AI is rapidly changing how work gets done in the physical economy. But with any new technology comes uncertainty. Fear of the unknown, of being replaced, or of losing control. Understanding how AI works, how it’s built, and how it supports your role turns that fear into freedom.

In the Vision 25 session How AI is reshaping the physical economy, Motive’s Director of AI, Gautam Kunapuli, and Senior Sales Engineer, Gregory Ryan, broke down how AI is evolving and how you can put it to work to improve safety, productivity, and profitability in your fleet.

The evolution of AI

AI has evolved across four key stages:

  • Rule-based AI: Follows fixed logic and predefined workflows.
  • Perception AI: Interprets and understands what it sees, hears, and feels.
  • Generative AI: Creates content and communicates what they think and know.
  • Agentic AI: Takes action and adapts toward your goals.

Each stage brings us closer to automating busywork so you can focus on what matters most: protecting drivers and making smarter decisions.

Perception AI: Seeing with context

Computer vision is more than just AI detecting objects. Perception AI adds context. Instead of simply spotting a phone in a driver’s hand, perception AI understands if the driver is briefly glancing or dangerously distracted. That nuance matters.

Combined with Motive’s investment in people and processes, this technology (particularly the AI Dashcam) enables the detection of 15+ safety events with up to 99% accuracy. It helps you act on real risks without getting overwhelmed by false positives or noisy alerts.

Generative AI: Smarter coaching at scale

Once AI can see, the next step is helping you act on what it sees. Motive’s generative AI powers smarter, scalable tools designed to support coaching and improve driver performance.

  • AI Coach automatically delivers personalized coaching videos with a customizable avatar, highlighting positive behavior, key risk events, and ways to improve. This saves your team time while keeping feedback timely and consistent.
  • AI-powered Fatigue Index detects early signs of driver fatigue by analyzing more than 10 micro-behaviors. We use generative AI to create tens of thousands of realistic scenarios to train the AI model, helping you detect fatigue earlier and accurately.
  • AI-powered Analytics uses natural language processing to answer complex questions across safety, finance, and operations. Instead of digging through dashboards, simply ask, “Why was this driver flagged three times last week?” and get a clear, summarized response.

While generative AI is powerful, it can occasionally produce inaccurate outputs. That’s why Motive includes a human in the loop, like the Motive Safety team, to validate and verify results before they reach you.

Agentic AI: From insight to action

Agentic AI is the next frontier. It doesn’t just respond — it takes initiative. Think of it as a digital teammate. One that can:

  • Schedule coaching sessions
  • Follow up if sessions don’t happen
  • Escalate issues to a manager when necessary
  • Adapt based on real-time input and context

You define the goal. AI handles the workflow.

Built for the real world

AI isn’t here to replace people. It’s here to extend your capabilities, help you act faster, and prevent more incidents.

Want to go deeper? Contact us for a demo today. Or check out the Motive’s Guide to AI in Fleet Management to see how leading fleets are putting AI to work.