Why We’re Thinking Small at the World’s Largest ITS Event

I'm looking forward to heading to Atlanta this month for ITS World Congress — the energy of the event is always electric. There's something about being in a room with people who care deeply about how we move, how we plan, and how we adapt our infrastructure to meet a changing world. I love the opportunity to see firsthand how transportation is advancing and innovating — not just cutting-edge tech but hearing about the real-world strategies from the transportation professionals implementing them, that make our systems safer, smarter, and more resilient.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about innovation — how we pursue it, why we crave it, and what truly drives it. It's not just in our work lives. We want better phones, smarter homes, faster commutes, and healthier habits. We're constantly upgrading, optimizing, and looking for the next best thing.

But in transportation, innovation isn't about chasing shiny objects. It's about solving real problems with limited resources. That's why, at this year's ITS World Congress, Rekor is bringing something a little different. Something smaller.

Let me explain.

Small Can Be Smarter

When people think about innovation, they often imagine something massive: a new control center, a complex sensor network, a full system overhaul. But what if innovation could look like this: uploading a video. Clicking on a map. Turning on an API.

At Rekor, our latest solutions are intentionally lightweight, by design. We know that not every agency has a full-time traffic management center (TMC). Not every state can rip and replace hardware. And not every team has a spare IT department sitting around waiting to integrate complex systems.

So, this year, we're thinking small to create big impact.

Cloud, Not Clutter

We're debuting a brand-new tool at ITS World Congress, Rekor TrafficSight. It's a streamlined, cloud-based application that makes traffic data analysis easy as uploading a video. No new cameras, no complicated installations. Just cost-efficient, accurate, FHWA-compliant vehicle classification and counts — all powered by AI, processed securely in the United States.

If you've got video, you've got data. That's innovation, simplified.

Data-as-a-Service, Not Devices

We're also launching a new Data-as-a-Service model for Rekor Discover®. For agencies who need reliable traffic data but don't want the burden of installing and maintaining hardware, this model offers an easy on-ramp. Just define your data needs — we'll take care of the rest.

It's a different way of thinking about traffic intelligence: subscription-based, scalable, and no wrench-turning required.

Scaling Impact, Not Complexity

Our recent statewide contract with the Texas Department of Transportation is proof that Rekor Command® can scale to unify and act on vast, complex data sets. But scale shouldn't mean bloat. It should mean clarity, speed, and simplicity.

For agencies and integrators who have the tool, but need the insights, our Command Intelligence Services, most notably our secure and configurable Incident Detection API, ensures everyone has access to the critical incident data they need, and only what they need, when and where they need it most – empowering existing workflows.

Conclusion

What ties all of this together is a simple idea: Innovation shouldn't just be powerful. It should be accessible. So yes, ITS World Congress is a big show. But this year, we're focusing on the small things that make a big difference to your team, your budget, and your operations.