Sotereon.AI and Brightline have announced a partnership to bring LiDAR technology to rail.
The first agreement of its kind; the partnership will see sensors mounted to two Brightline locomotives, with Sotereon.AI planning to utilise its proprietary Overwatch perception platform to offer a real-time location maintenance product of the Brightline corridor.
LiDAR (short for Light Detection And Ranging) uses laser pulses in order to map a spatial image of an area or objects, and is frequently used in autonomous vehicles, aviation and monitoring traffic patterns.
Michael Lefevre, VP of Operations at Brightline, said:This technology has the potential to transform the way railroads monitor and inspect their corridors.
Applying this cutting-edge technology to the rail environment has not been done before. This is a perfect demonstration of two innovative companies looking at the way the rest of the industry does something and aspiring to more.
The collaboration aims to improve the overall rail inspection and maintenance process by creating a real-time digital replica of the Brightline corridor, which will then be used to assess the possibilities of using high-definition sensors on a vehicle travelling up to 125 mph.
Greg Moya, Chief Operating Officer of Soterion.AI, said:Brightline’s commitment to innovation aligns seamlessly with our mission at Soterion.AI.
By listening to our customers and applying transformative AI to rail infrastructure, we are jointly pioneering LiDAR perception analytics in a way that’s never been done before — establishing a new standard for intelligent corridor monitoring.
