Designing highways today is a complex, multifaceted process that is constantly evolving under the influence of requirements for optimization, efficiency and time reduction. Digitalization and the introduction of artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing the road sector, transforming it into a high-tech industry capable of meeting the challenges of today and the future. The session participants discussed the opportunities opened up for designers, builders and operating organizations with the introduction of new technologies, as well as the prospects for the industry as a whole.
Sergey Dremov, Director of the Design Department of the Russian Highways State Company, reminded that the program of the State Company's activities has been approved, according to which the company plans to build and reconstruct 450 km of highways in 2026-2030. In order to shorten the investment and construction cycle, the Ministry of Construction of Russia has drafted amendments to Article 48 of the Town Planning Code of the Russian Federation, introducing a feasibility study subjected to a state expert review of project documentation as the initial stage of the cycle. Otherwise, this would have been impossible.
Mikhail Kamenskikh, Deputy Head of Glavgosexpertiza FAU, who welcomed the session participants via videoconference, stated that the institution supports this initiative and Glavgosexpertiza participated in the preparation of the draft law. At the same time, Glavgosexpertiza is actively introducing artificial intelligence in its activities for batch processing of information on projects.
The majority of the meeting was dedicated to artificial intelligence and its application across various areas of the road sector. During the session, Sergey Dremov unveiled for the first time Russian Highways' proprietary development - the "Dora" AI-driven digital platform, which is hosted on the State Company's servers and serves its internal needs.
"The customer's work consists not only in making optimal technical decisions, but also often in routine work, preparation of references, reports, analytical information. In this regard, it was decided to develop our own artificial intelligence system," he said.
Now "Dora" is at the stage of development and testing, but it is already involved in the work on the design of KAD-2. By the end of the year, the company aims to implement the system on the computer of every employee of the State Company.
Victoria Erkenova, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Russian Highways State Company, added that by the beginning of 2027, Dora will also be adapted to reconcile the volume of technical solutions provided for at the design stage.
As for the use of artificial intelligence on the road, here we can safely say that we are the absolute leaders in Russia, because the volume of video and photo materials we process has long been counted in the billions. Our "Free Flow" system is getting smarter, machine vision is getting more advanced; last year we approved a strategy for the development of artificial intelligence in solving a variety of tasks, and the scope of its application will be constantly expanding," she said.
The partners of the Russian Highways State Company also presented their development at the forum. In particular, Mikhail Kulikov, Executive Director of AWADA SYSTEMS, spoke about the AWADA DOMINION system, which, among other things, offers a completely new approach to road lighting management by creating a local AI circuit, ensuring safety and compliance with information security requirements.
The innovative solution transforms a static lighting system into a dynamic road safety tool capable of adapting to any operating conditions. Specially designed proprietary video cameras assess pavement conditions, real-time precipitation, air temperature, and numerous other metrics to adjust the operation of each individual light fixture accordingly.
Application of such technology, according to Kulikov, among other things, saves up to 30% of energy and significantly extends the life of the light fixture.
In addition, the experience of implementing artificial intelligence during the highway operation stage was reviewed, as detailed by Igor Dynega, CEO of ZMK LLC. He shared the experience of developing artificial intelligence for monitoring elements of highway construction. In particular, it detects noise screens defects, analyzes and reports on them.
At the end of the meeting, Daniil Freeman, Director of Technical and Digital Projects of Russian Highways Engineering, spoke about the use of the "Aeroinspector" digital platform, which uses drones to solve the complex task of monitoring transportation infrastructure objects at different stages of the life cycle. According to him, the "Aeroinspector" system integrates the client's interests, the tasks of designers, builders, and maintenance services into a unified digital environment, while automating numerous processes. Furthermore, the monitoring system yields significant cost savings previously incurred by road workers, and the digital platform has been successfully rolled out across Russia's central regions, including the country's largest infrastructure sites.
