Scania has introduced a new monitoring system designed to stop drivers falling asleep behind the wheel by alerting their next of kin.
Known as the Scania Angel Call app, the system was developed in a collaboration between Scania Russia and creative agency Geometry Global. It uses the psychology of compassion from relatives to help encourage road safety and in turn save lives.
The Angel Call app is free to download and can be installed on the driver and their relatives’ mobile phones. The service is connected to Scania’s Fleet Management system (FMS) and monitors how alert or fatigued the driver is on the road.
According to head of marketing and business support at Scania Russia, Varvara Astakhova, the concept behind the Angel Call app was to give a more human touch to the FMS – taking it from a mechanical based, automated system and make it more relatable by using the people a driver cares about most to deliver important messages.
“We believe Angel Call is an unusual and very interesting way to promote our Fleet Management System,” Astakhova said.
Using the FMS, the system can also detect if a driver has exceeded their driving time and alerts the nominated ‘angel’ who then calls the driver and convinces them to stop.
“Drivers often perceive FMS as something hostile, used by their employer to control them. So our challenge was to convince them– that Scania and the fleet management system can help to take care of them,” Astakhova added.
The app has already proved itself as a winner with the wives of Russian truckers.
“I wake up in the morning, check the Angel Call app while preparing the kids for daycare, and can leave home with peace of mind,” said one wife.
Another spouse believes the app could have saved her husband’s life.
“Suddenly the app alarm went off. I called him back and said: ‘You stop and rest now!’” she said.
The Angel Call app was also shortlisted for an award in the 2016 Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity.
