Israel’s state-owned railways is buying ten Rail Vision Main Line Systems and related services for $1.4 million. Rail Vision’s Main Line System is an AI-based obstacle detection technology for railways.

Israel Railways operates approximately 700 trains daily, travelling along 1,138 kilometres of track, connecting major metropolitan areas in Israel, as well as cities, towns, and rural villages throughout the country.

Rail Vision’s Main Line System has an extended visual range of up to 1.2 miles (2km). It combines sensitive imaging sensors with AI and deep learning to detect and classify obstacles on and near the tracks, such as humans, animals, vehicles, signals, and infrastructure components, quickly and accurately. The system then generates real-time visual and acoustic alerts for the train’s command-and-control centre. It is designed to prevent collisions, reduce downtime and delays, increase safety, and improve traffic volume. Image processing capabilities allow for image-based navigation, predictive maintenance, and GIS mapping.

“After more than a year of evaluating a variety of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), Israel Railways chose Rail Vision’s Main Line System as the solution for its fleet, marking the first major commercial deployment of AI-based vision technology for main line rail industry operations,” said Rail Vision CEO Shahar Hania. “Our Main Line System outperformed in all aspects of testing during the proof-of-concept with Israel Railways. We believe this is a strong validation of our solution and bodes extremely well for other pilot programmes underway, such as our long-term pilot in Australia with Rio Tinto, a leading global mining group, as well as other opportunities around the globe.

“Using advanced, long-range AI detection systems, our game-changing technology provides unparalleled obstacle identification on and near tracks, making it an ideal solution for major rail operators like Israel Railways, and a key driver behind strategic partnerships, such as our relationship with Knorr-Bremse, the global leader in braking systems for the rail industry that has invested $24 million into Rail Vision since our inception,” continued Hania.

“We currently have few main line and switch yard pilot programmes underway globally,” continued Hania. “The conversion of pilot programmes into commercial contracts is expected to accelerate and drive sales growth momentum in the quarters ahead.”