The primary objective of getting drivers and operators home safely has advanced significantly via telematics company Geotab Africa and behavioural risk monitoring company DriveRisk, with the companies continuing to merge risk and efficiency data to provide customers with “richer holistic insights that drive actionable decision-making”, says DriveRisk chief business development officer Clay Colegate.

Geotab Africa helps to advance this objective, says sales director Ryan Diesel, who notes that the company’s pillars are rooted in productivity, safety, fleet optimization, compliance, and expandability.

Geotab Africa supports electric vehicles (EVs) and has been doing so successfully on an international scale by providing solutions to various industries, including mining, Ryan adds.

DriveRisk’s advanced driver assistance systems have been built over 22 years and encompass driver behaviour management, fatigue management and collision avoidance technologies.

“Our machine vision and artificial intelligence (AI) enabled solutions provide drivers and operators with real-time feedback on their behavioural risk, significantly reducing the likelihood of accidents and incidents, while allowing them to take immediate corrective action,” Colegate explains.

He adds that the company’s flexibility and customisation of the safety systems allows DriveRisk to apply its solutions to a wide array of industries.

“Ultimately, any movable asset that operates on the road or within a mine site benefits from our solutions.”

This ties into Geotab’s six pillars of innovation, being productivity, safety, fleet optimization, compliance, and expandability, says Ryan, who comments that mining compliance is a “pain-point that the solution addresses, together with fuel management and safety”.

Geotab Africa services various verticals like mining, such as industries like logistics and security - “we understand their core issues and address those accordingly”.

Overall, this is achieved through an open platform. Geotab’s API integrates with third-party products onto a single platform. One of the unique offerings is the company’s Source and Destination, a tool for opencast mining, that provides automated records of productivity by tallying loads based on material source, loading tool, loading duration, tipping duration and destination.

“Getting drivers home safely lies at the core of everything that DriveRisk does. Our driver safety programs, and advanced driver assistance systems identify the root cause behaviours that lead to accidents and incidents, and provide our customers with the platform to engage with and empower their drivers through a driver coaching workflow,” Colegate adds.

Commenting on the post-Covid environment, Ryan is confident about the increase in economic activity, which he says is evidenced through the return of Electra Mining Africa and its high attendance this year.

Colegate agrees, adding that the increase in economic activity can be seen “not only through the easing of Covid restrictions but through the eagerness for more human and emotional interaction”.