NORFOLK, Va. — Earlier in the week, News 3 caught up with local leaders and members of AAA Tidewater to talk about driving safely during the holidays. When we spoke, AAA mentioned they’d teamed up with HAAS Alert, a company that’s helping drivers easily identify upcoming hazards on the road.
We’re following through and spoke with someone from HAAS Alert to understand how exactly the technology works.
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“We are still using lights and sirens for alerting people in a world where we have all this connectivity and connected devices,” said Brock Aun, Vice President of Communications with HAAS Alert.
When News 3 spoke with Aun, he said a lot of the firefighters he talks to are more afraid to respond to roadside incidents than they are responding to a fire.
“They can predict and control a fire. They know how a fire will behave, but they can’t predict how drivers will behave,” he said.
Virginia Beach Fire Chief Kenneth Pravetz feels the same way.
“On the highways, you have no control over how people are driving, what’s approaching, what’s distracting people,” said Pravetz.
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So to help drivers understand the obstacles they could come across on the roadways, the team at HAAS Alert developed what they call Safety Cloud Technology. Here’s how it works:
- When responding to a broken down vehicle or crash, tow trucks and emergency personnel activate the Safety Cloud on their vehicle.
- When the Safety Cloud is activated, it sends a notification to drivers using Apple Maps or Waze apps that there is a caution up ahead, so they can be aware of it before seeing it.
“It’s remarkable, the various hazards that you might encounter on the road. And the better that you can warn drivers about what’s ahead, the better that they can anticipate them and avoid them,” Aun told News 3.
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The technology is built into any 2018 or newer Jeep, Dodge, Ram or Chrysler vehicle. However, Aun, says they are looking to expand it to more car manufacturers. They recently had a meeting with Volkswagen about it.
“That’s really the vision and purpose of what we’re doing here at HAAS Alert... To get these alerts to as many drivers as possible directly in their vehicle," said Aun.
Even though AAA Tidewater has this technology in their fleets and for drivers who call for assistance, others, like the Virginia Beach Fire Department, don’t have it yet. That's something Chief Pravetz says he'd like to change.
“We’re having conversations about it. Certainly, we’re looking for grant opportunities and partners with the fleet and traffic engineering folks about what options are possible,” he said.
But when it comes to those firetrucks and police cars, Aun says HAAS Alert is included as a standard safety feature for new emergency vehicles.
