The Vaisala Xweather team started the year 2024 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I'm always excited to start the year at CES; to really see all the innovation and have a glimpse of the direction the industry is going; to explore what's cooking and understand what's under the hood (this year - quite literally). My personal favorite is always Eureka Park, where start-ups and smaller companies organized by countries present their innovations. Just seeing all that innovation in health, farming, and green tech gives me incredible energy; it makes me believe we truly do have the tools to climb the biggest mountains and solve the toughest problems, including climate change, together.
Vaisala Xweather's global weather sphere at CES 2024
Vaisala Xweather presented several new exciting things we've been working on: Xcast, Xweather Insight, our latest annual lightning report, and generative AI-based weather reports. Naturally, we also had a great time on the show floor - especially with our fun and informative live global weather sphere drawing lots of attention and inspiring conversations.
..we truly do have the tools to climb the biggest mountains and solve the toughest problems - including climate change - together.
This year, the show had a strong emphasis on automotive tech and autonomous driving - the main reason CES was especially interesting to us. Our unique road weather solutions are essential in ensuring the safety of Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) in any weather. Xweather's renewed offering was warmly welcomed by our existing and new clients. I'm pleased to see that the market has started to pick up on the fact that atmospheric weather forecasting is very different from road weather forecasting. The weather forecasting considers the conditions of the atmosphere - such as motion and thermodynamics. These parameters are, without a doubt, very important. Road weather forecasts, in turn, are based on these atmospheric parameters AND road conditions - both surface and sub-surface. To ensure ADAS are "equipped" to operate safely, generic weather forecasts are simply not enough. They require a solid road weather model powered by real-time data from sensor networks and connected cars.
-> Read more about Xweather for roads
Changing the (business) game with AI-powered weather forecasts
In addition to automotive, all the big tech players were present. We saw a lot of progress in Metaverse, generative AI, robotics, and many other domains. Technological advances humanity has achieved so far are mind-blowing and never cease to impress me.
When it comes to weather forecasting, AI will (and already does!) enable more powerful advances than it might seem. AI with probabilistic modeling enables faster processing time of incremental - but crucial! - data like hyperlocal conditions, resulting in more precise and personalized forecasts. Over time, AI will also impact the core part of deterministic weather forecasting including data assimilation.
At Xweather, we are paving the way for advanced AI models in weather forecasting. Our newly released technology, Xcast, is a machine learning-based weather prediction technology (MLWP) that combines hyper-local measurements with specialized algorithms and generative AI.
Xcast powers Xweather Insight, a powerful platform that will make it easy for businesses to use weather data in a truly transformative way. With Insight, businesses will gain new ways to optimize operations and protect people and assets. All weather and environmental data and insight relevant to your business are available in one portal that also allows you to integrate the data into other systems using APIs.
Proud of everything we have achieved so far and excited for what's to come on the tech front, I’m sure this year we will all come closer to our climate goals—at Vaisala Xweather, we'll certainly do our part by providing weather confidence to any business that needs it.
