this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2025
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The New York City Subway Is Using Google Pixels to Listen for Track Defects (www.wired.com)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Experiment with Google Pixels: New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) collaborated with Google to use Google Pixel smartphones for track inspections on the subway system. How It Worked: Six Pixel phones were mounted on subway cars, using their sensors and external microphones to detect track defects by recording audio, vibration, and location data. AI Technology: The collected data was used to train AI models to predict track issues. The system, known as TrackInspect, identified 92% of defects later confirmed by human inspectors. Human Involvement: Despite the technology, human inspectors are still essential for maintenance and verification. Robert Sarno, an assistant chief track officer, played a significant role in labeling the data collected by the phones. Future Plans: The MTA and Google plan to expand the experiment to a full pilot project, with the aim of creating a modernized system to automatically identify and organize track repairs.

The goal is to catch defects early to minimize service disruptions for the 3.7 million daily subway riders in New York City.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I would imagine they use the microphone, accelerometer, some processing power and internet connectivity (WiFi or mobile).

Trying to set up a dedicated hardware with ask that would cost way more than just buying a bunch of pixel phone.

Same for the software, on a smartphone you can just create an app that will record and process all the information vs creating a custom firmware on a custom hardware.

I guess there is also the availability of the technicians.

Finding someone to develop and maintain an android app is much easier than finding someone to maintain a custom hardware/firmware.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

This. I think people are way, way underestimating the integration costs for all of this. It's not as simple as "buy the pieces, plug them into each other, instant sensor system!"

Especially for riding around in a rough environment, a Pixel is sensors, communication, storage, power, all wrapped up in a reasonably robust case and featuring premade software to run the whole mess when you purchase it.