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The Year in Review: 2024 Safety Challenges, Solutions and the Future of AI

“Safety is critical for every fleet and driver on the road,” says Gary Falldin, senior director of industry solutions at Trimble. And though fleets and technology solutions have started to prioritize safety more than ever, work still needs to be done to prioritize best practices and reduce risks. We recently sat down with Falldin to discuss recent safety challenges and solutions and the trends he’s most excited about for the future.

Want to learn more about fleet safety challenges and solutions? Check out our “Full Circle of Safety” series.

Article Highlights:

    • Safety programs are a core component of successful carrier operations and key to providing the work experience drivers want.
    • As cyber threats on the transportation industry continue to increase, cybersecurity has become an important part of safety programs. 
    • The transparency that telematics, driver workflow and video recording solutions provide all work together to enhance driver safety. 
    • Artificial intelligence (AI) will play an important role in developing and enforcing safety programs in the future.


The Essential Role of Safety

“Drivers are the lifeblood of the supply chain and keeping them and the public safe is one of the most essential values that every transportation organization strives for each day,” said Falldin. 

Improving driver safety has always been a focus for the transportation industry, but over the last few years, it’s become a critical component of fleet operations in a variety of ways. In a time when “the average turnover rate for long-haul trucking is a staggering 94%,” according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and driver recruitment is an ongoing challenge, drivers are searching for opportunities that pay well and provide a safe, reliable work experience they want to return to daily. 

Key to that experience is driver safety. As Falldin said in a recent piece for Supply & Demand Chain Executive, “The most successful fleets have many touch points for their safety training programs.” And many driver training programs are successfully built on incentivizing safe work practices, as explored in this recent piece from Force Fleet Tracking. Solutions like Trimble CoPilot are purpose-built to provide drivers the truck- and load-specific navigation they need to safely drive to and from their destinations.

Check out our complete guide to CoPilot’s safety features.

Beyond the human component, safety is integral to a trucking business’s bottom line. Increased costs in the form of frequency of litigation, higher insurance premiums (up nearly 6% during the second quarter of 2024), increased physical damage costs and other incidentals from a safety standpoint have put stress on carriers.

In the freight market, contract and spot rates both fell steadily over the past year, as did freight shipments, spend and tonnage. Additionally, fluctuating fuel prices have not returned to their pre-pandemic rates.

But despite the challenges that fleets are facing, Falldin says they are embracing technological advancements and investing in those areas for future growth. We recently sat down with Falldin to discuss a few pressing challenges and solutions related to driver safety, as well as the major trends he’s most excited about for the future.


Be Proactive in Building a Cybersecurity Strategy

As we recently discussed, cybersecurity is a growing concern when it comes to safety. The volume of cyber-attacks has risen in recent years due to more digital systems that are trackable, an increase in automated software solutions and vast opportunities to break into complex supply chains.

In response, Falldin says carriers need a cyber strategy in place and cannot afford a breach of security that would allow information on customers or employees to be released. Ransomware is also a concern for carriers that could severely disrupt their day-to-day operations. 

A recent cybersecurity survey by Trimble and FreightWaves found 41% of carriers are very concerned about data security within their organizations, but only 12% feel confident or very prepared for a security breach.

Investing in cybersecurity solutions and rigorous monitoring and testing can help organizations fight off potential attacks and maintain system integrity to protect users, customers and their reputations. The same cybersecurity survey found many carriers (44%) are using a combination of in-house and outsourced resources to manage their data security needs – a trend that will likely continue.


Greater Transparency Leads to Better Outcomes

Along with managing network security risks, effective communication between drivers and their support staff has become a core component of safety program success. Falldin says effectively communicating with drivers who you may not see for days or weeks is critical for optimal operations and transparency.

The rise of telematics and driver workflow solutions, such as Trimble Instinct, has enabled back office teams to easily share information with drivers, including documents, scorecards and training videos. It also gives drivers the ability to quickly and securely acknowledge and sign required forms from the road. Streamlining this experience ensures drivers can focus on their work, instead of trying to decipher applications while they’re on the road.

And when it comes to transparency, video recording solutions like Trimble Video Intelligence have become essential on the road. They provide real-time, visual guidance to drivers to avoid risky driving behaviors and help create a database of recordings to replay and analyze different situations for training programs or in the event of legal cases.

See how Ocean State Job Lot successfully enhanced their data-driven safety program with Video Intelligence.


The Power of AI for the Industry’s Future

AI tools are here to stay, and their potential in the transportation industry, particularly when it comes to increasing safety and avoiding accident and vehicle breakdowns, is incredibly exciting for Falldin.

Read how a panel of industry experts recommends carriers prepare for AI opportunities.

Falldin says AI technology will become more precise in its ability to predict the most at-risk drivers so they can be alerted, coached and corrected before accidents happen. The same can be true with maintenance: the use of AI will continue to be more accurate in identifying upcoming maintenance issues, allowing drivers to get trucks in the shop before they have costly and dangerous breakdowns on the side of the road.

As an example, he says automatic emergency braking will become more accurate, lowering the number of false positives, and adaptive cruise control will become more driver-friendly and react more precisely like a human driver would.

He also sees lane-keeping assistance evolving into full hands-free driving on certain roads and notes it’s already becoming more common in passenger vehicles. Finally, he has noticed a renewed interest in vehicle-to-vehicle communication. This smart technology enables vehicle data to exchange from one vehicle to another to help avoid accidents.

Overall, Falldin says the use of AI technology to keep improving and enhancing driver safety features and training programs is rapidly in progress and on pace to wildly change the way we drive and interact with others on the road. 


Want to enhance your safety program in 2025? Contact our team to learn how Trimble’s solutions can help give your drivers peace of mind, prepare your fleet for the future and boost your bottom line.