Arteris, a leading highway management company responsible for 2,000 miles of road in Brazil and handling approximately 672 million vehicles annually. Arteris leadership recognized the potential in AI and decided to make their vision for the future of intelligent highway management a reality.

To bring this vision to life, Arteris initially approached Microsoft. Recognizing the specialized computer vision and AI expertise needed for such a complex undertaking, Microsoft encouraged a strategic partnership with Programmers Inc.. Microsoft was confident in our ability to tackle this vital challenge and architect a solution on the Databricks platform.

Their vision for the future:

Arteris’s goal was to create a new generation of highway management systems, and have AI at the core of that vision. Some of the features of this new system would be observability of what is going on across their roads, and to make real-time decisions to make the roads better.

The Situation:

Arteris’s existing method of data collection relied on outdated and inefficient sensors which needed to be embedded in the pavement. While providing some information, they were expensive to maintain, offered slow time-to-analytics, and, crucially, the data lacked the necessary accuracy for transformative decision-making.

Our Solution: AI-Powered Computer Vision for Real-Time Insights:

Programmers Inc. embraced the challenge of revolutionizing Arteris’s data gathering capabilities. Our team developed and trained a sophisticated computer vision model leveraging Arteris’s existing camera network. This new system surpassed the legacy sensors by:

• Increase traffic data accuracy while providing data in real-time.
• Identifying a wide range of hazardous situations previously undetectable by sensors, including fires, broken-down vehicles, pedestrians on the roadway, and animals.
• 80% cost savings when at scale
• Less of a burden on operations

A significant problem-solving hurdle was the limited availability of training data for specific scenarios, such as identifying various animal types near roadways. Programmers Inc. demonstrated its innovative approach by employing GenAI to augment the training dataset – for example, by digitally adding images of horses to roadside scenes – thereby significantly improving the model’s accuracy and versatility. This creative solution was key to overcoming a critical data gap.

The “Fast To Value” approach utilized by the Programmers Inc., was vital to the project’s success. Each stage, or sprint, of the project was planned in 90-day cycles, bookended by a rigorous approval process. This iterative approach allowed for continuous review, adaptation to evolving project needs, and incorporation of stakeholder feedback, ensuring the solution remained aligned with Arteris’s goals. Steady release schedules with well-defined features facilitated smooth adoption by end-users, enabling them to realize immediate benefits from each system update, further solidifying their confidence in Programmers Inc.’s delivery.

The newly developed AI system has delivered transformative results:

• Significant Cost Savings: Potential for up to 80% cost savings on vehicle counting and monitoring equipment, as highlighted by Arteris’s CTO.
• Accelerated Analytics: Data processing and analytics are now 3 times faster than the old system.
• Enhanced Data Quality: The system provides more comprehensive data with higher accuracy, leading to better-informed decision-making for road safety interventions.
• Removed data silos

“I would like to thank and congratulate the entire Programmers team for their engagement, collaborative attitude, and partnership, which created a light and fun work environment. I also highlight all the technical competence and the pursuit of new learnings in order to deliver more assertive solutions. Thank you very much, and see you next time!”

The Future: Expanding Impact and Continuous Innovation

While the new AI system is currently active in select areas, a nationwide deployment across Arteris’s network is planned over the next two years, pending further approvals. The Programmers Inc. team continues its dedicated work, committed to solving future challenges and evolving the system. Upcoming enhancements aim at enabling the system to interact autonomously with dispatch services, helping resolve hazards quicker

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Reach out to Programmers Beyond IT today to explore how our AI and data-driven expertise can drive tangible business results for you.