Israeli company Waycare Technologies has raised US$2.3m in seed funding to help cities and states optimize their traffic management systems and improve traffic safety through the use of the company’s artificial intelligence-driven (AI) predictive platform.
The latest round of funding was led by Silicon Valley-based Spider Capital and German-based energy company Innogy SE, with additional participation from Goldbell Investments, UpWest Labs, Janom, Zymestic Solutions, and SeedInvest.
Waycare has developed a SaaS-based (Software-as-a-Service) transportation management platform that uses a myriad of data sources from vehicles, weather, video cameras and road sensors, to help municipalities proactively manage their roads. The company’s AI-based platform enables all municipal agencies to have a full mobility map of their roads, regardless of their existing infrastructure, but also the ability to take action and mitigate traffic flow and improve traffic safety, relying on instant access to predictive analytics.
Currently, cities rely primarily on their own infrastructure to manage their traffic systems, with reactive incident response systems. Waycare’s platform is designed to provide traffic management centers (TMCs) with proactive recommendations, allowing first responders to efficiently deploy resources to patrol dangerous roads, and take action before incidents develop into traffic jams.
Waycare plans to use the recent investment to further expand its Israel-based software development team, and support upcoming engagements with cities across the USA, Europe, and Asia. The company will also use the funding to continue growing their data partnership efforts with OEMs, telematics providers, and other navigation systems and service.
Last month, Waycare and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) launched a first of its kind pilot program to help prevent traffic accidents and congestion in Las Vegas using AI and predictive analytics.
Waycare’s platform integrates vast amounts of historical and real-time data, such as traffic light timing, major events, weather conditions, vehicle location, speeds, vehicle acceleration and deceleration, vehicle counts and occupancies. The platform then provides actionable insights to help municipalities identify and respond to incidents faster, and additionally identify dangerous driving conditions on the road well before an incident occurs.
“We are witnessing rapid changes in the automotive industry, specifically with the amount and quality of data that we can collect from vehicles. However, cities lack the tools and resources necessary to help them harness these meaningful data sources,” said Noam Maital, Waycare’s CEO. “Our mission is to empower municipalities to not only take control of their roads today, but also prepare cities for the future of smart city mobility.”
