When Dr. Simon Washington left his post as head of The University of Queensland’s School of Civil Engineering to join the corporate world as CEO of Advanced Mobility Analytics Group (AMAG), a fellow professor asked him why he would ever choose to leave academia.
“I replied, ‘Why wouldn’t I?” says Simon. “I have the opportunity to convert 25 years of road safety research into products that will save people’s lives. That’s the biggest dream come true, to translate my work into products that are going to have measurable, real-world impact.”
Simon recently joined Transoft Solutions as Vice President of the Traffic Safety & Operations business unit, following Transoft’s acquisition of AMAG in October 2024. In just five years, AMAG had positioned itself as a leading developer of advanced video-based analytics software. Its core SMART products, which include SMART Safety and SMART Operations, use computer vision, AI, machine learning, analytics, and advanced econometrics to support organizations in proactively managing traffic networks.
Dr. Simon Washington, Vice President, Transportation Safety & Operations, Transoft Solutions
For Transoft, AMAG’s focus perfectly complemented its vision to expand on cutting edge software like TrafxSAFE, which also uses video-based technology to enhance traffic safety. Transoft is now integrating SMART Safety and SMART Operations into their core product offerings.
While using video-based analytics in the field is a relatively new practice, it’s based on many years of research, says Simon. And he firmly believes it is the future. He predicts most government departments of transportation (DOTs) globally will be using video analytics as part of their core business practice within the next 10 years because it offers so much value for money and insights compared to existing practices.
“These products disrupt decades of practice of relying on crash data and loop detectors or other old or classic sensors to understand what’s happening in the road environment,” he says. “It’s game-changing technology that, for the first time, allows our customers to understand what’s happening with all road users, instead of just knowing vehicle counts from traditional sensors. Now they can get a handle on what pedestrians are doing, what e-scooter riders are doing, what cyclists are doing, and the risk profile for each of these users at any type of site. This is brand new information for most DOTs, leading of course to new insights.”
With our technology, traffic safety professionals can monitor near-misses and critical conflicts, identify traffic behavior trends, and get insights into the likely causes of accidents.
Making better decisions with better information
However, concepts like critical conflicts are new to many traffic safety professionals, says Simon, and they may not be sure how to use the data. The software helps them in that regard too, and Transoft’s team of safety experts are also helping the industry to navigate how to embed video analytics into business-as-usual practices.
“Critical conflicts give safety professionals insights about road user risks, but they’ve never dealt with that metric before, and it’s akin to learning how to use a very cool new tool” says Simon. “They’re used to having to sort through years’ worth of crash data. But one thing Transoft’s technology does is use econometrics to calculate, for example, how many conflicts are equivalent to a crash. Crashes are a metric that governments are used to working with and it has a lot of meaning for them. So, our software helps customers understand the context of the new information and what they’re seeing, and how to translate it in ways that supports better decision-making to protect road users.”
Simon emphasizes that video-based technology can also play a crucial role in supporting traffic operations, by providing real-time monitoring and analysis of traffic networks.
“While transportation system operators are supportive of safety goals, they’re more focused on keeping the system moving, minimizing congestion, and effectively dealing with incidents. SMART Operations allows transportation network operators to continually monitor that the system is running smoothly and making better decisions on a minute by minute, hourly, and daily basis.”
SMART Operations uses AI to analyze live camera feeds, classify vehicle types, monitor flows and speeds, and identify incidents such as accidents and traffic build ups. It can also be configured to detect safety-related events such as wrong-way driving, illegal turns, speeding, and pedestrian spatial violations. It only alerts designated team members when action is needed at monitored locations “The advantage of AI with scale is evident when SMART Operations is operating on say 100 cameras across the network—too many cameras to be effectively monitored by human observers”.
Simon says that Transoft has proven the effectiveness of these technologies by working with early adopters around the world. The company is wholly committed to supporting customers through the transition to video-based analysis.
“There’s a learning curve, for sure,” he says. “And we understand that transportation agencies are cautious about adopting new technologies. The decisions they make affect the travelling public and can have significant consequences, so changing the way they do practice is something to be taken very seriously. But once people understand that they can obtain new insights to make better decisions, they seem to embrace this video-based technology. I’m confident that governments will see that using it is the best way to save lives, and will soon be asking how they operated without this technology.”
Video-based technology can support better decision-making to protect road users
Embracing Change and Leading the Way
Having transitioned from academia to industry, Simon is quite familiar with climbing learning curves. His move—from long-time professor to company founder—came in 2019 when he “drew the short straw” from among AMAG’s three co-founders: Simon, Dr. Shimul Haque of Queensland University of Technology in Australia, and Dr. Tarek Sayed of the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Simon was eager to take on this new role, but it was not without its challenges. Like many academics, he held the view that producing a working version of something would mean it would easily become commercially viable. “But that couldn’t be further from the truth, with so many tough decisions involved in converting a prototype concept into a commercially scalable product.”
After growing the company and refining its product line, using seed money provided by the co-founders’ universities, followed by funding from ASX-listed company PPK Group and other investors, Simon knew it was time for AMAG to partner with an industry-leading company. That’s where Transoft came in.
“We were looking for a partner with a good cultural fit and alignment, that understands transportation software and customers, and with global brand recognition,” he says. “Transoft has been selling reliable products to customers for a long time and has 13 offices globally. They also have a long-term vision that understands the potential of video analytics technology.
Plus, they’re good solid people that are in the profession for all the right reasons. They want to make a difference, to make roads safer and to deliver better outcomes to customers. Their hearts are in the right place. They also want to give back through their corporate and social responsibility initiatives.”
At Transoft, Simon now leads the AMAG and Transoft teams under the Transportation Safety & Operations unit. The combined expertise of the teams will allow Transoft to create unique products and solutions that can utilize analytics through multiple stages of infrastructure development, from planning and design to operations and maintenance.
“Bringing these experts together, we’re leading the industry development curve in this area, for sure,” he says. “We’re also looking at how we continue to build and expand the application of AI technologies and computer vision. We very much have an eye to the exciting future this technology will deliver.”