Epic Driving School
Key Stats
Centralised oversight of driving sessions in 80 locations
Instructors can remotely monitor multiple students at a time from a single dashboard
Rolled out across 80+ simulator sites in ~3 months (with expansion ongoing)
Background
As one of Finland’s largest driving school chains, Epic Driving School operates across more than 113 locations, delivering personalised instruction to thousands of students each year. The organisation has built its reputation on providing high-quality instruction, while simultaneously being at the helm of technological innovation.
When the Finnish government approved the use of driving simulators, Epic was an early adopter. By integrating simulators into its curriculum, the school created a controlled, weather-independent environment where students could build confidence behind the wheel before driving on the open roads. Students can book simulator sessions via a mobile app — often at short notice — so Epic needed a way to maintain consistent oversight without having an instructor physically present at every simulator at all times.
When Petteri Pulkkinen joined the organisation as the Head of Digital and IT in 2023, his mission was to improve the school’s technical infrastructure. To keep tuition costs accessible, the Epic team sought a way for instructors to monitor multiple simulator sessions remotely, ensuring high-quality mentorship without requiring a 1:1 physical presence in every booth. This setup, however, required a remote monitoring solution that would allow instructors to keep tabs on the simulator lessons without being in the car with students.
Challenges
Moving towards remote instruction was a logical step, but Epic’s initial technical approach quickly hit a ceiling. The team’s original screen-monitoring setup only allowed instructors to view the simulator from the driver’s perspective.
While the initial monitoring setup provided a baseline for remote oversight, it required instructors to rely heavily on verbal communication to understand the student's environment. Without a wide-angle view of the simulator cabin, tutors often had to spend extra time on the phone to gather the necessary context before they could offer guidance. For Petteri, this highlighted an opportunity to seek a solution with higher visual clarity and a more comprehensive field of view.
Solutions
To eliminate the blind spots hindering their remote instruction model, Petteri looked to a more strategic hardware placement: high-definition cameras positioned directly behind the driver’s seat of each simulator. While Epic already used a separate provider for building security, Petteri sought a more reliable, high-resolution solution for this instructional use case.
His primary requirement was a truly cloud-based architecture. As Petteri explains:
“Our main aim was to have the solution working in the cloud so we wouldn't have to put any internal networks into play and find data centers to place the hardware.”
That search for a streamlined, scalable approach led Petteri to Verkada. Today, Epic has standardised on Verkada cameras across its entire fleet of car simulators, creating a unified layer of remote oversight.
Video Oversight
By mounting Verkada cameras behind the driver’s seat, instructors finally gained the 360-degree context they had been missing. Rather than guessing a student’s progress through a narrow screen-share, tutors can now observe both the student’s physical inputs and what’s happening in the simulator at the same time — making it easier to spot where a student is struggling and provide guidance quickly.
Centralised, Cloud-Based Software
With Verkada Command, Epic can manage and view sessions through a single, web-based platform. From one dashboard, an instructor can oversee multiple sessions across different locations simultaneously — helping Epic scale training while maintaining consistent, high-quality support.
The Benefits
The transition to Verkada was remarkably swift; within just a few months, Petteri and his team had outfitted simulators across their entire national network. The "plug-and-play" nature of the hardware allowed for a rapid rollout without the typical headaches of complex network configurations.
Since deploying the solution, Epic has seen several operational advantages:
Proactive Instruction with High-Quality Video
High-definition video has fundamentally changed the dynamic between student and instructor. With clear visibility into the simulator cabin, instructors can intervene in real time — providing fluid coaching the moment they spot a struggle, rather than troubleshooting after frustration sets in.
As Petteri explains: “We actually use the grid views in Verkada Command. An instructor might have a number of cameras and they are checking all the screens… they can jump into a screen and see, ‘What is this customer doing here? They seem to be stuck.’ They can zoom into the monitor and see that something doesn’t look right, and then contact the customer and tell them what to do.”
This creates a more supportive learning environment for the student and a more effective workflow for the instructor.
Streamlined Investigations
Previously, Epic had no simple way to review past sessions. With Verkada Command, Petteri’s team can quickly retrieve historical footage to resolve occasional edge cases—such as verifying whether a headset was taken by mistake or locating a personal item left behind. Being able to find footage in minutes has added a new level of operational clarity.
Hybrid-Cloud Efficiency at Scale
While a cloud-first approach was non-negotiable, Petteri was initially wary of the bandwidth demands inherent in supporting 80 locations. Verkada’s hybrid-cloud architecture solved this bottleneck. By utilising a low-bandwidth steady state of approximately 20-50 kbps per camera, Petteri can maintain high-quality oversight across every simulator in the fleet without the prohibitive costs or network strain typically associated with traditional cloud video.
Looking Ahead
Following the success of its simulator deployment, Petteri and his team are now evaluating how Verkada could support Epic’s broader physical security strategy. The ease of managing training oversight through a single platform has prompted a shift towards consolidating site security under one system.
By moving away from siloed providers, Epic aims to gain a "single pane of glass" view into every one of its 113 locations. For Petteri, the impact is ultimately about the student experience. Reflecting on Epic’s digital transformation, he concludes: “With Verkada, we can have a better view so we can help the customers better.”
With a scalable, cloud-managed foundation now in place, Epic Driving School is well-positioned to continue delivering world-class, tech-forward driver education across Finland.