After close to a year of testing, new public safety technology will soon roll out across Detroit, giving first responders an extra tool to help the community.

In a partnership with HAAS Alert Safety Cloud, every Detroit Fire Department vehicle, along with some police cars, now have the added tool, which notifies drivers of emergency vehicles that may be approaching nearby. This comes after a 10-month pilot program that shared more than 100,000 alerts to drivers who came across a Detroit Fire Department crew headed to an emergency.

"The implementation of this technology shows not only that we value again the lives and safety of our residents, but our first responders," said Detroit Deputy Mayor Melia Howard.

"We got over 17,000 hits with an opportunity where citizens were alerted, and it was an opportunity for them to actually know in advance when there was a police stop in action," said Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison.

Detroit Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms says the technology will transform the way teams can better serve the city.

"We noticed that in accidents, it happened because there was a blind spot or they didn't see us, and so this would hopefully prevent those accidents from happening," said Simms. "We respond to emergencies, and we take care of citizens there, but even in route to those emergencies, that's a very important time too."

Another added feature is that the new safety service can also send messages to drivers who use Waze, Apple Maps, or drive certain Stellantis or Volkswagen models, so people may start to see those notifications on their next drives.  

The success of the pilot program pushed the Detroit City Council to approve a $1.5 million funding contract for the service for the next three years.

"This is just another way for us to feel better about having our first responders out and about and going out and taking care of the issues that we need," said City Councilman Scott Benson.