Artificial intelligence will not only revolutionize the world of work, but also the world future of skiing. Energy saving, traffic calculation, slope management: things are changing much faster than we think. In exactly one year, for example, a Plan de Corones its inauguration first fully automated ski lift: the old Kronplatz 1 in Riscone di Brunico will be replaced by a new Leitner cable car which it will not require employees at either the departure or arrival station. We start with cable car speed management, a particularly important job. Without queues at the turnstiles it is not necessary to run the system at maximum speed to save energy costs: adaptation dictates that the speed is decided “roughly” by the most experienced of the technicians employed. Today the artificial intelligence that manages the new gondola has learned to recognize skiers through security cameras that – by pointing at their helmet – can measure them and indicate their position on the ski area map. All with full respect for privacy. Depending on the number of people counted when starting a lift, the software will decide the cable car’s ascent speed. What if someone trips on their skis and falls to the ground while going up the lift? A series of sensors will immediately stop the motors.
This AI capability will not automatically lead to a reduction in the number of staff to be assigned other tasks, favoring different and less alienating tasks within the ski area. The same applies to publishing house staff, as the technology already exists the day ticket or season ticket will be loaded directly to your smartphone after online purchasethen you can go to the turnstiles without queuing thanks to Bluetooth.
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Reality exceeded imagination
The real impact of AI, however, will be even more felt when the entire ski resort is integrated into one system. According to some it will happen in the next three years. What if all the smart cameras – those in the car parks, rentals and shops inside the valley station, those inside the shelters and obviously those on the slopes were built to communicate with a central computer capable of ‘learning and make decisions”?
Tons of data would intersect creating a new world in which in the morning the refuge kitchen starts preparing a series of pastas calculated by the machine based on the number of skiers on the slopes just before lunch time: the software will even be able to help resort waiters manage table turnover, predicting how many new skiers will come to put their feet under the table and giving attendees a few more or fewer minutes of break. . The speed of the lift will be decided by the number of cars that have arrived in the car park in the previous quarter of an hour.
The data collected by the cameras on the track will be processed in the evening they will indicate to the ski lifters where and how much snow to bring back to a certain corner of the piste (for autonomous snow groomers we will have to wait a few more years). And if the sensors in a snow cannon sense that a part needs to be replaced, the AI will not only generate a work order for the worker who goes to do maintenance the next morning, but will also check the availability of that part in the warehouse and , if necessary, will issue a purchase order and pay the relevant invoice. And meanwhile it will measure the worker’s work and also send an evaluation to his duty manager.
About revolutionary ski lifts. In Switzerland recently the first custom-made gondola went into service, FlemXpress: in Laax, one of the snowboarding capitals of the world, Bartholet (which also belongs to the Italian group Leitner) presented the first ever “rope taxi” – a cable car that stays parked at the start and only works when you need: at the request of the skiers the cable car will connect to the main rope and leave. What is it useful for; Fundamental to saving energy: avoiding the circulation of all those cabins which – especially in the low season – travel empty. will allow you to save up to 50% of consumption.
But in the meantime, how are technologies already helping us?
Here are the winning technologies in the gallery