With these large amounts of data, it’s also important that school districts and vehicle contractors are equipped to effectively use and analyze the data, which could increasingly incorporate the application of AI. Different facets of data and information security were discussed at the 2024 STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada, in July. During these sessions, speakers and vendors discussed how increased technology offer- ings also require due diligence in protecting the data that is run through and stored in a given solution. In one of the STN EXPO West sessions, representatives from Geotab and
Tyler Technologies led a discussion titled “What Do I Do with All of this Data? Using Artificial Intelligence and Business Intelligence tools in Student Trans- portation.” Craig Berndt, the segment manager for student transportation at Geotab, noted that he is expecting AI to be a rising trend. “Machine learning is like teaching your dog to fetch, except your dog is a
computer and fetching is recognizing patterns in data,” he explained. Some of the applications using AI to track data discussed in the sessions
included risk management, predictive maintenance, driver training, track- ing student attendance, and continuous learning that can assist in effective routing planning. Berndt noted that historically there has been much conjecture surround- ing AI, and a lot of that is hyperbolic. Geotab displayed its new AI assistant software Geotab Ace at the STN EXPO West Trade Show. Berndt added that Geotab protects transportation data by keeping it on a private, secure server. He explained it’s important to know how your data tools work and exactly where the data is landing. “No one here would put your student data into ChatGPT. Our goal with generative AI is to get away from the staff having to analyze reporting. Would you like to be told what trends are from a reliable source or have to go through the data yourself?” he noted.
Island Time Mark Lindstrom, general manager of transportation consultant Transpar’s
Hawaii contract, spoke to School Transportation News about the Crowd- strike incident, which affected the software the contractor uses for the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE). He said that the Hawaii DOE has a dedicated IT team that protects Transpar’s data in conjunction with the Student Transportation of America IT team in New Jersey to secure internal DOE software, Transfinder software and department emails. “The key is to keep up with any advice your IT departments provide. Our
two IT teams aren’t just reactive, but they push out advice about being aware of any new scams that are working through the internet,” Lindstrom commented. “We can sometimes believe that we won’t be fooled but con- sidering the number of folks that are including professionals that deal with those issues on a daily basis, [but] it’s important to not let down our guard. While we have many irons in the fire, the scammers have only one goal, to beat us at their game. Forewarned is forearmed. We just need to be careful all the time.”
YOUR KEEP
COOL
OUR RADIATORS LET YOU
Don’t get steamed trying to track down replacement radiators. Auto-jet, the #1 choice for school bus exhaust systems, also carries a wide range of radiators for Blue Bird, Freightliner, Navistar, Thomas and more. Let us help you get exactly what you need.
auto-jet.com 800-247-5391
www.stnonline.com 21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
