NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Motive has launched a first-of-its-kind service that expedites the emergency response of first responders to drivers of commercial vehicles involved in wrecks.
Executives with the AI-powered integrated operations platform told journalists at the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition about the new First Responder feature developed in partnership with RapidSOS.
“There is a safety epidemic on our highways right now,” said Motive Chief Customer Officer Ryan Plutnicki during a Sunday press briefing in Nashville. “Distracted and unsafe driving is resulting in tragic consequences. Our roads are lethal. Fatalities increased dramatically at the turn of the decade … and have remained extremely high despite a modest pullback.”
The data
Hamish Woodrow, Motive’s head of strategic analytics, reviewed data from over 1.3 million commercial drivers who use the Motive platform and analyzed more than 45 million safety events in the U.S. from July 2023 to July 2024. Among the key findings:
- Crashes involving commercial vehicles jump during the holidays. Rates increased 32% on Christmas Day compared to the rest of the month, and speeding events increased by 10% the week leading up to the holiday.
- For every 10,000 vehicles on U.S. roads each month, there is an average of 84 commercial vehicle collisions. That’s roughly one collision for every 120 vehicles.
- Most crashes in the country occur on weekdays between 4 and 6 p.m., and the highway speed that most frequently sees collisions is 60 mph.
Additionally, the report explored the most dangerous roadways in America from U.S. Highway 41 and State Road 997 in Florida to State Highway 123 near Pecos, Texas. It also analyzed six major metropolitan areas and the most dangerous intersection in the country: Detroit’s I-75 and I-375 junction.
Abhishek Gupta, Motive VP of product management, said most of the crashes analyzed by Motive in its data review were high-severity collisions.
“Those … are really the ones that matter to us,” Gupta said. “The big issue with these types of collisions is it takes almost, if not more than, 15 minutes to get first responder emergency services onto the scene. You can get [pizza] delivered faster to these locations, but why can’t you get an emergency response a little bit faster?”
Motive’s solution
Gupta said that in an emergency, every minute counts. That’s where First Responder enters the picture.
He likened First Responder to the ability of smartwatches to detect when a user has fallen and notify emergency services.
“We brought the same exact technology into commercial trucking,” Gupta said. “And it’s all powered in combination with our AI cameras as well as RapidSOS.”
He gave an example of a commercial trucker in a rollover accident on the highway at 2 a.m.
“We hear from customers all the time that when this happens, they generally run into two problems,” Gupta said. “One, they don’t know fast enough that this has occurred. And then two, … when they do find out, they need to know what to do about it.”
Gupta explained Motive’s AI is able to detect 99% of accidents within seconds through a combination of its machine learning models and its safety team. Once a collision is detected and reviewed by a 24/7 safety team for potential false positives, Motive sends a notification to customers using its Motive Fleet App along with a video of the incident.
Then the customer can notify emergency services or opt in for Motive to do so.
“We also provide live updates once the information has been generated, once the call has been started, as well as any additional information that they need to know,” Gupta said. “All of this information is available at their fingertips.”
First Responder uses cell coverage to send collision information. In rural areas without strong cell coverage, First Responder can fall back onto older networks and technology to attempt to get information sent. That information is also stored within Motive hardware, so if connectivity is restored, the information is sent through to the server.
“Typically, we don’t see a significant drop-off [in connectivity], because most of the time customers will know right away,” Gupta said.
With all of this information integrated into the RapidSOS system, dispatch centers will also be able to view this data on their end.
“This saves seconds when it comes to the life-threatening aspects,” Gupta said. “Because now as an emergency response provider, you now have all of the information that you need at your fingertips without having to call in and ask about it.”
RapidSOS Director of Partnerships Jennifer White said First Responder has 99% population coverage in around 6,000 911 centers in the U.S., with additional coverage in Mexico and Canada.
“We’re connected to over 21,000 first responder agencies where they can actually see the data on devices in the field as they’re responding to the call so they’re better prepared as they go,” White said. “We process over 171 million emergencies annually across our platform.”
White said the partnership between RapidSOS and emergency departments notifies first responders about the location of a collision, the severity of the event and exact details about who is involved and where they are.
As of Monday, First Responder is available at no extra charge to all fleets using the Motive platform.