The latest in our blog series highlighting Hanwha Vision partners takes us to Sprinx, an Italian company specialising in deep learning and analytics for traffic and transportation. Here, we meet with Paola A. M. Clerici, Sprinx co-founder and VP of Sales, to talk about how advances in traffic and transport intelligence are improving the safety, efficiency and sustainability of our cities.
Hello Paola, could you tell us about Sprinx?
Sprinx was founded based on a passion for research and innovation, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning and computer vision. We are experts in providing intelligent AI video software that analyses vehicle and people mobility across cities and highways, with an in-house R&D team, SprinxLab, that’s constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in intelligent traffic monitoring. Our solution solves a timely challenge for city leaders - since increasing numbers of vehicles are causing congestion and putting local authorities under pressure to keep traffic moving. Being able to react quickly and anticipate potential traffic jams or incidents is critical, and this is why many organisations are becoming increasingly interested in intelligent video analytics.
Tell us about your role at Sprinx?
As the VP of Sales, I oversee business strategy and management, sales, corporate relations and have worked to define our company’s vision and mission. We aim to enhance safety and security for people when they travel, and we achieve this through cutting-edge deep-learning solutions that make mobility safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. It’s my job to collaborate with our internal experts, partners, and customers - to communicate this and support public and private organisations in selecting the right solution for their needs.
Combining video surveillance and analytics is an effective way to keep traffic moving, with early detection of incidents, such as broken-down vehicles or smoke in a tunnel, continuous monitoring of roads, and data that informs planning and long-term road safety.
Why partner with Hanwha Vision? Can you tell us more about the relationship?
Our technology is most effective when it’s part of a larger ecosystem of intelligent solutions working to improve mobility management. That’s why we have partnered with Hanwha Vision, a leader in global video surveillance. Hanwha Vision provides high-quality video footage that our analytics solution can utilise to keep traffic moving smoothly through cities. The integration of Sprinx's advanced AI technology with Hanwha Vision cameras offers a powerful and holistic solution, empowering end-users to select the architecture that perfectly aligns with their specific needs. The advantages of this integration are particularly beneficial for organisations in search of distributed architectures.
The partnership began over a decade ago with Sprinx’s analytics platform and Hanwha Vision cameras combining to create a powerful solution for traffic monitoring and management. The platform uses advanced AI and deep-learning technology that helps reduce false alarms, by only alerting operators to incidents that require their attention, therefore also improving efficiency.
As we’ve seen, AI is a hot topic. How is it impacting the video sector?
Thanks to advances in AI, we’re seeing momentum in the video analysis sector, across different industries and applications. In the intelligent transportation systems sector, while traffic monitoring on roads will always remain a core function, it is also benefitting from the continued development of AI - notably deep learning that reduces false alarms and enables mobility insights collection.
Smart cities are another exciting area for AI-powered traffic monitoring because of the complex mobility and safety challenges of a high-density urban area. Using AI-enabled video can improve safety, efficiency, and environmental impact on a city-wide scale. It can also aid with city planning through analysing the movement of pedestrians, vehicles, and cyclists to understand how best to manage traffic flows, as well as where to put additional routes when areas become congested.
Are there any new products or solutions that you’re excited about?
I have always been fascinated by how technology can serve communities and enhance people’s lives. We’re living at an unparalleled time where progress in AI, coupled with camera and sensor hardware advances, is making it possible to seamlessly integrate and
analyse data from across cities to improve mobility, sustainability and safety. For example, we recently showcased a new multi-camera tracking module that creates a more comprehensive view of an environment, including complex scenes such as intersections, tunnels and busy urban areas. Operators can use this to better understand traffic movements and respond to emergencies.
Additionally, we introduced a unified data and event collection platform called "dragon”. This user-friendly platform provides a smooth interface to display, filter, and analyse mobility alarms and insights. It empowers us to react swiftly in case of an incident and enhances viability efficiency. Furthermore, the dragon platform seamlessly integrates video analytics with other traffic sensors and platforms, realising a truly intelligent traffic infrastructure. It’s exciting to see how AI-enabled video can have a profound positive impact on our everyday lives. I firmly believe that the responsible and ethical development and management of technologies like ours can have a profound positive impact on humanity. Specifically, these advancements have the potential to greatly improve quality of life, particularly in the areas of mobility and CO2 emissions.