KOCHI:Road accidents claim 17 lives every hour in India. An average of 1,374 accidents occur every day in the country resulting in 400 deaths. The driver’s fault is the single most responsible reason for road accidents, according to data available with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. In an attempt to ensure road safety through driver monitoring, Netradyne, a US-based startup has come up with ‘Driveri’, a driver analytics platform enabled with artificial intelligence (AI).
Driveri provides live analytics of a vehicle’s movement, indicating aberrations while driving. For instance, if the driver skips a signal, tailgates or overspeeds, the device will immediately provide an analysis of the same. Through video streaming, the device captures vehicles travelling ahead or by the side of the monitored vehicle.
While the competition provides video streaming facilities, it is up to the person monitoring the video to analyse the movement of the vehicle. Such analysis is entirely dependent on the observation capabilities of the person in charge.
However, Driveri automatically analyses the movement, eliminating mistakes that could happen in manual analysis. For instance, if a driver jumps signal, an automated text will appear indicating that the vehicle jumped the signal, says Avneesh Agrawal, co-founder and CEO of Netradyne.
“This has the potential to bring about a revolution in the insurance industry,
which otherwise is dependent on traditional method of analysis of an accident. It is easier for those monitoring the vehicle to track driver behaviour and regulate it in a more accurate manner and in a shorter time period,” adds Avneesh.
At present, the startup is focusing on providing the service to trucks. The feature has been designed to assist fleet managers in tracking vehicles involved in the daily operations of a company. Netradyne is currently working on a new feature that would also prompt the driver during the course of the journey. Their services would be launched in the U.S by the end of this month and would be extended to India by May, Agrawal added.
The startup was founded in 2015. While Agrawal is managing the India operations, co-founder David Julian looks after the US operations. Netradyne has seen an initial investment of $16m from Reliance Industries.
On the meaning of the word ‘Netradyne’, Agrawal narrates its intriguing
background: “We wanted a name that could resonate here and in the US, indicating something about the project. ‘Netra’ is the Sanskrit word for eye while ‘Dyne’ is the Greek word for force. Throw them together, and you have Netradyne, symbolising the power of vision!”