smart Dashcam, a road-facing camera that creates a “single source of safety truth” for fleet and owner-op users. Unlike other camera products, the company says, it offers a quick and easy install process at an accessible price point, and is “industrial grade” for life beyond typical consumer-market cams, says KeepTruckin head Shoaib Makani.
The dashcam unit measures approximately 2-by-2 inches, with a single inch of depth, smaller than the KeepTruckin ELD’s ECM-plugin unit, also shown here. The cam’s outfitted with a wide angle lens with 1280-by-720-pixel resolution.Users can be assured that footage captured around critical events “is going to get uploaded – you don’t have to worry,” for instance, “about an SD card getting corrupted” or damaged, Makani adds.
While potentially useful for owner-ops in need of a road-facing camera, the company sees the Smart Dashcam’s increasing relevance for small fleets with back-office personnel with its integration with the KeepTruckin ELD. Critical events such as a hard brake, acceleration or corner, or a hard knock from an accident, prompt ten seconds of high-definition video both before and after the event to be captured. The video is then made available in the KeepTruckin Dashboard and can be accessed at any time, making viewing and analyzing videos and their place in the duty cycle fast and easy.
Additionally, KeepTruckin is able to detect tampering or removal of the camera and alert the fleet manager as desired.
“The ELD was phase one of our mission to improve the safety and efficiency of the trucking industry. We’ve seen the positive impact the data captured by the ELD can have in organizations of different sizes,“ said Shoaib Makani, cofounder and CEO of KeepTruckin. “The addition of our Smart Dashcam gives fleets an integrated safety platform that spans compliance, telematics and video monitoring.”
Makani and company hoped to make such video systems affordable for fleets of smaller size, the majority of the company’s ELD customers. “That’s really our mission here – to bring these kind of products to trucking companies of all sizes and types,” Makani says, adding that the company will also introduce a driver-facing camera later this year, “fully optional and … with a machine vision processing unit” capable of “being an aid to the driver” to detect distraction and/or drowsiness and offer alerts.
Pricing for the Smart Dashcam starts at $100 plus $40 per month for full dashboard access.
