Congratulations to the Road Vision team out of George Washington University for winning the GigabitDCx innovation competition! Tasked with creating an app to help address fundamental city challenges, the GWU team developed Road Vision, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to analyze video feeds and translate visual data into useful traffic and public safety information. As the competition winners, the team earned $25,000 in start-up and research funding.

 

The GigabitDCx competition was hosted by DC’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) with support from US Ignite. OCTO’s Nina Liggett noted at the award ceremony that the local Department of Transportation is particularly excited about Road Vision because of its potential to lower the cost of collecting data that will help the city improve roadway safety.

The Road Vision team plans to use their new funding to pursue growth and application scale. “We’ll be focusing on implementing the cyclist and the scooter detection [features]… really trying to make it as multi-modal and encompassing as we can,” said Claire E. Silverstein, a Ph.D. student researcher in the group.

Other team members from GWU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering include team lead Professor Samer H. Hamdar, Ph.D., Deng Pan Ph.D. student/graduate fellow, and Amir Farrahi, PMP part-time Ph.D. student.

Silverstein also pointed out that Road Vision has potential far beyond the DC market. “It’s not a DC-centric app,” she commented. “Getting a good footing here is a great way to get it propagated outside of the District.”

Honorable Mention in the GigabitDCx challenge went to Mark Sussman and Daniel Shep of Washington DC for their “How’s My Driving” application. Their efforts earned a $9,000 award for further app development.

Later this spring, OCTO will host a new public innovation challenge focused on public health and public safety. More details will be available at: https://www.herox.com/gigabitDCx/community.