Imagine if safety measures in road work zones focused less on drivers and more on workers—empowering them to avoid accidents with the help of real-time tools and active controls. That vision is at the heart of RoadDefender, a smart safety solution from SmartCone and Samsung that gives roadside workers real-time awareness and the extra seconds they might need to steer clear of danger.
Each day, roadside construction workers face life-threatening risks from unpredictable driving. The statistics paint a grim picture: in 2023 alone, 900 road workers were killed and over 40,000 suffered injuries in traffic-related accidents.
When one traffic accident killed a construction worker for Ranger, a large construction company in Florida, Ranger began to seek out non-traditional, tech-powered road safety measures. At the same time, the state’s Department of Transportation (DOT) issued an open challenge to find a solution to safeguard its most valuable asset: people.
For SmartCone and Samsung—two innovators already collaborating across various initiatives—this challenge marked a new step in their shared mission to bring intelligence to the edge and deliver it directly to the worker, where safety is paramount. They didn’t know it yet, but soon their solution would help Ranger construction workers avoid such accidents.
The Challenge: Outdated safety techniques for road workers
Over the years, the roadside construction industry has made significant strides in safety. Traditional methods such as static signage (think “Men at Work”), increased speeding fines, and reflective vests were instrumental in raising awareness and mitigating risks. While these measures improved outcomes and demonstrated the industry’s commitment to protecting workers, their benefits have plateaued. To meet today’s evolving challenges in complex work zones, a more innovative approach with proactive and intelligent systems is required. That’s where SmartCone stepped in.
SmartCone founder Jason Lee was working as a horse trainer at age 18 when he first learned the ins and outs of the animal’s unique system of threat response. The equine limbic motor system connects emotions such as fear to instantaneous motor responses through direct neural pathways. This explains why horses are unusually attuned to perceived threats, instinctually responding through freezing or fleeing.
Years later, when Lee helped implement U.S. military technology in Afghanistan, he couldn’t shake the feeling that what he learned about horses could introduce a monumental shift in how we use modern technology, a concept he coined as “virtual instinct.”
In 2015, Lee founded SmartCone, a groundbreaking solution for smart safety in work zones. SmartCone deploys IoT technology packed with motion sensors and computing power to create safety systems for work sites, helping workers avoid injuries and fatalities.
“It triggers somebody's limbic system in a way that prepares them to be safe and teaches them how to respond in the seconds that they need to do it in.”
Jason Lee, SmartCone Founder
From theory to practice: RoadDefender for smart work zone safety
Lee brought his innovative solution to Florida DOT’s competition, sensing that it was an ideal opportunity to expand awareness of the “virtual instinct” concept. He was right. After winning the competition, Lee and his team of engineers deployed SmartCone technology to create RoadDefender: a modular, AI-powered solution that mirrors humans’ biological synapses for intuitive, actionable alerts. RoadDefender equips workers with the knowledge and reaction time needed to avoid danger from traffic through advanced technology.
The SmartCone technology—refined over years of development and backed by significant investment in research and engineering—enables RoadDefender to integrate radar, cameras, and edge computing into a robust safety system.
The software captures and evaluates data streams that already exist within work zones—from vehicle movements to environmental cues—to allow workers to perceive dangerous traffic situations and react before they become tragedies. When danger is sensed, workers get alerts through four different modes on their smartwatch, including tactile and optical vibrations, sounds, screen flashing, and strobing. It’s crucial for the workers to train with RoadDefender for at least one month, so reacting to the alerts becomes second-nature.
What sets this solution apart is how it puts the choice to act in workers’ own hands.
“It triggers somebody’s limbic system in a way that prepares them to be safe and teaches them how to respond in the seconds that they need to do it in,” Lee said. “We’re not using it to stop a car. We’re using it to engage their virtual instinct…so people can make decisions on their own.”
SmartCone + Samsung
The software is supported by Samsung wearable hardware for real-time connectivity and actionable alerts.
Samsung has been part of SmartCone’s journey for years, contributing to the evolution of RoadDefender from an idea into a field-ready solution by focusing on one core opportunity: how to deliver immediate life-saving alerts in a way that’s instinctive for workers operating in high-risk environments.
Samsung’s rugged wearable technology is integrated into RoadDefender. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra’s rugged design, along with multi-modal alerts sent directly to the workers’ wrists, reduces response time by up to fourfold compared to traditional safety systems such as signage.
This wearable technology delivers an advanced level of protection through:
- AI-Powered Protection: Real-time threat detection powered by SmartCone’s AI and supported by Samsung’s edge-capable hardware.
- Neuroscience-Informed Design: Alerts designed to be felt, seen, and heard—ensuring warnings are acted on instinctively, not cognitively.
- Proximity Awareness for Heavy Machinery: Detects and responds to dangerous proximity events caused by heavy equipment in work zones, reducing the risk of worker injury.
RoadDefender’s unique architecture also offers three main differentiating points:
- Independent Operation: The system is not reliant on Wireless or LTE data, ensuring uninterrupted functionality even in remote or connectivity-challenged work zones.
- Unmatched Modularity: Its highly modular design allows for rapid adaptation to diverse circumstances, both in terms of hardware integration and software adjustments.
- Collaborative Ecosystem: While proprietary, RoadDefender is built with an open-source philosophy around data intake and management, fostering collaboration with new partners and further enhancing its capabilities—allowing partners like Samsung to meaningfully shape how the system performs in real-world conditions.
“RoadDefender isn't just technology—it's a lifeline for our roadside crews.”
Mark Ligon, Vice President, Safety & Risk Management at Vecellio Management
A new era of safety in motion
This paradigm shift from passive observation to responsive and intelligent intervention marks a new era for roadside worker safety.
“The biggest challenge we faced was unpredictable driver behavior in work zones—vehicles blowing past cones without slowing down,” explained Mark Ligon, Vice President, Safety & Risk Management at Vecellio Management Services. “RoadDefender’s detection and warning technology has virtually eliminated those risks, boosting crew morale and operational efficiency.”
RoadDefender is still in its developmental phases, but early feedback and pilot successes are positive, signaling a profound impact on worker safety protocols and confidence. While currently limited to Ranger’s employees, crews reported feeling significantly safer, with a measurable reduction in near-miss incidents, directly attributable to the intuitive and prompt alert system. Workers reacted promptly to real-time alerts, enhancing on-site safety and bolstering their confidence during operations.
Lee said that RoadDefender is just the beginning, with plans to expand into industrial safety, mining safety and beyond—essentially anything that has to do with virtual instinct.
“We’re not just going after training. We’re also going after performance…automation, mixed traffic, all human interactions with technology. This is why I think we have technology, to help make our lives better and to be more efficient, safe, and happier overall,” Lee said.
The market acceptance of RoadDefender is rapidly expanding. Arrive Alive Traffic Control, a reseller partner, has reported strong growth in Florida and beyond, citing easy deployment, efficient delivery, and outstanding customer feedback regarding the solution’s performance and reliability.
As RoadDefender evolves, it promises significant reductions in incidents and the increased safety and confidence of workers themselves. The progress is made possible by the ongoing collaboration between SmartCone and Samsung—combining intelligent software with rugged, worker-ready hardware to protect lives in motion.
“RoadDefender isn’t just technology—it’s a lifeline for our roadside crews,” Ligon said. “The confidence it instills through timely, accurate warnings has made our job sites safer and more efficient than ever before.”
