Canada issues C$1M loan to rail-car tech developer

Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) has issued a C$1 million loan to RayHawk Technologies Inc.  to commercialize a machine learning autonomous system to open and close rail-car lids.

RayHawk's loan is part of C$3.3 million in loans and grants recently awarded to agriculture manufacturing and agri-food sector Saskatchewan companies through the Business Scale-up Productivity and Regional Innovation Ecosystems programs, according to PrairiesCan officials. The loans are paid back interest free.

“Shipping by rail has been a critical link within the supply chain for decades, and at RayHawk our vision is to revolutionize rail operations by removing people from the hazards of working on top of a rail car," said Tom Boehm, president and CEO of RayHawk. 

RayHawk will use the financing to commercialize a machine learning autonomous system that opens and closes rail-car lids. The company will install a demonstration site at a grain terminal to prove the technology works, and will implement a marketing strategy.