Rail Vision secures first deal for AI-based obstacle detection systems
Technology company Rail Vision on Thursday announced a deal with Israel Railways for the supply of 10 Rail Vision Main Line Systems, an artificial intelligence-based technology for the detection and identification of objects and obstacles in the railway environment. The contract includes related services and carries a value of 1.4 million dollar.
Rail Vision’s technology has a visual range of up to 2 kilometres. Thanks to deep learning technology, the Rail Vision Main Line System can quickly distinguish between humans, animals, vehicles, signals and other infrastructure components. The system uses real-time visual and acoustic alerts for the train’s command-and-control center to avoid collisions. The image processing capabilities of the system also allow for image-based navigation, predictive maintenance and GIS mapping.
For Rail Vision, the contract with Israel Railways, which operates a network of 1,138 kilometres, means the transition from pilot programmes to commercial contracts and operations.
“After more than a year of evaluating a variety of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), Israel Railways chose Rail Vision’s Main Line System as the solution for its fleet, marking the first major commercial deployment of AI-based vision technology for main line rail industry operations,” Rail Vision CEO Shahar Hania said about Thursday’s contract award.
Rail Vision has several mainline and switch yard pilot projects ongoing across the globe. One-such project is a long-term pilot with mining group Rio Tinto in Australia. Brake systems major Knorr-Bremse is a major backer of Rail Vision, having invested 24 million dollar in the company since its inception.
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