Tractable, a company that develops artificial intelligence for visual assessment and disaster recovery, on Sept. 2 launched AI Inspection, a new solution that accurately assesses the external condition of a vehicle’s body within minutes, according to a news release.

AI Inspection allows anyone with a smartphone to quickly and easily assess a vehicle through a mobile-friendly web-based app, in the time it takes to simply walk once around the car, regardless of condition. The app gives instant access to Tractable’s artificial intelligence platform, which has been trained on hundreds of millions of images to understand auto damage like a human assessor. 

The solution speeds up any process when inspecting a vehicle’s condition is required, including purchasing or selling a vehicle, returning a rental or leased unit, or recycling parts at end-of-life, as well as underwriting a new insurance policy. AI inspection benefits a wide range of companies, from dealerships to wholesale automotive marketplaces.

In addition, the solution converts processes usually conducted by an on-site inspector, such as checking a vehicle’s condition, into ones that can be carried out remotely and accurately by an end-user: resulting in far faster results, reduced transportation costs and time, and an improved customer experience. 

Jimmy Spears, head of automotive at Tractable, said in the release, “With AI Inspection, we have created a powerful AI tool that is not only capable of accurately assessing the exterior condition of a vehicle’s body, but can be carried around in your smartphone. This is an immense technical achievement, putting expert-level assessment in the hands of anyone -- meaning understanding a vehicle’s condition is not only more efficient, but also more transparent. 

“We already work with US insurers to improve auto claims,” he added. “AI Inspection will unlock efficiencies for the broader vehicle ecosystem, where there are huge gains to be made with faster ways of performing manual tasks, with cutting-edge technology.”

AI Inspection works through using deep learning for computer vision. Once a video of a car is uploaded, the tool can recognize what, if any, parts are damaged. The AI can also interact with the person taking a video to request specific additional information on the spot, ensuring that the state of the car is captured effectively, and that the AI assessment is reliable and backed up by the right photographic evidence. 

For AI Inspection, Tractable uses a combination of live-guided video capture and comprehensive AI fraud checks to ensure that the full state of the right car is captured. This is achieved in the app itself, using the processing power of a user’s mobile phone.

AI Inspection is now available in North America, where Tractable’s core AI technology has already been applied to millions of vehicles, including to accelerate vehicle salvage and parts recycling, and in Japan. AI solutions process more than $2 billion a year in vehicle repairs and purchases, and have been deployed by over 20 of the global top 100 insurers across Europe, North America and Asia.

Today, Tractable works with LKQ North America, a provider of alternative vehicle parts, to accelerate and optimize the recycling of the salvage vehicles that LKQ procures across its North America segment.