Centrepiece of the Ford stand at the Commercial Vehicle Show is the fifth member of the Transit line-up, the all-electric Transit City.
The compact van, aimed at last-mile operators and which will be built in China by Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC), has made its public debut at the Birmingham show following its reveal in March.
At the show Ford also displayed new dashcam-based technology aimed at helping van operators protect themselves against unfair insurance claims.
According to Ford Pro showed more than four in five UK fleet managers believe that their drivers have been wrongly blamed in accidents, leading to operational disruptions.
More than a quarter of these incidents saw knock-on effects including reputational damage, increased vehicle repair costs and significant management time spent resolving liability issues.
The Ford Pro survey conducted among 750 drivers, 250 fleet managers and 250 insurance brokers revealed that 84% of van drivers already have a dashcam fitted but some fleets are slow to adopt the technology, citing privacy concerns with drivers and their unions “not wanting to be watched”.
However three-quarters of these would accept secure technology that helps safer driving. The Ford system, developed with global video telematics leader Lytx, stores footage on a security protected micro SD card and supports live video streaming to the Ford Pro telematics platform where it can only be accessed by authorised users.
The Telematics with Dashcam technology integrates video evidence from an OEM-grade dashcam with the Ford Pro Telematics platform.
The new system can also use AI and machine vision technology to identify high-risk behaviours such as distracted driving, mobile phone usage, smoking, eating and drinking, not wearing seatbelts, and even signs of driver fatigue. This will allow for proactive coaching – 32% of fleet managers view dashcams primarily as a tool for duty of care to drivers.
Unveiling the system Ford Pro spokesman Jeremy Gould said that the research had highlighted the frustrating reality for UK van drivers of being first to be blamed following an incident on the road in which there is no clear evidence.
“Ford Pro Telematics with Dashcam is designed to end this blame game – by integrating high-definition video directly into our existing software platform, we are providing a ‘silent witness’ that can exonerate drivers, protect their professional reputations, and save businesses from the significant financial hit of unfair insurance claims,” Gould added.
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