Iguazio, the data science platform built for production and real-time machine learning applications, today announced a strategic partnership with Faktion, a boutique, end-to-end Artificial Intelligence (AI) service provider for smart mobility technologies across Europe.

The partnership enables both companies to provide AI software infrastructure and services to smart mobility companies looking to harness big data and create AI applications that make travel in cities safer, greener, and more efficient.

The two companies already have several joint European customers in the Smart Mobility space, tackling challenges such as dynamic congestion charges based on real-time data and detecting and acting upon driver fatigue.

Congestion cost the U.K. nearly £8 billion in 2018. This is the main problem Airvi, a startup which works with cities to regulate and reduce traffic congestion and pollution according to data delivered in real-time, is working to fix. Airvi works with cities to regulate and reduce traffic congestion and pollution using data delivered in real-time. Along with Faktion and using Iguazio's Data Science Platform, it is creating virtual, dynamic zones that adapt to fluid air and congestion patterns to better manage traffic. By harnessing data at scale, from sources such as cell phones, weather sensors and other diverse data sources, through Iguazio's platform, it can recommend dynamic tariffs - that will deter drivers from entering high traffic and pollution zones.

"Faktion's deep industry experience and Machine Learning skill set, combined with Iguazio's platform, has made our product viable by slashing costs and time on getting AI to production. Without this partnership, we would never have been able to harness and process data from so many sources, to make accurate predictions in an efficient and reproducible way." said Asher Bennett, CEO and founder of Airvi.

Another joint customer - a Belgian transportation company - is working with the Faktion and Iguazio teams to detect driver fatigue in real-time with behavioral analysis. By factoring in diverse data such as time on the road, time without a break, seasons, facial expressions and other behavioral indicators, this smart mobility company uses AI to proactively mitigate driver fatigue by alerting drivers when it's time to take a break in order to prevent accidents before they occur.

"We wanted to find a cloud-native, Kubernetes-based technology partner to combine with our skills and expertise to offer organizations an efficient, cost-effective way to build and deliver AI effectively to production," said Niels Van Weereld, VP of Business Development & Marketing at Faktion. "In the age of mega-cities, it is critical to make use of AI in the cloud, and harness all relevant data points to create a truly smart transportation system, reduce pollution and keep all of the moving parts running smoothly, safely and effectively."

Iguazio and Faktion are both partnered with Microsoft and their joint customers are deployed on Azure cloud. Iguazio is fully integrated with Azure ML Studio, Microsoft Azure's Event Hubs, and Azure IoT Hub, making it easy for customers to develop AI models on Azure cloud and deploy them rapidly with real-time performance at scale - on cloud or at the intelligent edge. Faktion also works closely with Microsoft and is a Gold-Certified partner.

"Traditionally, smart mobility companies have struggled to leverage the promise of big data to apply real-time technology solutions to urban and private transport systems, in order to improve life for citizens and enable cities to run more efficiently," said Asaf Somekh, Co-Founder and CEO at Iguazio. "We are thrilled to partner with Faktion and strengthen our partnership with Microsoft to together provide a framework for deriving accurate, AI-driven predictions in real time - to mitigate unnecessary congestion, accidents and pollution."