Lytx's 25th anniversary hints toward the future of trucking

Video telematics giant Lytx is celebrating its 25th anniversary, with company leaders detailing the path that brought the company to work with more than 5,000 fleets today and outlining the core technologies it will continue to focus on moving deeper into the 21st century.

Lytx was founded in 1998, and since introducing its original DriveCam device in 1999—which, according to a company press release, was the first crash recording device for vehicles—the company has 195 patents either granted or pending. Lytx’s machine vision and artificial intelligence technology, introduced in 2015, is used now in 85 countries.

Lytx outlines some if its achievements of the past few years.

“Lytx has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with clients who are innovators and disruptors in their own sectors,” said Brandon Nixon, chairman and CEO of Lytx. “Our clients care deeply about their workers, their customers, and their communities. Together, we’re proud to have been part of a 25-year movement to make the world a safer, better place with technologies that protect and connect organizations and their workers. We’re looking forward to the next 25 years of collaborating with our clients to develop breakthrough solutions that drive greater performance and operational efficiencies.”

Lytx is investing in the next 25 years with the Lytx Vision Platform, according to the release. The Lytx Vision Platform provides OEM partners and clients the ability to leverage Lytx’s expertise in video, big data, and AI to build custom solutions. The technology is designed to be scalable and configurable, with a customizable user interface to hasten Lytx integration into clients’ existing technology platforms, allowing clients to create their own custom solutions.

Lytx’s senior VP of indirect business, Adam McCarty, characterized Surfsight, the company’s aftermarket camera, as key to the company’s strategy moving forward.

“Through Surfsight, we expanded our reach to give strategic global partners access to the same MV+AI technology that fuels our DriveCam camera business,” McCarty said. “Now, companies all over the world can easily transition to video-connected fleets on a powerful platform that is scalable and configurable for any vehicle class. We’re excited to see our Surfsight solutions accelerating at an incredibly rapid pace, and we project more record growth ahead as we continue to help domestic and international industry leaders transform their operations.”

The company highlighted its achievements in the past 25 years, tracing the path from its inception to hint, based on the amount of change it has seen in the past quarter century, on the amount of progress clients might see through 2050.

2001: The DC2 event recorder is released, Lytx’s first scalable product that is mass produced. This is the first ever DriveCam event recorder to offer both in-cab and road-facing views.
2002: Lytx is awarded three patents for its first vehicle data recorder designed to pinpoint unsafe driving.
2008: The company releases pattern recognition software to more accurately identify risky driving actions to aid clients in predicting a fleet’s riskiest drivers.
2009: DriveCam Online service launches with a driver management portal that includes dashboards for hotspot reporting and companywide visibility.
2012: The DC3P, Lytx’s fourth video event recorder, launches with dedicated GPS and the ability to monitor and capture video when a vehicle is exceeding the posted speed limit.
2015: The company expands into its new global headquarters and introduces the ER-SV2, its fifth event recording device and the first to include its machine vision and AI (MV+AI) technology to help drivers and fleet managers correct distracting driving as it occurs.
2020: Lytx announces partnership with Geotab and acquires Surfsight to offer Lytx’s technology and custom solutions to an expanded domestic and global audience.
2022: OEM integration with Daimler Truck North America is announced, bringing Lytx’s video telematics system and camera solution to select Freightliner and Western Star models.
2023: Lytx grows its driving database to 221 billion miles and expands its network of resellers to 105, with a global footprint spanning 85 countries.

“Innovation is in our DNA,” Chief Technology Officer Rajesh Rudraradhya said. “From the company’s inception, our relentless drive to advance safety and operational efficiency has led us to introduce cutting-edge technologies that have helped propel the industry to where it is today. Now, 25 years later, we remain committed to breaking new ground, exploring the frontiers of technology, and reinventing ourselves based on the needs of our clients and the industry as a whole.”