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Company uses AI to keep Tampa safe
Good Greek Moving and Storage Company is using AI technology in its trucks to protect its drivers and hold them accountable. Evyb Moon reports.
PLANT CITY, Fla. - A Tampa Bay area moving and storage company is showcasing how artificial intelligence can create safer roads.
The Good Greek Moving and Storage company based in Plant City is using AI technology in its trucks to protect drivers and hold them accountable.
The technology uses a camera facing the driver and the road and also connects to the engine of the vehicle. It detects when a driver is texting, falling asleep, veering out of their lane or following too closely to another driver – and alerts them.
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The Good Greek Founder and CEO Spero Georgedakis told FOX 13 it also sends the information back to their headquarters. He said it’s necessary accountability.
"Because of the AI feature, we are able to be notified, and driver is notified anytime he is doing something he is not supposed to be doing, taking out your phone or texting," said Georgedakis. "If they run a stop sign, if they are speeding, breaking too hard, anything that is unsafe or hazardous we are going to get notified."
As a former police officer, he said safety is important to him, and he has seen a huge decrease in incidents – and even in car insurance costs – since using these devices.
"For us it has been nothing but beneficial," Georgedakis said. "Whatever privacy issues people have, we disclose it up front. It’s a term of employment. So far, it’s been great. I don’t know if it’s ever going to drive the vehicle, but from a safety standpoint, it’s been great."
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FOX 13 also spoke with one of the drivers in the company's fleet, and now the general manager, who said the AI voice frequently talks to him. Even alerting him to "wake up and get a cup of coffee."
"It’s just safer for everybody," Daniel Welch said. "It makes a big difference to know we have alert drivers and another system to make sure they are compliant and being safe."
They have 200 trucks on the road now using the AI technology. They hope it will eliminate many of the common safety hazards on the road.