Why fleet safety’s next leap is data, not hardware

For decades, fleet safety has been defined by physical protections such as seatbelts, airbags, cameras, and crash avoidance systems. Today, that definition is changing.

As fleets generate more fleet data than ever before, safety is increasingly shaped by what leaders know before something goes wrong, not just how vehicles respond after.

“The next frontier of our safety journey in mobility is giving you knowledge,” said Dominique Kwong, founder and CEO of Damon. “It’s giving you information so that you don’t have to rush.”

This shift from reactive protection to proactive prevention is redefining how fleets think about risk, decision-making, and accountability. In a recent conversation on The Fleet, Dominique outlined a vision of safety, efficiency, and last-mile delivery that challenges many long-held assumptions.

Here are three things fleet leaders may not be thinking about yet, but probably should be.

1. Why contextual fleet data drives the biggest safety gains

Modern fleet data, from routing and scheduling to traffic patterns and timing, creates the context leaders need to reduce risk before unsafe behavior begins.

“There’s so much fleet data that we generate every single day just by doing our normal thing,” he says. “What does it all mean? How can we take this context and generate insights and information that lead to valuable actions?”

His example is deceptively simple: commuting when pressed for time. When traffic unexpectedly slows, drivers often compensate by rushing, introducing risk. But contextual intelligence can intervene earlier.

“What if it’s monitoring traffic an hour ahead of time,” Dominique explains, “and it has the opportunity to alert you that you need to leave 15 minutes early because you will not make your meeting.”

For fleets, this reframes safety entirely. Reducing incidents may be less about monitoring drivers in the moment and more about changing the conditions that lead to unsafe decisions in the first place. This could include factors such as scheduling, routing, and expectation-setting.

2. How shared fleet data and contextual intelligence reduce risk

Today’s connected fleets are rich in vehicle data, but fleet safety outcomes improve most when fleet data is shared, aggregated, and analyzed in context, not when it lives in silos.

“It’s not good enough just to have local fleet data,” he says. “We need to have contextual data. We need to have data from others.”

This is less about sharing personal information and more about understanding patterns. How do certain vehicles behave in high winds? Which routes consistently increase fatigue? How do seasonal conditions affect steering input, braking, or vehicle wear?

“We can plot, not only where, but when. Is it consistent?” Dominique notes, describing how aggregated usage data reveals risks that individual vehicles can’t surface on their own.

For fleet leaders, this unlocks smarter decisions across vehicle selection, route planning, maintenance cycles, and operator support. The question is no longer just what data we collect, but how well we contextualize it.

3. How last-mile delivery models are reshaping fleet safety

Perhaps the most disruptive insight comes from Dominique’s firsthand experience in Asia, where last-mile delivery has already evolved beyond the North American model.

“I don’t have to envision it,” he says. “I’ve actually seen it.”

Instead of one truck carrying hundreds of packages, fleets deploy many smaller vehicles like scooters, e-bikes, and other forms of personal mobility that can serve dense areas faster and more flexibly. As last-mile delivery evolves closer to home, fleet safety and fleet data become even more critical when managing many smaller vehicles instead of one large truck.

“What you’re seeing in the future,” Dominique explains, “is that quality of service will be maintained, but the speed of service will go up.”

This model isn’t limited to consumer convenience. Dominique points to critical use cases like medical deliveries, where time certainty matters more than capacity.

For fleet leaders, the implication is clear: last-mile strategy is becoming a question of orchestration, not just electrification.

What fleet leaders should take away

Dominique’s perspective challenges fleets to rethink fleet safety by shifting focus from hardware alone to fleet data, context, and shared intelligence that shape safer decisions every day.

As he puts it, “We’re trying to take raw data, add context, and then make it useful for your everyday life.”

For organizations preparing for the next era of mobility, that mindset may be the most important safety investment of all.

To find out more about how Element can help your organization mitigate risk, reach out to a fleet professional today.