Artificial Intelligence in Practice

48Siemens: Using Artificial Intelligence And Analytics To Build The Internet Of Trains

Siemens AG is a German industrial conglomerate that manufactures and sells transport machinery, medical equipment, water treatment systems and alarm systems, as well as provides financial and consulting services.

In recent years, Siemens has been rolling out its vision for what it calls the “internet of trains”. This is the on-rails segment of the wider Internet of Things – the concept that devices of all shapes and sizes can be networked through the cloud and empowered to talk to each other.

With the market for “smart railways” products and services forecast to grow from $11 billion in 2017 to over $27 billion by 2023,¹ Siemens is making its play for its share of the cake with its Railigent predictive artificial intelligence (AI) platform.

What Problems Is Artificial Intelligence Helping To Solve?

All over the world, time and money are wasted due to delays occurring on public transport networks. If people or goods aren't in the place they're supposed to be at the time they are needed, then business doesn't get done.

Knock-on effects of this include the fact that people often choose more reliable though far more environmentally damaging alternatives – air travel – over rail travel, when they can't risk running late or missing an appointment.

Railway delays can be caused by inefficient scheduling when projected passenger numbers or time taken between departure and arrival are incorrectly ...