Preliminary Results from NYC DCAS ISA Pilot Program Shows Fleet Operators Complied with Speed Limits 99 Percent of Time and Reduced Instances of Hard Braking by 36 Percent
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Commissioner Dawn M. Pinnock today announced the preliminary results of active intelligent speed assistance (ISA) technology being tested in 50 city fleet vehicles and which has ensured almost universal compliance with local speed laws. Since the launch of the pilot program last August, vehicles utilizing ISA have driven over 133,400 miles and successfully traveled within speed limit parameters 99 percent of the time. Use of ISA technology also accounted for a 36 percent reduction in hard braking events, which is often an indicator of unsafe driving.
“Our administration is leading by example on street safety, and the results of the intelligent speed assistance pilot show that we can leverage technology to reduce unsafe driving behaviors,” said Mayor Adams. “This pilot helped ensure almost all drivers with this technology in their cars complied with local speed laws — undoubtedly making our city safer. Under our administration, we have continued to re-envision our fleet management policies to ensure they are aligned with our street safety and environmental goals, while continuing to deliver the services New Yorkers both rely on and deserve. This first-in-the-nation pilot should serve as a model for other states and municipalities, and one we are eager to continue in more of our fleet vehicles in the future.”
“The preliminary results are in, and our intelligent speed assistance pilot program has successfully prevented speeding and reduced instances of unsafe driving,” said DCAS Commissioner Pinnock. “Since we launched this pilot in August, our fleet vehicle operators continue to get the critical work done while prioritizing safety for themselves and others. In four months, we’ve seen a 36 percent reduction in hard braking and compliance with the local speed limits 99 percent of the time. We are inspired by this success and look forward to a complete assessment of the pilot in the months to come.”
Through the pilot program announced by Mayor Adams, ISA technology was installed on 50 city fleet vehicles to test this innovate tool to better ensure safe driving. It is among the latest safety initiatives to be implemented as part of the DCAS Safe Fleet Transition Plan for city fleet vehicles.
Through the first four months of the pilot, fleet operators abided by the speed limit 99 percent of the time. The outlying one percent represents the operator’s initial acceleration before the ISA technology kicked in and reduced their speed. In addition to complying with the speed limit, ISA also significantly reduced the necessity for hard braking. Hard braking events are often associated with unsafe driving, and with the 36 percent reduction in these events, it suggests that ISA is working to keep drivers focused.
The 50 fleet vehicles in the pilot have traveled more than 133,400 miles, with light duty vehicles accounting for 62 percent of the miles driven, followed by medium duty vehicles traveling 25 percent of the miles, and heavy-duty vehicles traveling 13 percent of the miles. The miles traveled indicate a continuity in service delivery despite the new limitations on speed and increased emphasis on safety.
Each participating fleet vehicle features an override button to temporarily disable ISA for 15 seconds. This override button may be helpful in certain hazardous situations. The override button has been used approximately 600 times in total. The use of the button seemed to occur most frequently during the early weeks of the pilot as operators tested and got used to the new technology. DCAS will continue to assess its use and determine what kind of circumstances elicited the override.
The ISA pilot will continue through early next year. At the end of the pilot, DCAS will co-author a report with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to share the results.
DCAS has submitted requests for grant funding from the federal government to broaden the rollout of ISA to approximately 7,500 fleet vehicles over the span of three to four years. If funding is secured, this would be the largest coordinated rollout of ISA technology in the world.
“Excessive speeding is one of the greatest safety risks,” said DCAS Deputy Commissioner and NYC Chief Fleet Officer Keith Kerman. “New York City is focused on reducing speeding through street re-design, enforcement, and speed cameras. DCAS is now taking the next step, leading the effort to design a vehicle that can’t and won’t speed in the first place.”
Through the Safe Fleet Transition Plan, DCAS is specifying the highest level of safety available on new cars and trucks and implementing safety retrofits. DCAS has already installed over 72,000 safety improvements to city fleet units, including driver alert systems, telematics, truck side-guards, automatic braking, back-up alerts, dash cams, and heated mirrors.
In addition to the Safe Fleet Transition Plan, DCAS has implemented a wide variety of safety measures as part of Vision Zero. Other measures include the city’s first fleet CRASH management system — a module used to report collisions by fleet operators; the nation’s largest rollout of live vehicle tracking devices managed through the Fleet Office of Real Time Tracking; the nation’s leading program of truck safety guards; and barring hands-free phone use by fleet operators; and providing safety training to over 76,000 city employees.
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