Driver Monitoring Technology: The next big safety enhancement for the connected family

As our daily lives continue to return to some sort of normalcy, parents with kids must adjust to the hectic pace that comes with back-to-school and extracurricular activities.  From teen’s reaching new milestones, such as getting a driver’s license, to parents returning into the office – and dreading the commute – families are spending more time apart. Yet, parents still bear the primary responsibility of having to be ever-present for their families even as schedules begin to fill up and curfews are extended. 

What Causes Parental Stress? 

In a 2019 study, psychologists indicated that parenting stress stemmed from the anxiety caused by not having the resources to meet the demands being placed on them. One specific example of this dynamic includes ensuring the safety and wellbeing of their teen drivers while behind the wheel. For instance, Smith Micro’s 2021 Distracted Driving survey demonstrated that more than 3 in 5 parents felt uncomfortable when their teen drove without adult supervision.

If, simply put, the limited hours in a day and ounces of energy a parent can have are the causes for unhappy and over-stressed parents, then finding ways to provide support in those areas will be critical in helping them have peace of mind over their concerns. In today’s always-on, connected age, technology, such as family safety mobile apps can benefit parents and families with busy lifestyles.

Here are few scenarios in which Smith Micro’s family safety platform, SafePath®, helps to address common parental stress points:

Challenge (Peace of Mind): “As a parent of a teen driver, I am concerned that my teen will text and drive when I’m not present. Above all, I want to make sure they are safe and not in harm’s way.”

SafePath: We understand the natural concerns that parents have, and our solution delivers on benefits that provide peace of mind and confidence for parents. Parents can feel like they are tagging along for the ride by automatically receiving a comprehensive report on driving details, like risky phone use or aggressive acceleration, after every trip and immediate alerts for any detected collisions.

Challenge (Convenience): “As a parent with too many work emails to sift through and too many after-school activities to keep track of, I need an easy-to-use tool to help me keep tabs on my entire family’s daily routines and lifestyles.”

SafePath: Parents are constantly performing a balancing act between managing their own responsibilities and their family’s lifestyles. The last thing parents want is to purchase another piece of hardware with confusing onboarding instructions. SafePath makes it so that parents can receive all the benefits in one, single app for any family member, any device, any type of connection, anywhere.

Challenge (Positive Engagement / Parenting): “As a parent who values the relationship I have with my child, I want to be sensitive to their needs as well as be effective in coaching them on developing good habits. I want them to feel like they play an important role in their own growth.”

SafePath: Children (especially older teens) can carry significant,  responsibility in their own growth and safety. SafePath’s family safety and digital wellness solution is designed to be inclusive of the child’s input and engagement, the opposite of punitive, rule-enforcing predecessors. SafePath uses data to serve as an objective common ground for parents and their teens to base their discussions around building better driving habits. Parents and teens can feel engaged in seeing their driving habits improve over time with a weekly driver score. A driver score comprised of different driving behaviors over a weekly time period can motivate teens to reach a higher score and allow parents to give rewards based on improvement. 

How Consumer-facing Brands Can Provide Value

While it has been made clear how using technology can serve to benefit the busy lifestyles of parents and their families, the question of who would be best suited to deliver such an experience is left unanswered. Brands that directly serve families have a unique opportunity to leverage a partnership with Smith Micro in creating new value for their customers and, in turn, for their own business by delivering a delightful experience to their customers. If your business deals directly with building products or offering services for families, then your business stands to benefit from the following:

• Brand advocacy. Offer your customers added–value in family safety and digital wellness to establish your brand as the trusted advocate.

• ARPU. Add new revenue streams on top of existing ones and beat your competition by bolstering your existing value proposition with a family safety and digital wellness pillars.  

• Connect with customers. Understand your customers’ behaviors – what their needs are, where to find them, and how to speak to them with in-product and partner-led insights and analytics.

• Lifetime value. Improve the lifetime value of your customers by delivering an experience that is both engaging and delightful to use. Your customers will appreciate the real value your business has provided for their families and will continue to use your products and services.

Smith Micro’s SafePath Connected Lifestyle Platform is a modular, white-label platform that can be customized to match your brand. Contact us today for a personalized demo.