Ryder and Terminal digitize yard; achieve 99% accuracy with AI computer-vision
Ryder System, Inc., a leader in supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions, and Terminal Industries, which develops artificial intelligence (AI) platforms to digitize yard operations, announce the first successful pilot program leveraging Terminal’s computer-vision technology to automatically index and analyze trucks and trailers flowing in and out of the warehouse yard. Since January, the ongoing pilot at a Ryder e-commerce fulfillment center in City of Industry, California, has processed more than 10,000 truck detections, achieving 99% accuracy in capturing license plates and Department of Transportation (DOT) numbers.
“We have not seen this kind of accuracy with computer-vision technology previously, so this is a significant milestone in the race to modernize what is currently a very manual and inefficient process across the industry,” says Karen Jones, CMO and head of new product development at Ryder. “It’s one thing to build a text-recognition algorithm that works on static objects or in an academic setting, but it’s quite another in the real world, where we’re dealing with obscured license plates, hand-written DOT numbers, inclement weather, and any number of scenarios that affect visibility for cameras.”
To compensate for common errors in recording this data, Terminal’s computer-vision technology uses machine learning by adding incremental knowledge to continuously improve. And integration with third-party databases provides full vehicle profiles beyond what cameras can see.
“We are building the language of the yard,” says Max Constant, CEO of Terminal. “Ryder’s data is a gold mine for training. Most people believe more data is the answer, but it’s really about having the right data – the noisy, real-world data. That’s a major key to developing our core technology, so we can leverage this powerful tool – not just for one use case but across a broad range of applications to optimize yard operations in ways not yet evident in the industry.”
In many yards today, operators manually record license plate, DOT, and trailer numbers; ensure trucks have appointments and are hauling the correct trailers; and keep accurate inventory of available vehicles. This manual process can lead to bottlenecks, delays, increased driver and labor costs, and idle assets.
According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), trucks move more than 72% of all freight by weight, equating to more than $10 trillion annually. Yet, Terminal estimates that more than 90% of yards lack the technology to operate efficiently, costing the industry up to $146 billion each year.
“While there are many emerging players and technologies focused on solving specific pain points, Max and his team see a much bigger picture. Ryder shares that vision, and we look forward to exploring the areas where we can leverage Terminal’s core technology to bring that value to our customers,” adds Jones.
In July, Ryder and Terminal launched a second pilot, using Terminal’s technology on mobile tablets to auto-capture available inventory at a Ryder truck rental and maintenance facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Last summer, Ryder’s corporate venture capital fund RyderVentures participated in Terminal’s seed funding round which raised a total of $31 million.
