Richmond Hill Embraces Innovation to Modernize Government Operations

Receives award for use of artificial intelligence to find and analyze potholes

RICHMOND HILL – The City of Richmond Hill received an award today recognizing its leadership, innovation and collaboration in using artificial intelligence to help keep roads safer.

Roy Tal, Chief Technology Officer of Visual Defence Inc. presented Mayor Dave Barrow with a Founding Member award at a demonstration of the ROVER artificial intelligence (AI) system. ROVER identifies and analyzes potholes, leading to more efficient pothole repairs and increased road safety.

ROVER technology is in a windshield-mounted smartphone camera designed to analyze images from a variety of angles in most lighting and driving speeds. It uploads a photo of every pothole along with its location by street address, GPS coordinates and direction of travel, the severity (breadth and depth) of the pothole and the date it was located.

The first municipality to embrace this innovative technology, Richmond Hill has seen firsthand how much more efficient pothole detection is with ROVER. In 2019, Richmond Hill repaired 1078 potholes on 560 km of local roads. Prior to ROVER, the process required staff to visually observe and manually record it in the system. While piloting the ROVER technology, 542 potholes were automatically identified, analyzed and recorded in only 135 days, leading to faster repairs.

The next phase of the ROVER pilot will expand the scope from potholes to other types of road damage, road condition, right of way obstruction and signage issues. This is one of the many ways Richmond Hill is making municipal work more efficient and cost-effective through innovation.

Quotes

“As a municipality that is always seeking creative ways to improve service, Richmond Hill was proud to be the first municipality to embrace this innovative AI technology, and to be the founding member of Visual Defence’s ROVER Workgroup. This is an excellent example of the cutting-edge work local companies are producing and how collaborating with them can help Richmond Hill shine in efficiency and service to our citizens.”    - Mayor Dave Barrow

“We are thrilled to recognize Richmond Hill for their leadership and assistance in forming the ROVER Workgroup. This technology, developed as a result of a collaboration between Visual Defence, the City of Richmond Hill and Ontario’s Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network, is set to make a positive impact across Ontario and Canada.”     - Roy Tal, Chief Technology Officer of Visual Defence Inc. (maker of ROVER technology)

“Congratulations to the project partners for this innovative use of technology supporting efficient and cost-effective maintenance of our roads. This is exactly the type of project that we are pleased to support through Ontario’s Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network. Ranking second in North America for vehicle production, and with the continent’s second-largest IT cluster, Ontario has the combination of talented people and industry expertise to shape the next generation of mobility technologies.”    - Vic Fedeli, Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

Quick Facts

• The ROVER pilot project is supported through Ontario’s Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN). The initiative, managed by Ontario Centres of Excellence, connects the province's world-leading automotive and technology sectors, high-quality post-secondary institutions, first-class talent and regional infrastructure to drive economic development and spur the next generation of mobility technologies. Support from AVIN’s R&D Partnership Fund is $100,000, with industry investment of $148,902, for a total project value of $248,902.
• Visual Defence Inc. (creator of ROVER technology) was founded in 2000. Headquartered in Richmond Hill with customers worldwide, Visual Defence focuses on integrated security solutions.
• By harnessing machine learning, ROVER’S precision – currently around 95% – will increase over time.

Media Contact

Libbi Hood, Communications Advisor, 905-747-6320, libbi.hood@richmondhill.ca

Attachments

Richmond Hill receives award from Visual Defence