French tire company Michelin recently purchased Pittsburgh-based RoadBotics, which specializes in road infrastructure images analysis.
“This new acquisition is in line with Michelin’s growth strategy around tires,” said Lorraine Frega, Michelin Group executive vice president of distribution, services and solutions, strategy, innovation, and partnerships. “With the acquisition of RoadBotics, Michelin strengthens its expertise in artificial intelligence, supporting a smarter and safer mobility. Combining its unique knowledge of tire/vehicle uses, driving behavior analysis, and Roadbotics computer vision expertise, Michelin is enriching its services and solutions offer portfolio to road managers helping them to optimize and secure road networks.”
RoadBotics uses artificial intelligence to analyze visual data collected on roads by cameras. The images are used to help road managers identify priority maintenance areas.
The company’s technology will aid MICHELIN DDi (Driving Data to Intelligence), a group analyzing data and driving behavior, develop services and solutions it already offers.
RoadBotics’ computer vision expertise combined with MICHELIN’s DDi knowledge will provide unique insights on the causes of near-misses based on driving behavior, Michelin said.
The company said that decisions would be easier, faster, and more relevant, and road safety management will be more efficient.
The service will be available first in North America before launching in Europe.