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The New York City Subway Is Using Google Pixels to Listen for Track Defects

Wired
Summary
Nutrition label

87% Informative

Six Google Pixel smartphones hitched free rides on four New York City subway cars.

The phones were part of a brief experiment by the MTA and Google .

The MTA hopes to create a “modernized” system that automatically identifies and organizes fixes for track issues.

Eventually, the tech could become “a way we could minimize the amount of work that’s done to identify those defects,” says Demetrius Crichlow .

TrackInspect combined 335 million sensor readings and 1,200 hours of audio with New York City Transit’s database of track defects.

Google hopes the project will become a “catalyst for ushering in more cost-effective and preventive ways to support railway safety.

VR Score

92

Informative language

94

Neutral language

64

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

59

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

medium-lived

Source diversity

2

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