Car service Addison Lee has upgraded its RAC Telematics system to the latest version, to take advantage of new functionality.

The system offers a picture of vehicle movements and driver behaviour, as well identifying fuel cost savings.

It now includes a crash detection rate accuracy of 92%.

The RAC Telematics units, currently in about 2,000 Addison Lee vehicles in London, provide a constant stream of data about how vehicles are being driven, their location, speed and idling time.

The 92% crash detection rate is crucial in the event of an accident at slow speed as it can determine whether the collision was with another vehicle, or simply hitting a kerb or taking a speed bump too quickly.

RAC Telematics MD Nick Walker said: “The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has tested our system and came back with the figure of 92% accuracy in terms of crash detection, which is far above and beyond the industry average of about 70%.

“This is vital for fleet managers as combined with the First Notification of Loss (FNOL) reporting, they know exactly what has happened to their vehicles, where and when.

“There are many other benefits as a result of fitting RAC Telematics, such as a reduction in wear and tear, speeding and accident levels are reduced, and there are significant savings on fuel because of the more efficient driving behaviour.”

Rob Daniels, head of fleet at Addison Lee said:  “For us it’s absolutely critical to know as much as possible about vehicles and how they are being driven.  We have been working with RAC Business for almost two years now and the data which we have obtained has been absolutely invaluable, particularly in obtaining insights into driver behaviour.

“Today, larger private hire fleets are increasingly relying on business insights obtained using big data techniques.  We can import RAC telematics data into our data warehouse which enables us to look in both granular detail at individual vehicles as well as identifying larger trends across the fleet as a whole.  Rich insights such as identifying which drivers accelerate quickly or brake hard enable us to modify behaviour and deliver fuel cost savings to our drivers. 

“Our passengers demand the highest quality service and that includes smooth driving.  RAC Telematics data helps us to ensure that our drivers are driving safely as well as identifying the rare occasions when our vehicles are involved in an accident.”