Around 1.5 lakh Indians are killed in road accidents each year — more than in any other country. To help deal with the problem, Intel has developed Intel® Onboard Fleet Services, an AI-powered safety solution for commercial vehicles. Designed for Indian conditions, it features in-cabin devices which offer advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) from Mobileye, collision avoidance systems (CAS), driver monitoring systems, fleet telematics, and fleet health and fuel efficiency features. The solution comes with a portal that includes actionable insights, analytics, and reports for fleet managers to help improve overall efficiency, enable preventive maintenance, and reduce operating costs.

“We have been working with our ecosystem collaborators, government, industry, and academia to implement cutting-edge technology solutions using AI, IoT, ADAS, to enable smarter and safer transportation for all,” says Kishore Ramisetty, Vice-President, Intel Foundry Services.

While the real-time alert calculations happen locally on the devices, post-analysis takes place in the cloud, which also analyses the driver’s behaviour using data collected over a period of time. The advanced telematics cover vehicle health and fuel analytics, along with a driver scoring and rating module. At the heart of the solution is driver coaching, which activates 15 different inputs to provide individualised coaching recommendations for commercial fleets.

The results show an almost 70 per cent improvement in safe driving practices, accident reduction by 40-60 per cent, overall efficiency loss reduction of up to 50 per cent, and a 75 per cent reduction in vehicle damage costs.

Ramratan Singhi, Founder and CEO of the Sure group, which owns a fleet of 125 vehicles  said that with Intel ® Onboard, accidents dropped from  20-25 major accidents to three minor accidents and zero major ones today.

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Activated carbon from DRDO

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has come up with ‘activated carbon spheres’, an adsorbent with desirable qualities such as a porous structure, large surface area, high micropore volume, controllable pore size distribution, high mechanical strength, high purity, smooth surface, high wear-resistance, excellent durability, good fluidity, low ash content and low moisture content. ACS is commonly used in applications such as catalyst support, purification of blood, supercapacitors, protective suits against chemical warfare agents, and adsorptive removal of gaseous and liquid toxicants. Using polymeric precursors, specific surface area greater than 800 sq m per gram along with total pore volume greater than 0.8 cubic cm per gram have been used for removal of toxicants. The application of activated carbon as adsorbents relies on the pore size and its distribution as micropores (less than 2mm) and mesopores (2-50 nm) that are mostly used for the gas phase and liquid phase. ACS has been successfully used for developing individual protective equipment (IPE) such as NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) suit, socks, haversack and boot, says a note from DRDO.