After Successful Proofs of Concept, 13 Companies Selected to Scale Pilots with MTA, Port Authority and NJ TRANSIT
PALO ALTO, CA, January 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the Transit Tech Lab—a public-private initiative created by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Partnership for New York City to bring private sector innovation to New York’s public transit system—announced 13 winners of last year’s annual accelerator-style competition, which was focused on Human Capital and Operational Efficiency. The winning companies have each completed successful eight-week proof-of-concept collaborations with participating agencies and will now move on to deploy their technologies through larger-scale pilot programs—a crucial step to help agencies understand the viability and scalability of new technology solutions.
The participating transit agencies, which include the MTA, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), and NJ TRANSIT, aim to leverage emerging technologies, including LiDAR, artificial intelligence, and IoT to mitigate service disruptions, automate operations, and combat workforce shortages.
The Operational Efficiency and Human Capital Challenges were announced in January 2023 and solicited nearly 150 applicants from across the world. Select companies then completed proofs of concept with the partner agencies. The 13 pilot winners, which were evaluated and selected by a team of transit and human capital experts, include:
Operational Efficiency Challenge Pilot Winners:
- Throughput Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) – Provides a rapid supply chain diagnostics software that enables immediate operational intervention, eliminating maintenance downtime caused by supply chain delays and unavailability of parts.
- Partner Agencies: Metro North Railroad, Long Island Railroad
- ACCURE Battery Intelligence (USA and Germany) – Provides a predictive battery analytics platform that uses AI and machine learning to improve safety, enhance performance, and extend the life of energy storage and Electric Vehicle (EV) assets.
- Partner Agency: New York City Transit
- Digital Mortar (San Rafael, CA) – Utilizes passenger flow sensors to provide real-time customer journey analytics for queue management, dynamic labor allocation, lost revenue analysis, and space planning and commercial real-estate optimization.
- Partner Agency: NJ TRANSIT
- Humatics (Waltham, MA) – Enables revenue service rolling stock to provide near real-time monitoring of track condition with precise positioning of track anomalies for improved maintenance.
- Partner Agency: NJ TRANSIT
- Lux Modus (Calgary, Canada) – Uses LiDAR and imagery fusion technology to automate 3D mapping to optimize asset management on critical transit infrastructure.
- Partner Agencies: NJ TRANSIT, New York City Transit, Metro North Railroad & Long Island Railroad
- Signapse AI (Guildford, United Kingdom) – Utilizes AI to automatically translate written text to sign language enabling scalable, cheaper, and faster accessible content for the Deaf community.
- Partner Agency: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- Swiftly Inc. (San Francisco, CA) – Provides the industry’s leading transit data platform for agencies to share real-time passenger information, manage day-to-day operations, and improve service performance.
- Partner Agency: New York City Transit
- TekTracking (Fairport, NY) – Provides a suite of mobile applications to automate the process for reporting on track inspection & signal testing.
- Partner Agency: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- Widesense (Berkeley, CA) – Provides real-time AI optimized actionable guidance to fleet operator dispatch and maintenance teams for optimized work assignments and charging schedules. The WideSense system helps EV operations eliminate range anxiety, ensure service reliability, and become more cost competitive than diesel fleet operations.
- Partner Agency: NJ TRANSIT
- Wi-Tronix (Bolingbrook, IL) – An immersive, real-time IoT platform that is essential for railroads and transit systems to continuously improve operations, safety practices, and service reliability; Wi-Tronix collects insights from onboard systems and enables remote visibility for customers to make decisions and respond to issues quickly and efficiently.
- Partner Agencies: Metro-North Railroad, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Human Capital Challenge Pilot Winners:
- eSkill Corporation (North Chelmsford, MA) – Provides a Talent Assessment Platform, including an online testing library and a remote proctoring solution, to easily evaluate job candidates through a fully configurable online platform.
- Partner Agencies: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- JetDocs (Ontario, Canada) – Provides a centralized catalog for users to submit tickets, requests and approvals, enabling easy standardization of processes to streamline workflows and enhance internal collaboration.
- Partner Agency: Metropolitan Transportation Authority
- PyxAI (Boston, MA) – Provides a virtual video-enabled assessment platform that evaluates and collects data on soft skills (e.g., communication, problem solving, adaptability, etc.) to help identify overlooked talent, improve retention rates and reduce recruitment costs.
- Partner Agency: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Each year since 2019, winners selected through the Transit Tech Lab are eligible for competitive funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which then selects projects that demonstrate innovative clean transportation solutions.
Stacey Matlen, Vice President of Innovation at the Partnership for New York City, said, “Thanks to our partner agencies’ stewardship and our pilot winners’ cutting-edge technologies, we are proud to share that this is the largest Transit Tech Lab pilot class ever. We’re eager for New Yorkers to experience the advantages of their efforts, which will lead to a better experience for transit users through advancements in the critical areas of operational efficiency and human capital.”
Rob Galvin, chief technology officer at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said, “The Port Authority is always looking to refine our recruitment methods to bring in top-tier talent, as well as to elevate our operations practices to make sure our systems are efficient, reliable, and accessible for all customers. We’re eager to work with these companies through the Transit Tech Lab to help channel their ambition and ingenuity into something that can benefit our entire region.”
Jessica Mathew, Senior Advisor for Special Projects at MTA, said, “Implementing operating efficiencies and retaining top talent are top priorities to ensuring a stable future for the MTA. The pilot winners demonstrated solutions that have the ability to advance our efforts in these areas, and this next phase will allow us to scale these technologies up.”
Lookman Fazal, Chief Information and Digital Officer of NJ TRANSIT, said, “New Jersey’s Innovation economy gave birth to the world’s first transistors, and invented many of the technologies that power so much opportunity in today’s mobility ecosystem. In this nationally important moment for public transportation, NJ TRANSIT recognizes the immense power that ‘innovation in mobility’ has to deliver a stronger, fairer New Jersey, and looks forward to our continued partnership with the Transit Tech Lab to connect us with firms that are developing creative solutions to key components of our operations.”
Adam Ruder, Director Of Clean Transportation at NYSERDA, said, “Transit Tech Lab and the companies awarded in this year’s competition are advancing the innovative transportation solutions needed to counter climate change and lower carbon emissions through improved efficiency and transit management. NYSERDA is proud to partner with them on putting the latest technologies in place for New Yorkers to have healthier, safer, and cleaner commutes.”
ThroughPut Inc
Tina Jacobs
About the Transit Tech Lab
About the Transit Tech Lab The Transit Tech Lab, co-founded by the MTA and the Partnership Fund for New York City to make New York the global leader in public transit, provides a pathway for growth-stage companies to efficiently solve public transportation challenges. Winners of previous competitions include Remix, a collaborative digital platform used to redesign the bus routes, Axon Vibe, which built the Essential Connector smartphone app to help essential workers plan journeys during overnight subway disinfection closures, and Navilens, which enables visually impaired and limited English proficiency New Yorkers to better navigate the subway and bus systems.
About ThroughPut Inc
ThroughPut.ai is a Silicon Valley-based Supply Chain AI-powered Decision Intelligence leader that puts Industrial material flow on Autopilot by leveraging existing Enterprise Data to achieve superior Business, Operations, Financial and Sustainability Results. ThroughPut’s AI-powered Supply Chain software predicts Demand, reorients Production Capacity, reassigns Warehouse Space, and reorders materials optimally, so businesses minimize overpromising and under-delivering, and maximize for their desired outcomes. ThroughPut improves material flow and free-cash-flow across the entire end-to-end value chain far faster than leading contemporary and legacy solutions. The founding team is led by seasoned serial entrepreneurs with real-world AI, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Transportation and Operational experience, from the shop-floor to the top-floor, at leading Fortune 500 Industrial Companies & pioneering Enterprise Technology companies.
To learn more about ThroughPut Inc, visit www.throughput.ai
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