First Student, North America’s leader in student transportation and innovator of the award-winning HALO™ technology platform, has officially announced a decision to enhance its fleet with Samsara’s industry-leading technology, including video-based safety, telematics, commercial navigation, door monitors, and student ridership insights.
According to certain reports, the company will effectively bank upon real-time data collected from Samsara’s Connected Operations® Platform, while simultaneously conceiving the most advanced safety and performance ecosystem in the history of student transportation industry.
All in all, by combining their technical prowess, First Student and Samsara will set a new standard for how drivers, districts, families, and students experience safe, reliable, and efficient student transportation services.
Markedly enough, this particular partnership is meticulously designed to integrate First Student’s unmatched leadership in safety and digital innovation with Samsara’s advanced AI technology and world-class fleet safety and efficiency platform. Not just that, by bringing these capabilities together into HALO, the companies should be able to deliver continuous innovation, AI-powered safety, real-time insights, and operating performance at an unprecedented scale.
“We are proud to partner with First Student, which operates at an unmatched scale, serving millions of students daily across North America,” said Sanjit Biswas, CEO and Co-Founder of Samsara. “By integrating our AI-powered platform with First Student’s HALO, we are taking innovation to the next level to create a safer, more efficient experience. Together, we’re bringing students the best possible transportation experience, powered by data-driven insights.”
Talk about the whole value proposition on a slightly deeper, we begin from how, for students, the given partnership will provide safer and smarter rides powered by AI that can predict risks and prevent incidents.
If we focus on families, the resulting technology should be able to conceive more accurate ETAs and real-time updates, thanks to enhanced First View® app. The idea here is to reduce queries, and at the same time, provide greater peace of mind. In case that wasn’t enough, having Ridership insights in play also makes it possible for First Student to share key updates with families, including the time of their student’s boarding and disembarking.
Moving on to drivers, they can access helpful tools that, on their part, provide turn-by-turn directions and real-time visibility, streamline coaching to support safe driving, as well as build stronger trust between drivers and their managers.
As for districts, they will now enjoy tech-enabled fleet operations that optimize routes, reduce delays, streamline maintenance elevate safety standards. Complementing this would Wi-Fi connectivity which enables buses to communicate with one another and with the broader system, strengthening overall fleet coordination and performance.
Samsara’s AI-powered platform will further bring forth key safety features in HALO across First Student’s fleet of vehicles,
These features include AI cameras for AI-powered risk detection with in-cab alerts, along with collision avoidance & hazard detection for alerting drivers to pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, stopped or slowed vehicles, and more.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the availability of predictive safety analytics that will combine data from vehicle sensors, AI cameras, and external factors to generate insights. You see, making the given feature even more important would be the fact that Samsara’s models learn from billions of minutes of video footage to identify and address risks proactively.
Users can also cone expecting post-trip insights in the context of trends and coachable moments so to continuously support safe driving.
“This partnership between two industry leaders enables us to leverage advanced technology to deliver safer, smarter, and more connected student transportation,” said John Kenning, CEO and President of First Student. “By integrating Samsara’s AI insights into HALO, we are living out our value of setting the highest standards and redefining what student transportation can be. With Samsara’s AI capabilities, predictive analytics, and real-time safety monitoring, we are taking HALO to the next level – anticipating risks, preventing incidents, enhancing driver satisfaction, and advancing our mission to provide every student with the best possible transportation experience.”
