For nearly a century, Luminator Technology Group has evolved alongside the transportation industry. What began with lighting solutions for passenger trains has expanded into passenger information systems, mobile video, software, and integrated technology solutions for transit agencies and vehicle manufacturers today.

In a recent METROspectives conversation with METRO Executive Editor Alex Roman, Luminator CEO Magnus Freiberg discussed the company’s latest transformation — from a traditional hardware supplier to what he describes as a digital partner for transit agencies.

“We’re closing in on 100 years,” Freiberg said, tracing the company’s history from its roots in train lighting to the introduction of electronic information displays and, eventually, today’s advanced passenger information and mobile video systems. That history has also given the company longstanding relationships with OEMs and transit agencies that Freiberg believes can help it serve as an integrator as vehicles become increasingly connected.

Doing More With Transit’s Digital Infrastructure

The transformation comes as transit agencies face pressure to improve service while managing limited resources. Freiberg said the effects of COVID-19, changing commuting patterns, and varying ridership recoveries have accelerated the industry's focus on operational efficiency, safety, security, and passenger experience.

“Across the board globally, they have to do more with less,” Freiberg said.

Modern transit vehicles, he explained, increasingly function as advanced IT networks on wheels. With agencies already making significant investments in onboard technology, the next step is finding ways to leverage better those assets and the data they produce.

Real-time passenger information is one example.

“Real-time information is today considered essential infrastructure. It’s not a ‘nice-to-have,’” Freiberg said.

Riders increasingly expect information to be available at the same time across onboard displays, stops, stations, websites, and mobile applications. Meeting those expectations — while making better use of public investment — will require the industry to keep moving toward open architectures, standardized APIs, and interoperable systems, Freiberg explained.

For Luminator, responding to those changes means rethinking its relationship with customers.

“Our aspiration is really to become a digital partner and transition from a supplier to a partner,” Freiberg said.

That transition is also changing the makeup of transit technology projects. Hardware, once the dominant component, can now represent half or less of a typical project as software, connectivity, and services become more important.

Rather than delivering hardware and considering a project finished, Freiberg said the company wants to remain involved with agencies, determining what is working, what needs adjustment, and what additional opportunities exist.

Luminator's guiding principle, he added, is to provide “the shortest distance between information and the passenger.” That requires understanding an agency’s desired outcome instead of viewing a technology deployment simply as a collection of individual products.

“If we fast-forward, you’re actually talking about that transit vehicle as a software-defined vehicle,” Freiberg said. “What is the role we can play, and how can we add value?”

Putting the Passenger at the Center

Although the company’s direct customers include transit agencies and vehicle manufacturers, Freiberg said technology decisions ultimately need to be viewed through the passenger’s eyes.

“At the end, it’s really that rider,” he said.

Better information can improve the passenger experience while existing onboard technology can be leveraged to deliver additional value. Cameras, for example, can become more than monitoring devices when combined with AI-enabled recorders and analytics.

Luminator is also looking globally for ideas that can be transferred between markets. Freiberg pointed to the company's innovation team in Scandinavia and its manufacturing operations in Poland, Texas, and Brazil as examples of how the organization can identify best practices and apply them elsewhere.

The underlying philosophy is continuous improvement — both internally and for its customers.

Greater collaboration between technology suppliers will also be necessary as transit vehicles become more digitally sophisticated.

“We will only be as good as our partners,” Freiberg said.

Rather than trying to provide every piece of the technology ecosystem, Luminator plans to remain focused on its areas of expertise while working with other suppliers to deliver more integrated solutions.

Freiberg said the industry's movement toward open APIs and interoperable technology should ultimately make systems easier and less expensive to deploy and maintain. He pointed to conversations with vehicle manufacturers that dedicate significant engineering resources simply to resolving interoperability issues among different ITS suppliers.

“I think it has to come to a point where it’s plug-and-play,” he said.

This evolution also requires suppliers to become more proactive. Instead of simply shipping a product, Freiberg envisions technology partners identifying potential improvements, testing them on a limited number of vehicles, measuring the results, and then potentially expanding successful solutions fleetwide.

Finding Practical Applications for AI

Artificial intelligence is another piece of the company’s transformation.

Internally, the company is using AI to automate routine tasks and free employees to focus on more strategic work. On the product side, Luminator is exploring AI for software development and testing as well as analyzing information generated by onboard cameras and other systems.

Freiberg sees opportunities for predictive monitoring and operational improvements, but emphasized that the objective isn't simply replacing people.

“It’s not really to replace people,” Freiberg said. “It’s to allow us to be more strategic basically.”

One potential application is using onboard video and AI to understand ridership patterns better. If agencies can use that information to optimize service frequency — adjusting a bus operating every 10 minutes to every 12 or 13 minutes when demand supports it, for example — those relatively small changes could produce meaningful savings across a system.

“I think AI could have a huge impact in transit,” Freiberg said, pointing to potential applications in safety, route planning, and other operational areas. Luminator is already running trials to explore how agencies can extract additional value from their existing onboard assets.

Defining Luminator’s Next Chapter

For Freiberg, near-term success won't simply be measured by selling more technology. It will depend on whether the company makes meaningful progress toward becoming the digital partner it envisions.

“Short-term success would be that we’re making strong steps toward becoming a digital partner,” Freiberg said.

Maintaining and strengthening customer relationships will remain central to that effort. Freiberg said trust and rapport must be “re-earned every day,” while continued investment in employees will be essential to preparing the organization for its next chapter.

After navigating the challenges of COVID-19 and rebuilding momentum, Freiberg believes Luminator is on a positive trajectory. As transit agencies place greater emphasis on passenger experience and digital connectivity, the company aims to remain a key part of the increasingly connected transit vehicle.

The company is improving the traditional products it has provided for decades while developing modular software and services designed to help agencies communicate more effectively with riders.

“We want to make sure that we continue to play a major role in the passenger experience, Freiberg said, as Luminator works to combine nearly a century of transportation experience with the demands of transit's increasingly digital future.