The leading Italian site tech from the net recently interviewed Tiziano Albani, the head of VIA Europe, about the VIA Intelligent Automotive Solutions platform. Here is the English translation of the highlights. The original Italian version can be found here.
How does the VIA Intelligent Automotive Solutions platform work and how is it evolving?
Our vision with the VIA Intelligent Automotive Solutions is to make it fast and convenient for enterprises to deploy advanced AI safety systems in vehicles and equipment of all types and sizes to prevent accidents, boost staff morale and wellbeing, and increase productivity.
We began the development of the platform with the launch of the VIA Mobile360 D700 AI Dash Cam and VIA Mobile360 M800 Video Telematics System for on-road commercial fleet installations. By combining sensor and AI-powered collision avoidance and driver fatigue and behavioral data captured by the device with the analytical capabilities of the attached VIA Fleet Cloud Management Portal, managers not only get a comprehensive real-time overview of everything that is happening with their vehicles and drivers but can garner deeper insights into how to further boost operational safety and efficiency.
For off-road commercial and industrial vehicles, we have adopted a similar approach in the development of the VIA Mobile360 Forklift Safety Equipment System and the VIA Mobile360 Heavy Equipment Safety System. The VIA Mobile360 Forklift Safety System can be installed on both combustion-engine and EV forklifts and supports AI-powered people detection and driver safety system detection in a variety of configurations. We have designed the accompanying VIA WorkX Connect Cloud Management Service to meet the specific needs of warehouses and industrial facilities operating forklift fleets. In addition to enabling managers to track vehicle utilization in real time, it allows them to monitor operator performance and identify training and wellbeing needs.
The VIA Mobile360 Heavy Equipment Safety System has been designed for haulers, excavators, loaders, and other huge vehicles operating in quarries, mines, construction sites, and other harsh environments. With its powerful vSenseTM sensor fusion technology combining camera detection with 77GHz mmWave radar sensors, this ultra-ruggedized AI safety system prevents onsite accidents by providing operators with real-time audio or visual alerts of approaching vehicles, machinery, and workers in all weather, lighting, and operating conditions. To facilitate the deployment and maintenance of the systems and machines, we provide a growing suite of vCare remote support services and applications.
Now that we have all the necessary hardware, software, AI, and cloud building blocks in place, our focus is on continuously refining our VIA Mobile360 Systems to meet specific customer requirements in terms of vehicle type, deployment location, and algorithm optimization for different environments. With the VIA Mobile360 Heavy Equipment Safety System, for example, we are developing specific configurations for waste management trucks and high-capacity forklifts as well as construction and mining vehicles.
Reducing operating costs and optimizing the supply chain, what solutions does VIA propose for this type of industrial requirement?
VIA Intelligent Automotive Solutions enable our customers to reduce operating costs by providing them with the data they need to maximize efficiency through the real-time tracking of vehicle utilization, location, and maintenance as well as staff performance and behavior. The ability of the systems to take images and videos of safety incidents and upload them to the cloud for analysis creates additional savings in processing insurance claims, resolving potential legal cases, and identifying opportunities for improving safety by eliminating accident hot spots and identifying staff in need of training.
With our VIA Intelligent Edge Solutions and VIA Intelligent Industrial Solutions, we provide customers with additional opportunities to cut manufacturing and logistics expenses by automating the detection of production and packaging defects and making sure that only authorized staff wearing the approved safety clothing and helmets are allowed into specific areas.
The deployment of AI safety systems combined with cloud management platforms in enterprises is still in its early stages. Our goal is to accelerate the deployment of these solutions by providing affordable and scalable solutions that can be rapidly optimized to meet specific operational safety and efficiency needs.
Fleet management of company vehicles is an increasingly felt need at all levels, cloud-based monitoring is revolutionizing the sector, how? What do you propose in this area?
We provide a choice of the VIA Mobile360 D700 AI Dash Cam and the VIA Mobile360 M800 Video Telematics System for commercial fleets along with flexible integration and development options for all leading cloud platforms.
The VIA Mobile360 D700 is a dual-camera device that supports AI-powered Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, and Driver Fatigue and Distraction Detection features as well as a wealth of connectivity features. The VIA Mobile360 M800 has the same core feature set as the VIA Mobile360 D700 but has a modular design that makes it better suited for larger commercial and public transportation vehicles such as trucks, buses, and coaches.
A 30-day demonstration of the VIA Fleet Cloud Management Portal, including 50 hours of live streaming using Amazon KVS, is available to all new customers wishing to experience the possibilities for real-time tracking, collision alerts with video upload, trip histories, and a host of other fleet management functions. In addition, we provide a comprehensive suite of VIA Fleet SDK, EVK, and BSP packages to make it easy for customers to integrate the systems into their existing cloud platform. With the VIA Fleet AWS Cloud SDK, for example, customers can plug the VIA Mobile360 D700 or M800 directly into their existing AWS cloud infrastructure, removing the need for device-side development and enabling quick and easy integration through the included cloud APIs.
What specific requests and needs are “dictating the pace” of development of the VIA Mobile360 Forklift Safety System? Can you briefly tell us about an application case?
When we first launched the VIA Mobile360 Forklift Safety System it had a basic configuration of two people detection cameras to prevent pedestrian collisions and a driver camera to monitor operator fatigue and distraction. In response to customer demands for a much wider detection area, we subsequently launched a 3PD Package featuring one rear and two side people detection cameras supporting a 240° – 300° people detection zone compared to a 60° – 120° people detection zone for the 2PD Package.
We originally developed the VIA Mobile360 WorkX Connect Cloud Management Service for customers in China looking to track the location and utilization of their vehicles in real-time. We subsequently optimized VIA Mobile360 WorkX Connect for global deployment to meet growing demand for cloud-based forklift fleet management applications.
Other features we plan to add in the near future include seat belt detectors and rugged RAM® Mounts for the cameras and screen. We are also looking to develop solutions for high-capacity forklifts based on the VIA Mobile360 Heavy Equipment Safety System.
