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Bridge Monitoring Innovation Developed by BME Researchers Shows Business Potential
2026. 03. 02.
Forbes.hu reported on BridgeAid's development, which may make bridge operation easier and safer.
Startup company BridgeAid, revolutionizing bridge monitoring with its proprietary artificial intelligence model and founded by experts from BME, aims to expand to Europe and the US, according to a report published on Forbes.hu.
Monitoring the load capacity, condition, and lifespan of bridges, which are strategic elements in every country's infrastructure, is a key issue. With BridgeAid's system, maintenance is not only more cost-effective and easier to schedule than with traditional methods, but it can also extend the lifespan of bridges over the usual 100 years, while providing detailed data on the weight of passing vehicles.
"Our development transforms the reliability testing of bridges from reviews in every ten years to real-time, minute-by-minute analysis,"
the online edition of the business magazine quotes Attila László Joó, associate professor at the Department of Bridges and Structures and one of the company's founding owners.
The essence of the technology is that the sensors are not built into the asphalt, but are mounted on the bottom of the bridge structure, and the data is used by a proprietary AI algorithm to calculate what type of vehicle crossed the bridge, at what speed, and how much weight it carried. This is better than the solutions currently in use, as neither changes in the shape or possible damage to the asphalt nor temperature effects affect its operation. The sensors are also easier to install, as there is no need to close the road and cut out the asphalt.
A pilot project carried out on the Monostori Bridge in Komárom, on the river Danube, proved that the new system provides more accurate weight data than the systems built into the asphalt, used in Hungary to date. BridgeAid's digital twin service uses numerical models to analyze real-time data and provide immediate feedback on the behavior of the structure.
| A digital twin is a complex virtual model or computer simulation of a real system, process, product, or even service; a virtual representation of an object or system. The physical world and its conditions are digitally recreated with parameters identical to reality, so that by pairing the original with the virtually created twin, real-time data can be analyzed using machine learning and monitoring systems. |
Infrastructure operators need data-driven decision support that enables informed prioritization of bridge renovations and efficient use of maintenance resources. If this is not done, or if professional maintenance is delayed, a bridge may even collapse. We have seen an example of this even in Europe, when the ferroconcrete Morandi Bridge collapsed in Genoa in 2018, killing 43 people.
BridgeAid's technology can be applied to both existing and new bridges, so the team of civil engineers and software developers wants to sell the system throughout Europe and has even begun market research in the United States. In addition to BME's own business development training, they participated in the Danube Cup, took part in the Hungarian Innovation Hub incubation program, and successfully completed the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Jumpstarter mentoring program, ranking among the top 48 startups out of 900 European applicants. This year, they are participating in the Tech2Market program of EELISA university alliance.
The full Forbes article can be read here in Hungarian.
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