Date and time: Jan 28, 2025 | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm (CDT)
Speaker: Simon Washington, PhD
About the talk
This talk will explore the current state of the video analytics (VA) industry, its biggest challenges, potential solutions, and future directions. The discussion will cover the following key topics:
- The widespread and growing interest in the value proposition for video analytics by DOTs
- Current VA applications and why they achieve superior outcomes than traditional technologies
- An overview of technical challenges in current VA (e.g., AI, night-time, calibration, camera shift, position-related accuracy with metrics)
- Summary of non-technical challenges (unfamiliar metrics, how to embed into usual business practices, subjective near-misses, customization desires, perception of perfection)
- The critical role of VA compared to other sensor technologies in achieving Vision Zero
- Future research and development directions
Speaker
Dr. Simon Washington is currently Vice President of Transportation Safety and Operations for Transoft Solutions, headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. He was formerly the CEO of AMAG—based in Brisbane Australia—which was acquired by Transoft in October of 2024. Transoft currently employs more than 200 people in 15 global offices and serves about 50,000 customers with more than 30 transportation software products globally. During the previous nearly 30 years Simon held academic appointments at University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, UC Berkeley, Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Simon has been an active researcher in transportation safety, operations, and planning during his entire career, has co-authored more than 200 technical papers and two textbooks, and has won numerous awards for professional contributions. Simon holds an Adjunct Professor position at Arizona State University.