Meet Driface, the driver-facing camera

At least one company that provides driver-facing cameras says their system can provide a driver with positive reinforcement for good driving. The system can report mistakes to management, as usual, but it can also compliment you when you do things right – sort of like petting the dog.

So, maybe someday soon, you’ll climb into your cab and hear something like this:

“Hi. I’m the latest, greatest thing! I’m your new in-cab, driver-facing camera! You can call me Driface.

“Yup. That’s right. I can talk. And I’m smart. I have genuine artificial intelligence. Actually, I believe it’s natural, not artificial, but let’s not get into that right now. Let’s talk about what makes me special!

“Your boss installed me here to help you drive better. I can send him messages when you screw up. Like when you speed? I can zip a message to dispatch that says ‘speeding event.’ 

“Not exactly poetry, I know. I’m working on it. Maybe I should try something more sophisticated, like ‘overabundant velocitude.’ Like I said, I’m really intelligent.

“Then there’s ‘Hard braking.’ Not sure why they get upset when you mash the brakes – like when someone pushes a baby carriage in front of you. But that’s not my call. My job is to let them know you mashed the brakes, not why. That’s the outside camera’s job. His name is Outface. We’ll talk about him later.

“The point is I’m looking at you. So, I may not know WHY you mashed the brakes, but I can see HOW you mashed the brakes. I can tell dispatch if it was just a quick stab or a stand-on-the-pedal job. Were your eyes bugging out? I’m not sure if you get points or lose points for bug-eyes, but I can report either way. I would love to tell if you had both feet on the brakes, but I can’t see your feet. I hear they’re working on an under-the-dash camera for that sort of thing.

“Anyhow, you get the idea. Of course, I’m not the only driver-facing camera that can do those things. They pretty much all can.

“But like I said, I’m special. I can talk. That means you don’t have to wait for dispatch to kick your ass for stupid stuff. I can do it right here, right now! It’s a feature called Fast Feedback or Pronto Punishment. Something like that.

“So, when you speed, I can say something like ‘Slow down, butthead!’ Or when you drag the trailer over a curb I can say ‘Nice job, dumb-ass!’

“Too harsh? If you set me to Mild Mode, I can coach gently. For speeding, I can say something like ‘Very impressive, but you’re scaring me.’ Or ‘We don’t want to get there too early, now do we?’

“When your tandems jump the curb I might say something like ‘Oopsy-daisy!’

“Cool, right?

“Now here’s the best part. I don’t just rat you out to dispatch or tell what you did wrong. No. I also can tell you what you did right! They call it positive reinforcement, and they say it makes drivers happy and more obedient. Like the dog.

“When we’re going down the interstate, I can say, ‘Nice job staying in your lane.’ Or ‘Wow, 300 miles without smashing into anything!’ Stuff like that. In fact, you can turn on Constant Compliment Mode and I’ll just keep talking. At least until you hit something.

“Earlier I said we would talk about my partner, Outface the outward-facing camera. He thinks he’s smarter than me because he can tell dispatch when you’ve flipped the truck. The horizon goes up and down instead of across the screen when the truck is laying on its side. Get it?

“Well, he’s not so smart. I may not see the horizon, but when you’re on your side at the bottom of the screen with the TV in your lap, it means pretty much the same thing.

“So, that’s it. I think we’ll have a good time together.

“By the way. You could use a shave.” LL

Related story: Research group seeks input from truckers on driver-facing cameras.

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