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Buffalo Automation is a technology company that provides autonomous navigation products for commercial ships, recreational boats, ferries, and water taxis to enable automation and improve maritime safety.[1][2][3] It is a private company based in Buffalo, New York.[4][5] Thiru Vikram serves as the CEO of the company.[6]
| |
| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Guidance, navigation and control |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Headquarters | |
Area served | North America and Europe |
Key people | Thiru Vikram (CEO) |
| Products | AutoMate |
| Services | Automation |
| Website | https://www.buffaloautomation.ai/ |
Buffalo Automation was founded by Thiru Vikram, Shane Nolan, Alexander Zhitelzeyf and Emilie Reynolds, who were engineering students at the University at Buffalo.[2][7] Originating as a university research project, the group was incorporated as a Delaware C corporation in 2015.[8]
The company developed AutoMate, a predictive system[9] that uses artificial intelligence neural networks to coordinate and fuse data, decisions, and actions based on nautical maps, cameras, SONAR, weather sensors, thermal imaging, broadband radars, GPS, LiDAR[10] and Automatic Identification System (AIS).[11][12] The system performs autonomous identification and navigation around obstacles,[3] swimmers, and other vessels within the surrounding 24 nautical miles (28 mi).[4][8][13] In addition to navigation hazard identification and collision avoidance, the AutoMate system employs neural networks to recognize navigation signs and rules of way to maneuver in compliance with International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), and to also interpret weather conditions for passage planning.[5][14][15]
The technology was claimed to improve ship fuel efficiency, which was tested in 2018 on vessels in the Great Lakes.[16][17] Fully autonomous navigation of locks was under development as of 2020.[18]
Initially developed as a fleet management and autopilot solution for the commercial shipping industry, the technology has since been adapted for use on recreational boats, including yachts and motorboats.[19] In early 2018, Buffalo Automation began testing a 22-foot (6.7 m) long autonomous pleasure boat made by Sea Ray, a boat manufacturer owned by the Brunswick Boat Group.[20][21]
In 2020, Buffalo Automation launched a free mobile app.[22] Designed to encourage people to experiment with and experience artificial intelligence technology that was otherwise not readily accessible to the average person at the time,[23] it operated as a self-contained offline neural network capable of detecting boats, ships, and other vessels visible to a cell phone camera.[23] The company said that the app was slated to also be used to hail Buffalo Automation's self-driving water taxis in development.[24][25]
In 2021, Buffalo Automation unveiled a self-driving water taxi.[24] Fully autonomous, the vessel uses cameras, laser scanners, radar, satellite, GPS, compass information, and artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate its surroundings and pilot itself.[24] Buffalo Automation supplies the software and provides training to third party companies or organizations who build and operate these ferries.[26]
This autonomous solar and electric-powered water taxi was first demonstrated to Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon on January 7, 2021.[27] As part of the region's green urbanism efforts, as of 2021, the project was pending government approval to allow public use as a water taxi or passenger ferry in East Tennessee.[28] Upon approval, patrons would access the water taxi service using Buffalo Automation's ride-hailing app.[25]
The on-board solar panels and battery used to power the ferry’s engine and AI (artificial intelligence) navigation system have a capacity of six hours and enable speeds up to 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph).[25] The quiet propulsion and solar-charging system provide a sustainable transport alternative, minimize marine acoustic disruption, and avoid environmental impacts associated with fuel and oil residue leaked in aquatic environments, contributing to ESG outcomes.[25]
In 2018, Buffalo Automation had expanded its operations to Europe.[29] Trials of the United Kingdom's first robot water taxis, equipped with Buffalo Automation's AutoMate autonomous navigation system, were scheduled for summer 2020 in Plymouth, UK, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1][30] In July 2021, an autonomous ferry began service in the Netherlands' Kagerplassen Lake District, dubbed as "Europe's first commercial robotaxi service".[31] Subsidized by funding from the South Holland provincial government, the self-propelled Vaar met Ferry service connects pedestrians and bicyclists from Warmond-Kagerzoom and Leiderdorp to the Koudenhoorn Recreation Area.[32][33][34] The ferry service was implemented as a collaboration between the Delft University of Technology, Future Mobility Network, Buffalo Automation, and the South Holland provincial government to provide a sustainable transport option and reduce crowding on the existing access bridge, as COVID restrictions have increased recreation area usage.[35][36] Passengers use Buffalo Automation's ridesharing app to hail the robotaxi.[36]
In 2020, Buffalo Automation repurposed its thermal imaging software to enable rapid skin temperature scanning of multiple people in a crowd to detect fever.[37] This adaptation was initiated in response to an unmet need in the health care and public health sectors created by the COVID-19 pandemic.[37] Named BiFrost, the system operated as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, combining Buffalo Automation's convolutional neural network with existing thermal imaging equipment to rapidly report the skin temperature of different facial regions of each individual in a crowd.[38][39] In July 2020, the Bifrost Project was piloted at the entrance of the University at Buffalo Neurosurgery Center of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.[40][41]
Grants from SUNY and New York State business plan competition prizes helped bootstrap early activity.[6]
In 2016, Buffalo Automation secured its first private placement: US$25,000 in pre-seed investments from Launch NY and Z80 Labs. In 2018, it raised a total of $900,000 in a seed funding round led by the Jacobs family office, with Z80 making a US$100,000 follow-on investment.[2][6]
In 2020, the company raised US$650,000 through two rounds of convertible note issuance. During the second round, the University at Buffalo's Innovation Seed Fund made its inaugural venture capital investment, investing US$250,000 in Buffalo Automation.[42][18] Varia Ventures subsequently matched that US$250,000 investment.[18]
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