AI Event Detection

Samsara AI Event Detection uses the Samsara Dash Cam to help prevent safety events by detecting and automatically notifying you of unsafe driving behaviors. To get the most out of your configuration and before you enable AI event detection, review AI Detection Recommendations and Best Practices.

When you Enable and Configure AI Event Detection, by default, a safety event uploads to your Safety Inbox. You can also configure alerts that notify both you and the driver when a behavior has been detected:

Safety Alerts: Configure an alert to receive an email notification or an SMS when a policy violation is detected.
In-Cab Audio Alerts : Notify drivers when an AI event has been detected. When you enable in-cab alerts, you can configure the following settings:
- Configure In-Cab Nudges (Alerts): Notify drivers at the moment of detection, before the safety event impacts the safety score and the event displays in the Safety Inbox.
- Configure In-Cab Alerts For Your Fleet: To configure this setting for your fleet, enable the in-cab audio setting when you Enable and Configure AI Event Detection.
- Configure In-Cab Alerts For Individual Vehicles: Enable or disable In-Cab Voice Coaching for one or more vehicles.

AI Detection Types

The following list summarizes the available AI detection settings:

Following Distance Detection: Detects tailgating behavior where a driver is following another vehicle too closely.
Forward Collision Warning [Beta]: Detects when a vehicle comes within seconds of a forward collision.
Distracted Driving Detection: Detects distractions indicated by a dip in head pose such as using a mobile phone, eating, drinking, talking to passengers, or fiddling with the stereo while operating the vehicle.
Policy Violations:
- No Seat Belt Detection: Detects when the driver is not wearing a seat belt at the beginning of a trip.
- Inward Camera Obstruction: Detects when the camera view of the driver is obstructed.

When you enable any AI features that are in beta, you are confirming you have read the AI Beta Feature Disclaimer.

AI Detection Recommendations and Best Practices

For organizations with more than 250 vehicles, we recommend that you test the AI features on a subset of vehicles before enabling them for the whole fleet to test the impact on the Safety Inbox and in-cab audio feedback.

For the most accurate AI Event Detection, review the mounting position recommendations when you Install a Dash Cam. Samsara requires an average of 30 minutes of drive time per vehicle to calibrate the camera and determine the vanishing point after you enable AI Event Detection. When calibration is complete, cameras will trigger events for AI features based on the detected vanishing point.

Review your Safety Inbox over the next week after you configure AI Event Detection to determine if the event volume is acceptable for a broader rollout to your fleet. If you've enabled in-cab voice coaching, we recommend collecting feedback from drivers.

Enable and Configure AI Event Detection

To enable AI Event Detection, perform the following workflow:

Select the Settings icon ( ) at the bottom of your Fleet menu to view dashboard settings.
From within Fleet settings, navigate to Safety > Event Detection > AI Event Detection.
Enable the AI Event Detection and configure the setting for your fleet. For more information about AI Event Detection types and settings, reference the setting configuration instructions for the AI Detection Type.
To configure in-cab audio alerts for your fleet, choose the In-cab audio alerts setting (On or Off (Default)). For more information on in-cab audio alerts or to configure in-cab audio for individual vehicles, see In-Cab Voice Coaching.
To assign AI event detection to specific vehicles, select Edit Individual Vehicles.
Locate or search by Tags or Current Settings for the vehicle to assign AI event detection.
Select one or more vehicles from the results to apply the AI event detection.
Select Edit Vehicles.
For each AI detection setting, configure the setting to apply to the selected vehicles:
- Enabled: Activates AI detection for all selected vehicles.
- Disabled: Disables AI detection for all selected vehicles.
- Default to Organization Setting (ON/OFF): Applies the currently configured setting for the organization to all selected vehicles.
(Optional) Set the Camera Height, or vertical distance between the dash cam and the road. An accurate setting will increase the accuracy of detection for features such as Following Distance and Collision Detection.
Submit to save the changes.