A pilot carried out by SaverOne last year indicates that the SaverOne system manages to prevent most cellular distractions while driving. The pilot also proves that over time drivers adapt to safe driving, so in practice, almost no system intervention is required.
As part of the work routine, truck drivers are required to be on the road for a working day that may span 10 and even 12 hours, which exposes drivers to a variety of distractions. The potential for danger in an accident involving a truck is much greater, if only because it is a massive vehicle. Unfortunately, trucks and professional drivers are not immune from making mistakes, and from time to time trucks are involved in accidents that end badly. At least in some of those accidents, ‘cellular distraction’ is one of the leading causes of an accident.
Abnormal screen usage while driving
SaverOne sees truck drivers and transportation companies as a significant target audience, for whom the active driving distraction prevention system will provide great value. Indeed, a preliminary study conducted by SaverOne personnel among truck drivers revealed that some drivers have abnormal cell phone usage habits. These even included watching YouTube and Facebook videos during the ride. Paradoxically, these habits result from the long and monotonous working day (driving), and the drivers seek to dispel boredom, even though it is life-threatening.
Quick learning graph
The SaverOne pilot was launched on August 1, 2020, and included 10 systems in 10 trucks. The app was adapted so that the only applications that drivers could access without blocking were the navigation software, a music app, and the reception/output of voice calls (via handsfree).
Indeed, in the early days of the pilot, it seemed that the drivers were in no hurry to adapt to the new reality. Many blockages were recorded due to attempts by drivers to bypass the limit and run the banned applications. But a few days later, there was a drastic decline in these attempts, thanks partly to the common understanding that safety is paramount. From the second month of the pilot until the end, drivers made very few attempts to run prohibited applications.
Throughout the trial period (4 months and 1116 driving hours), SaverOne systems performed 951 blockages while driving (averaging about 0.9 blockages per hour). In addition, the system blocked 7,000 alerts from distracting applications (an average of 6.3 alerts per hour), closed and blocked 1,548 times applications that were open at the beginning of a trip.
Beyond proving the effectiveness of the system and its ability not only to prevent distractions but also to train drivers for safe driving, how the collected data can be segmented was also examined. Thus, each employer received a survey about the driver compared to the overall average of other drivers responding to cellular distractions.
