Digital Human created for Tour de France

The Tour de France and Tour de Frances Femmes has partnered with NTT to introduce a series of innovations, including a digital human (pictured above).

NTT is the official tech partner to the event organiser, Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O), and for almost a decade has enhanced fan engagement through a series of tech-driven new features around the Tours.

This year the highlight of its work is developing the digital human, which is ChatGPT-integrated, and combines machine learning, speech recognition, natural language processing and conversational AI.

It’s been specifically trained on relevant race information and can access real-time data to provide the ultimate user experience.

Other innovations this year include NTT creating the world’s largest “connected stadium” by setting up a digital twin of the race using IoT and edge technologies, which will connect layers of real-time information to replicate all aspects of the event digitally.

To enable this, each of the bikes on the Tours transmit a constant stream of latitude, longitude, and speed data over radio networks to race motorcycles or a plane.

A microwave signal carries this data to the end of the race, where a truck-based edge-computing device runs NTT’s real-time analytics platform.

Shahid Ahmed, Group EVP, New Ventures and Innovation at NTT, said: “Combining IoT and edge unlocks a new level of operational excellence and one that can’t be achieved in isolation. Capturing, processing, and analysing data alongside the unity of these technologies is essential for making every bike a ‘digital twin’ which is the ultimate demonstration of edge computing in action.”

Julien Goupil, Head of Partnerships & Media at A.S.O, adds: “Having worked with NTT for the past nine years, we’ve seen data become an increasing asset to better explain the race to a mass audience, strongly engage our fans, improve their fan experience and support our race organisation’s challenges.”