HAAS Alert is a small business with a big mission. We’ve set out on a journey to reshape global road safety through cutting-edge, lifesaving mobility solutions. The driving force behind this mission is our flagship solution, Safety Cloud® digital alerting. HAAS Alert's advanced warning system reduces the risk of collision by delivering real-time electronic notifications to nearby and approaching vehicles.

Safety Cloud is an intelligent platform that uses logic to disseminate roadway safety data between stakeholders and users. It opens the door to a wide array of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) use cases and applications, making it the leading platform in connected vehicle safety. 

What is connected vehicle safety?

Connected vehicle safety refers to equipment, applications, or systems that address mobility and safety on the road. The purpose of this technology is to get everyone home safely at the end of the day. 

A vehicle that is connected to the internet is referred to as a connected vehicle. These cars connect through mobile data networks  or with more advanced hardware and methods like 5.9 GHz radios that can communicate directly with other assets without using a network (similar to Bluetooth). 

Once connected, they transmit that information to devices in or outside of the car. Drivers of connected cars can stream music and receive text messages on their vehicle's infotainment centers through a connected to a mobile data network. It also enables compatible vehicles to receive emergency notifications, such as Safety Cloud alerts. This connection is enabled through vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication.

What is V2X?

V2X describes the ability for a vehicle to communicate with the world around it. This technology lets vehicles send and receive data with things on the road that they encounter. Cars connected through V2X technology become part of an interactive network that includes other vehicles (V2V), infrastructure (V2I), pedestrians (V2P), and other network connections (V2N). 

V2X technology provides connected vehicles and assets with real-time information that can unlock completely new capabilities, functions, and solutions for drivers, pedestrians, responders, and everyone else that shares the road.

V2X capabilities are not reliant or attached to any particular type of technology, communication method, or data type. Most vehicles today come with some form of connectivity — that means they come standard with at least some level of V2X communication.

Why does V2X matter? 

Traffic deaths are on the rise. Drivers on the road are more distracted than ever and cars have become increasingly soundproof. Some vehicles boast sound-deadening underbody shields or installing active noise-cancellation solutions, making it difficult to hear emergency vehicles' sirens. 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) further predicts that V2X will drastically enhance safety measures, as it can potentially reduce crashes by 615,000 a year. This is possible because V2X technology helps cars keep a continuous tab on the surrounding environment. It alerts drivers in real-time to potential hazards, traffic conditions, and other hazards they might not notice until the last second.

V2X technology can significantly improve traffic efficiency and shape the future of automated driving systems. Vehicles will be able to interpret the road situation ahead of them in real-time and automatically adjust their movement to reduce roadway congestion. But most importantly, it's lifesaving technology. Emergency service vehicles and responders can currently leverage this technology to alert other road users of their presence and urgency. This gives drivers time to move over safely and promptly, which prevents accidents and ensures faster response times for emergencies.

What is Safety Cloud?

HAAS Alert is driving connected vehicle safety and V2X forward through Safety Cloud digital alerting. For decades, emergency vehicles, work zone equipment, school buses, and other specialty vehicles have relied on lightbars, sirens, arrow boards, and other analog alerting tools to warn drivers of their presence so that they can slow down and move over. A V2X platform like Safety Cloud enables those specialty vehicles to enhance their traditional alerting tools.

Safety Cloud is the leader in connected vehicle safety

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Safety Cloud is a digital alert system that reduces the risk of collision by delivering real-time electronic notifications to nearby and approaching vehicles. These alerts notify drivers of a nearby emergency responder, work zone, or other hazard. Safety Cloud alerts send messages to prompt drivers to slow down and move over.

Drivers get these messages up to 30 seconds before coming into contact with a hazard in the road. These crucial moments allow drivers more time to take appropriate action.

What is a digital alert system? 

A digital alert system is an electronic notification sent directly to a driver. HAAS Alert leverages this technology, which is a form of vehicle-to-everything communication, to enable emergency and road maintenance vehicles to broadcast digital alerts to keep all roadway users safe. These notifications inform drivers that there is a nearby or upcoming roadway hazard and they need to slow down and move over.

Digital alerting technology was created to help support Slow Down, Move Over laws. The first Move Over law was enacted in South Carolina in 1996 after a paramedic was struck by a passing vehicle and was found to be at fault. Dangerous situations like that have led to every state implementing some form of Move Over laws between 2001 - 2012. These laws require drivers to slow down and move over to give emergency personnel and roadside workers safe clearance to do their jobs.

States are continuously expanding and iterating on Move Over laws to make them better. These expansions can include increased fines and harsher penalties, more efforts in community education, and broader definitions for the vehicles and incidents that drivers should Slow Down and Move Over for.

Move Over laws are crucial for ensuring the safety of emergency responders, tow truck operators, highway workers, and other motorists. They provide motorists with audible and visual warnings that can help them avoid collisions and safely follow their state’s Move Over laws. Innovative technology like Safety Cloud digital alerting offers automakers and policy makers new tools for making roads safer and smarter. 

For example, HAAS Alert partnered with Stellantis in 2023 to have Safety Cloud digital alerts come standard in Stellantis' Emergency Vehicle Alert System (EVAS), which is part of its Uconnect connected vehicle platform. Mamatha Chamarthi, former Stellantis Head of Global Software Business Management, says this technology sets the stage for future vehicle innovations to create a foundation for safety that should come in all vehicles. 

Responder-to-Vehicle and Responder-to-Responder alerting improve collision avoidance

Responding on the side of the road is one of the more harrowing aspects of a first responder's job. Advanced warning systems like Safety Cloud digital alerting gives emergency personnel and roadside workers an extra level of protection on the job. Various studies have shown that grabbing drivers' attention earlier has lifesaving results.

In 2013, the University of Minnesota conducted a study to test the effectiveness of digital alerting. Results found that when a driver receives advanced warning of an emergency vehicle, there is a 90 percent reduction in the likelihood of collision between those two vehicles. 

Similarly, Purdue University published a study in 2021 to measure the impact of digital alerting-equipped queue warning trucks on hard-braking events. The goal of the study was to learn if warning drivers of work zones earlier with digital alerting could help reduce hard braking events on highways. 

Researchers used 19 queue trucks equipped with Safety Cloud digital alerts. After 12 weeks of research and 370 hours worth of observation of queues, the study found that queue trucks with digital alerting decreased hard braking events by 80 percent. 

These powerful statistics are powered by Safety Cloud’s two alerting services — Responder-to-Vehicle (R2V™) and Responder-to-Responder (R2R®).

R2V alerts are electronic notifications sent from emergency or roadside personnel vehicles straight to a civilian motorist. These alerts protect any public safety, utility, maintenance, towing, and municipal government crew. R2R alerts notify emergency responders when other Safety Cloud-equipped emergency vehicles are in active response mode and approaching the same intersection.

Real first responders and roadside workers have seen the results of R2V and R2R digital alerts. In 2022, the Canadian Automobile Association Club Group (CCG) launched its organization-wide program Endeavour to innovate on ways to better protect Members and the greater community.

The team eventually came across HAAS Alert and realized Safety Cloud was exactly what it needed. Since implementation, CCG has been able to protect contractors, fleet drivers, and service providers along Canada’s largest highway while servicing an estimated 75,000 breakdowns.

Additionally, CCG conducted its own study through DIG Insights of 1,516 licensed Ontario drivers to assess how effective digital alerting is at getting drivers to slow down and move over when approaching a breakdown or collision. CCG found that 13 percent of those motorists saw Safety Cloud digital alerts, with 97 percent of them slowing down and moving over as a result

How to get equipped with Safety Cloud

R2R alerting is an add-on to existing Safety Cloud service. That means you need to activate R2V alerting first. Your fleet can activate R2V alerting in one of the three following ways:

• Preinstalled and prepaid on new apparatus: Safety Cloud comes preinstalled and prepaid on select vehicles and apparatus. Your vehicle will come standard with digital alerting capabilities with this option.
• HA-7 transponder: The HAAS Alert HA-7 transponder is a piece of hardware that can be installed on any alerting vehicle and connects directly to your vehicle and synchronizes with your warning lights. 
• HA-D integration: Safety Cloud also integrates with leading fleet management and telematics solutions. If your team already uses a HAAS Alert integration partner's tool, you'll be able to alert through that platform. 

Civilian drivers currently receive these alerts in one of two ways:

Navigation apps

Those who use leading navigation apps, such as Waze, receive both moving and stationary alerts from Safety Cloud. When an emergency vehicle is in the area, the map will display a hazard icon. It notifies drivers what that hazard is and where it is located. 

In-vehicle infotainment centers

Drivers of compatible 2024 Volkswagen vehicles will recieve Safety Cloud digital alerts. Those who drive 2018 and newer Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram vehicles receive Safety Cloud alerts through Stellantis’ in-vehicle Emergency Vehicle Alert System. Drivers will hear two dings and then a message with the appropriate hazard message will appear on their infotainment center's screen.

Activating R2R service 

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If you're a public safety fleet with R2V service activated, you can purchase R2R alerting as an add-on to your existing Safety Cloud service. HAAS Alert will supply you with LED indicators to mount to the pillars or dash of your apparatus. After those are installed, you'll automatically start sending and receiving R2R alerts as soon as your emergency lights are activated and you're en-route.

You’ll receive R2R alerts through your LED indicator. When you're approaching the same intersection or turn as another Safety Cloud-equipped apparatus, your LED indicator will start flashing. This will give you 10-15 seconds to take the appropriate action to avoid a potential collision at the intersection. If you are responding in tandem with another unit, the system will recognize that. You will not receive alerts in that situation.

See HAAS Alert in action with the Safety Cloud guide

The vision behind HAAS Alert is a connected, collision-free world where everyone gets home safely. Safety Cloud digital alerting is the driving force behind that vision.

Drivers on the road are more distracted than ever, with the cars they drive sometimes being the very cause for distraction. It's led to a rise in traffic deaths. Responding on the road is already one of the most dangerous parts of a first responder or roadway worker's job.

The people who keep our roads and communities safe deserve better protection. When people in those positions are injured on the job, the entire community suffers. Safety Cloud digital alerts are the answer to keep everyone safer on the road. 

Get your copy of the Safety Cloud Guide to learn what digital alerting can do for your fleet. It includes everything you need to know about the industry-leading digital alerting solution for emergency responders and roadside workers. Learn about our integration partners, explore features, and hear stories from real-life Safety Cloud customers.