Regional Transportation Agencies Deploy Innovative Tech to Improve Operations, Employee Retention and Recruitment
January 22, 2024
Originally posted on transitinnovation.org
After Successful Proofs of Concept, 13 Companies Selected to Scale Pilots with MTA, Port Authority and NJ TRANSIT
Today, the Transit Tech Lab—a public-private initiative created by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Partnership for New York City to bring private sector innovation to New York’s public transit system—announced 13 winners of last year’s annual accelerator-style competition, which was focused on Human Capital and Operational Efficiency. The winning companies have each completed successful eight-week proof-of-concept collaborations with participating agencies and will now move on to deploy their technologies through larger-scale pilot programs—a crucial step to help agencies understand the viability and scalability of new technology solutions.
The participating transit agencies, which include the MTA, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), and NJ TRANSIT, aim to leverage emerging technologies, including LiDAR, artificial intelligence, and IoT to mitigate service disruptions, automate operations, and combat workforce shortages.
The Operational Efficiency and Human Capital Challenges were announced in January 2023 and solicited nearly 150 applicants from across the world. Select companies then completed proofs of concept with the partner agencies. The 13 pilot winners, which were evaluated and selected by a team of transit and human capital experts, include:
Operational Efficiency Challenge Pilot Winners:
ACCURE Battery Intelligence (USA and Germany) – Provides a predictive battery analytics platform that uses AI and machine learning to improve safety, enhance performance, and extend the life of energy storage and Electric Vehicle (EV) assets.
Partner Agency: New York City Transit
Digital Mortar (San Rafael, CA) – Utilizes passenger flow sensors to provide real-time customer journey analytics for queue management, dynamic labor allocation, lost revenue analysis, and space planning and commercial real-estate optimization.
Partner Agency: NJ TRANSIT
Humatics (Waltham, MA) – Enables revenue service rolling stock to provide near real-time monitoring of track conditions with precise positioning of track anomalies for improved maintenance operations.
Partner Agency: NJ TRANSIT
Lux Modus (Calgary, Canada) – Uses LiDAR and imagery fusion technology to automate 3D mapping to optimize asset management on critical transit infrastructure.
Partner Agencies: NJ TRANSIT, New York City Transit, Metro North Railroad & Long Island Railroad
Signapse AI (Guildford, United Kingdom) – Utilizes AI to automatically translate written text to sign language enabling scalable, faster and more cost-effective accessible content for the Deaf community.
Partner Agency: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Swiftly Inc. (San Francisco, CA) – Provides the industry’s leading transit data platform for agencies to share real-time passenger information, manage day-to-day operations, and improve service performance.
Partner Agency: New York City Transit
TekTracking (Fairport, NY) – Offers a set of mobile applications designed to streamline the reporting process for track inspection and signal testing. TekTracking serves as a link between conventional Enterprise Asset Management Systems and specialized fields such as Track and Signal. The user-friendly Mobile Applications are crafted with the end user in mind, ensuring effortless capture of crucial information and seamless report generation.
Partner Agency: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Throughput Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) – Provides a rapid supply chain diagnostics software that enables immediate operational intervention, eliminating maintenance downtime caused by supply chain delays and unavailability of parts.
Partner Agencies: Metro North Railroad, Long Island Railroad
Widesense (Berkeley, CA) – Provides full lifecycle fleet electrification software and services. WideSense’s AI-powered toolchain optimizes fleet operators’ performance from planning to dispatch to operations and maintenance. It reduces infrastructure costs, increases vehicle utilization and service reliability, and enables EV fleet operations that are more cost-competitive than diesel fleets.
Partner Agency: NJ TRANSIT
Wi-Tronix (Bolingbrook, IL) – An immersive, real-time IoT platform that is essential for railroads and transit systems to continuously improve operations, safety practices, and service reliability; Wi-Tronix collects insights from onboard systems and enables remote visibility for customers to make decisions and respond to issues quickly and efficiently.
Partner Agencies: Metro-North Railroad, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Winners selected through the Transit Tech Lab are eligible for competitive funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which provides support for projects that demonstrate innovative transit-focused solutions that align with New York State’s clean transportation goals.
Read the full article on Transit Innovation.