Founded in December 2023 in San Sebastiano da Po, in the Province of Turin, Loki has developed Asfalto Sicuro (Safe Asphalt), a hardware and software platform for the predictive monitoring of road surfaces. The system combines high-resolution cameras, inertial sensors (IMU), GPS technology and GNSS satellite data, which, integrated by artificial intelligence algorithms, enable the real-time detection of potholes, cracks, and other road surface defects, geolocating them and ranking their severity.
The company, which is supported by EIT Urban Mobility and has won multiple international awards, has developed two further solutions. Aipecra, focuses on pedestrian accessibility by identifying problems such as faded zebra crossings, missing ramps and irregular paths. Invento, offers an accurate inventory of all road signals to assist with city-wide traffic management with a few clicks. The system can function at up to 130 km/h, acquiring data from cameras that can also be used to analyse pavements. For example, the Spanish city of Las Rozas de Madrid, with a population of 100,000, was mapped in just 22 hours, creating a pedestrian accessibility index that can be used by people with reduced mobility.
The model is designed to be scalable and adaptable to different contexts: from small towns that only require occasional analyses, to multi-utilities and licensees that manage thousands of kilometres of the road network.
"We have filed a patent application to integrate Earth observation, weather, and traffic data from satellites to predict how defects will evolve and minimise the number of interventions," one of the founders, Francesco Papa, tells Renewable Matter. "Our challenge at this time is to get our name out there, particularly with public authorities, for whom we can solve the problem of accidents caused by potholes." One of the most significant elements is the possibility of transitioning to predictive road management, to reduce extraordinary expenditure due to emergency interventions, litigation and compensation for damage caused by poor road surface conditions, and improving planning efficiency for maintenance tenders.
Name:
Loki
Website:
Sector:
Road infrastructure
Pros:
Management through artificial intelligence, satellite navigation, hardware and software development
Features:
Predictive monitoring for the maintenance of road and pavement surfaces
Cover: Envato image