A rain sensor in a car can control the windshield wipers. A hundred of them, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), can do much more.

As a swarm, a fleet of one hundred cars provides valuable data that can be used to detect extreme weather events. In combination with other weather data, this improves the forecast of heavy rainfall, for example.

IAV engineer Matthias Paetsch talks about “waves of change” when he speaks about the use of AI in water management. “Generative AI can be a game changer,” he says.

Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) make it possible to model different weather scenarios and their effects on the canal network over a longer period of time. This makes it easier to assess whether we are adequately prepared for increasing rainfall or need to upgrade drainage technology.