Provizio - the startup using AI to reduce road accidents

by Startacus Admin

The Limerick-based startup that can perceive, predict and prevent automotive accidents in real-time using proprietary long range imaging sensors & AI on-the-edge

Every year, there are around 1.35 million deaths on the road worldwide, and more than 50 million people worldwide are permanently harmed by road accidents. The (always less important) cost to the global economy as a result of all these road incidents is over $2 trillion. The worst thing is that these numbers have barely changed for 20 years, and it comes as no surprise that about 90% of this is human error.

With the likes of Tesla’s Autopilot and third-party offerings, we can see real-world examples of how technology can prevent, and is preventing, collisions on the road, and as more technology like this is developed for a wider market, hopefully those huge numbers will plummet.

Joining the effort is Limerick-based tech startup Provizio, hoping to use robotics to help drivers bring that 1.35m to 0.

Co-founder Barry Lunn brings experience working in vision technology, and specifically radar, with partners such as NASA and Boeing, and has put that knowledge and experience to work in putting together a system that uses radar, lidar, and AI to provide and understand information captured from beyond the driver’s range of sight. Having such advance knowledge and the insights provided by the AI’s real-time processing of the information gives the driver a huge advantage in being prepared for potential issues ahead.

“We are building augmented, guardian angel technology that will make us all better and safer drivers. We are using unparalleled ‘beyond line-of-sight’ sensor technology coupled with artificial intelligence ‘on-the-edge’ to perceive, predict and prevent accidents.” - Provizio

One of the problems that Provizio sees with current emergency braking systems is that they only allow for about one second of reaction time when they detect a problem - about 40 metres ahead of the car. Their system aims to increase that tenfold, and give the driver ample time to take action and avoid an accident.

At the start of November, Provizio announced that it has raised $6.2m in funding to boost the development of their system, from investors including the founders of Movidius, the European Innovation Council, and ACT Venture Capital.

 

 

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• #
• #innovation
• #ai
• #robotics
• #vehicles
• #driving
• #accidents

Published on: 30th November 2020