What’s New : The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found that advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) technologies could prevent over 2.7 million crashes, 1.1 million injuries and nearly 9,500 deaths in the U.S. each year if installed on all vehicles¹ . Collision avoidance systems can help business fleet operators do their part in enhancing road safety for the common good, while also benefiting their own pocket by dramatically reducing crashes and the significant associated costs they lead to. Ambu-Trans Ambulette*, a provider of non-emergency medical transportation services in New York, is an example of a company that has experienced a significant improvement in safety – a reduction in crashes and crash-related costs – since equipping its fleet of vehicles with collision avoidance technology from Mobileye, an Intel company.

"This is beyond anything I expected to get from Mobileye – I thought it would help improve us, but the results have been dramatic. Mobileye’s technology is truly lifesaving. We believe every vehicle on the road should be equipped with it.” –Neal Kalish, president and owner, Ambu-Trans Ambulette

What It Means: Ambu-Trans Ambulette provides non-emergency medical transportation services across the five boroughs of New York City, bringing clients to and from dialysis treatments, hospitals and other medical appointments. The company operates a fleet of 70 vehicles, each carrying Mobileye’s aftermarket collision avoidance system.

Prior to implementing Mobileye in 2015, Ambu-Trans Ambulette experienced approximately 35 to 50 crashes a year, leading to estimated losses of $1 million. After installing Mobileye’s collision avoidance technology across its entire fleet, Ambu-Trans Ambulette experienced dramatic results, with collisions falling to five to six a year and a 95 percent reduction in collision-related losses, now averaging $50,000 annually. As an additional result of the reduction in collisions, Ambu-Trans Ambulette has seen a drastic reduction in insurance claims, making it much easier to negotiate a lower insurance premium. Entering these figures into Mobileye’s “ROI Calculator,” we learn that (subject to the calculator’s caveats), Ambu-Trans’ investment in Mobileye would have paid for itself in around three months.

What It Is: Mobileye’s aftermarket collision avoidance technology provides critical audio and visual alerts that assist in preventing or mitigating collisions, helping fleets reduce both the frequency and severity of collisions. Such capabilities take on greater importance when concerning the transportation of patients to and from the places they receive care and treatment. Engineered by the same team developing some of the world’s most sophisticated ADAS and autonomous vehicle technology, Mobileye’s collision avoidance solution can be retrofitted to almost any vehicle already on the road. Features include:

• Forward Collision Warning: Warns drivers of an impending rear-end collision with a car, truck or motorcycle.
• Pedestrian and Cyclist Collision Warning: Warns drivers of impending collision with pedestrians or cyclists.
• Headway Monitoring and Warning: Warns drivers if the distance with the vehicle ahead becomes unsafe.
• Lane Departure Warning: Monitors lane markings and warns drivers of unintentional lane deviation.
• Speed Limit Indicator and Traffic Sign Recognition: Recognizes and reads speed limit signs; warns drivers when they are exceeding the speed limit.

For full specifications and limitations of Mobileye’s aftermarket collision avoidance system, visit the Mobileye website.

Why it Matters: For fleets like Ambu-Trans Ambulette operating in crowded city settings, introducing solutions that enhance road safety can be especially critical – New York City alone experienced 20,470 motor vehicle collisions in October 2018² . Compared with the years immediately before it implemented Mobileye’s solution, Ambu-Trans Ambulette saw a dramatic drop in crash frequency and severity. This generated an approximately 95 percent reduction in annual costs and losses caused by collisions for the company. As fleets across the globe embrace collision avoidance technology to realize its benefits for themselves, the cost-saving – and lifesaving – capacity of such safety solutions grows only more visible.

The Small Print:

¹ “Drivers Rely Too Heavily on New Vehicle Safety Technologies In Spite of Limitations,” AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

² “Motor Vehicle Collision Report Statistics Citywide,” Police Department, City of New York