Xerox and the Australian state of Victoria announced a joint solution to the problem of infrastructure wear and tear

2021: Eloque Project Launch

On August 26, 2021, Xerox and the Government of Victoria (Australia) announced a partnership aimed at launching the joint Eloque project. Its goal is to introduce into commercial operation a technology that allows you to remotely monitor the structural integrity of bridges.

According to a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers on America's infrastructure in 2021, 42% of bridges in the United States alone were built at least 50 years ago and almost 231,000 need repair and reconstruction. This problem is relevant all over the world. According to preliminary estimates, 70% of Australian bridges are over 50 years old. About 11,000 of Germany's 25,000 railway bridges were built more than 100 years ago, and 7% of French bridges are already at risk of destruction.

Ageing and the deterioration of public infrastructure is a global problem. We are developing technology that allows us to maintain the safety of bridges, extend their operational life and optimize planning processes, "said John Vicentin, CEO and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Xerox. - Our partnership with the Victorian government allows us not only to cope with this problem in the territory of this state, but also to quickly scale the solution to all points of the world where our potential customers face such challenges.

The technology was developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and was tested under the joint control of Xerox and VicTrack, a state-owned company owned by the Victorian government and owns all railway and tram tracks in the state. The PARC solution is based on sensors and analytical technologies that allow you to monitor the state of bridge structures, optimizing their life.

{{quote 'This will help to find problems in the early stages, reduce delays transport caused by blocking roads for face-to-face inspection and repair, more quickly and accurately identify damage after collisions cars with bridges and other emergency incidents, "said Jacinta Allan, Minister of Transport Infrastructure of Victoria. }}

At first, we will focus on railway and road bridges, but Eloque technology is universal, and in the future we plan to adapt it for use on other critical structures, "added Ersin Uzun, director of the IoT division of Xerox and a member of the board of directors of Eloque. - We are already considering the possibility of implementing this technology in tunnels, ports, multi-storey garages and other especially important infrastructure facilities.