Can AI and digital twins help fix our cities’ crumbling infrastructure?
TechInformed
In-depth reporting at the intersection of technology, business, and innovation. TechInformed is technology in action.
The construction sector faces an engineering capacity gap, shrinking budgets and rising costs – yet the number of urgent infrastructure projects is growing. Can software and AI save the day? Bentley Systems thinks so. Ann-Marie Corvin reports
When a freight train carrying hazardous material derailed in Ohio earlier in the year, causing a black plume of smoke to rise over the nearby town of East Palestine, US transport secretary Pete Buttigieg vowed to do something about it.
According to the Bureau of Transportation, the US experiences – on average – 1,704 train derailments per year, but for Buttigieg, the accident on the Pennsylvania border was one too many, with reports of locals experiencing burning eyes, nose and throat symptoms for months afterwards.
Buttigieg consulted with several engineering and tech firms over the summer, including Greg Bentley, CEO of a family-run billion-dollar infrastructure software firm, Bentley Systems.
During a keynote address, which took place during Bentley’s 2023 The Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards last month at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Expo, Bentley spoke of some of the industry challenges the engineers raised with Buttigieg.
“Those who were summoned expressed their concern about the industry’s engineering capacity constraints in the face of the US government’s mounting infrastructure and jobs at work projects,” he said.
Chief Executive Officer at Foresight Spatial Labs Corporation
1 年Call me crazy, but the only thing that will fix infrastructure is the political will to do so.