New Collision Detection

User Guide

January 2024

Introduction

The new collision detection, introduced in February 2024, is a safety feature powered by Geotab’s data models. It is more precise and accurate than the previous collision detection offer.

What changed?

The previous collision detection feature is the possible collision rule. It determines an event as a collision if the accelerometer detects a change of more than 2.6 G in the forward/braking or side-to-side direction. It does not include a filtering process, which causes false positives.

The new collision detection captures high resolution accelerometer and GPS data for an extended duration when the accelerometer reaches a trigger threshold. It sends this data to the cloud to be analyzed by Geotab models that can more precisely determine whether an event was a collision.

✱ NOTE: This functionality is not available for Commercial Government and FedRAMP Customers yet, but it will be in the near future.

Accessing collision detection

The new collision detection involves two rules in MyGeotab:

1. Major Collision Rule – Warns you about high-impact collisions with at least 2.5 G with more precision and fewer false alarms. Using collision algorithms trained on over a million real world driving samples, coupled with motion data from the device tracker, this rule can also provide context for collisions such as point of contact, magnitude, location, time, and more.
2. Minor Collision Rule – Warns you about low-impact collisions or damages between 1.5 G and 2.5 G with more precision and fewer false alarms. Using collision algorithms trained on over a million real world driving samples, coupled with motion data from the device tracker, this rule can also provide context for collisions such as point of contact, magnitude, location, time, and more.

Refer to the Enabling collision detection section to learn how to set them up.

To access all the benefits of these rules, you need:

1. GO9 or newer devices (for Minor Collision Rule)
2. Pro or ProPlus plan

✱ NOTE: If you have a GO7 or GO8 Device, you can set the Major Collision Rule, but the models used for the older devices are less accurate due to hardware limitations.

Enabling collision detection

1. Log in to MyGeotab.
2. From the main menu, navigate to Groups & Rules > Rules.
3. Find the Major Collision Rule and Minor Collision Rule under the Safety rules.
4. Set each rule to On.

Setting notifications

You can set notifications to be sent out to specific users, such as the rule-breaker, their manager, and other relevant parties when the rules are triggered.

1. From the Rules page, find the Enhanced Major Collision Rule or Enhanced Minor Collision Rule under the Safety rules.
2. Click the pencil icon to edit a rule.

3. Open the Notifications tab.

4. Add exceptions rule notifications. Select the type of notification you want: Add email, Add alert, Add driver feedback, or More (to find other possibilities).

5. After setting the notification, click Save.

Refer to the Product Guide for details on how to add each notification type.

Viewing collisions

You can view the events that triggered a collision rule on the Exceptions page.

1. From the main menu, navigate to Groups & Rules > Exceptions.
2. Adjust the filters for Date Period and Display Options.

✱ NOTE: Search for Collision in the Rules field to find and select the Major Collision and Minor Collision rules.


3. Click Apply changes.
4. On the Exceptions page, click an event to view the assets that have broken that exception rule. Click the arrow beside the asset’s name and then the event link to view details.