In the opening keynote of this year’s Samsara Beyond conference, Sanjit Biswas, co-founder and chief executive officer of Samsara, shared center stage with some developing technologies making headlines at this year’s conference. Drawing an intriguing parallel, he likened artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology expanding through various industries to the rapid adoption of the inaugural iPhone. 

According to Sanjit, the total number of trips undertaken by commercial vehicles equates to approximately 1.9 billion trips annually. This volume of trips results in an extensive collection of data, approximately 6 trillion data points. This abundance of information holds potential for uncovering valuable insights and transforming the way your organization operates.

The company has integrated A.I. into various aspects of fleet operations, including safety, asset management and tracking, driver training, and preventative maintenance, as highlighted by Biswas.

Five new developments to the Samsara Connected Operations platform were announced during the keynote address. They’re focused on advanced driver safety systems, increased asset visibility and tracking, digitized forms, and a customizable experience—all of which are essential to maintaining a successful business constantly on the move. 

Here’s a rundown of what Samsara demonstrated during its conference.

Mobile Experience Management (MEM): For drivers who spend the majority of their time in the field and on the road, having reliable mobile support and instantaneous connection to headquarters is crucial to keeping operations running smoothly. However, it’s essential that the primary mobile device serves as a lifeline rather than a source of distraction. Samsara says that’s where MEM comes in. Users can access personalized dashboards and support directly on their tablets, including remote instruction and live troubleshooting. Samsara also noted that MEM helps minimize unnecessary distractions by silencing customizable, non-essential notifications and alerts, allowing drivers to stay focused, but connected.

“Once connected, the back office can see exactly what the driver is seeing and can interact in the driver’s mobile device in real time, coaching them on anything such as finding a critical app setting or in this case finding and creating startup day workflows,” said Kaitna Shankar, product marketing lead for safety at Samsara.

Virtual Coach: Samsara links improved safety with the necessity for immediate alerts that notify and guide drivers in addressing and correcting unsafe actions triggered by specific, recorded events. To augment post-trip, in-person guidance, the Virtual Coach allows drivers to review and correct their actions captured by the real-time feedback system. The Coach can be personalized by the fleet manager.

Managers can utilize safety scores and system feedback to identify drivers and areas of driver behavior that require additional training or attention. Samsara says that safety and engagement take priority, so the technology does not begin corrective instruction or allow driver interaction with their safety score, event video or generated tips until the vehicle has come to a complete stop.

“You can guide your drivers to review where and when they need to and they can still acknowledge they’ve received this coaching and training,” said Jeff Hausman, chief product officer at Samsara. “You can track the coaching and can still, for the most riskiest behaviors or most challenging situations, require face-to-face coaching sessions.”

Find My Asset: With the Find My Asset feature, managers can locate lost or stolen high-value unpowered assets, Samsara noted. The company has also integrated with Thermo King’s TracKing Telematics for real-time tracking capabilities and remote control over Thermo King reefers from the Samsara dashboard. 

Connected Forms: Connected Forms is a mobile workflow solution that enables operations to be automated and upgraded from paper-based processes, Samsara says. It launches later this year.

Data Connectors: Users can merge data sets from companies like Fivetran, Kafka, and Power Drivewyze that have integrated with Samsara. 

“This will launch later this year and it will let you combine Samara and other business data to drive powerful integrated visualizations and improve decision making,” Hausman said.