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Software Program Provides Early Warning of Potential Auto Safety Issues By
Automatically Finding Hidden Patterns In Federal Data of Fatal Crashes.
Findings for Ford Explorer Made Available
Hartsdale, NY August 23, 2001 - Virtual Gold, Inc., a leading next-generation data mining software company announced
today the availability of a computer program (CarMiner) that will enable users to test their
theories and evaluate information about vehicles involved in fatal crashes. If a theory
presented to CarMiner is incomplete or inaccurate, the program automatically highlights
statistics in the FARS (Fatality Analysis Research System) data that give the user a more
accurate picture.
CarMiner is based on a new approach to data mining called causative analysis, the latest
brainchild of Dr. Inderpal Bhandari, Founder & CEO of Virtual Gold. The approach
involves the use of a computer model of what statistical patterns make sense from the
standpoint of physical causality and real-world impact.
Dr. Bhandari explained the benefits. "It turns out that using a computer model of
causality makes it easier to assess the impact of the trillions of partial and conditional
relationships that exist among variables in high-dimensional data. That, in turn, makes it
possible to automatically evaluate very large numbers of patterns efficiently, since most
can be eliminated rapidly from consideration. Finally, it makes it easy for non-technical
decision makers to use powerful analysis methods since everyone has a commonsense
idea of what causality and real-world impact are. I expect that such models will be used
routinely by the next generation of data mining software". Causative analysis is now an
integral part of Virtual Gold's VirtualMiner technology platform that was used to develop
CarMiner.
Virtual Gold also announced the availability of a report on the experience of using
CarMiner to study the Ford Explorer. The report addresses questions of current interest
pertaining to tire-related, rollover-related, driver-maneuver-related, and in-car-death-
related fatal crashes involving Ford Explorer and other comparable sport utility vehicle
(SUV) during the period 1995-1999. By examining the relationships that exist among 120
vehicle-related and driver-related attributes in the FARS data of over 10,000 fatal
crashes, the FARS statistics highlighted automatically by CarMiner provide insight over
and beyond what appears to be presently known about these questions. They can serve to
provide early warnings of potential safety issues that should be addressed.
Virtual Gold estimated that there could be as many as 344 trillion partial relationships
among the 120 attributes in the FARS data on SUV's, suggesting why it was all but
inevitable that CarMiner would discover knowledge to shed light on these questions about
Ford Explorer. CarMiner processes this data efficiently on a standard personal computer,
which is suggestive of the power of causative analysis. The report introduces the concepts
that underlie causative analysis and is written for a wide, non-technical audience. The
company also plans to conduct analyses on other models of SUVs, cars and trucks in the
near future.
Dr. Bhandari, Virtual Gold's Founder and CEO, was prompted to apply the company's
award winning data mining technology to the FARS database after reading an article in
the New York Times. The article noted that "examining the (FARS) data without a clear
idea of what it contains is much harder than finding clues once a problem is known",
explaining the challenge faced by Ford, Firestone and federal safety regulators in
identifying such problems before they are known.
CarMiner is intended for automobile makers, insurance companies, banks, U.S. and non-
U.S. government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, automobile consumers, and web
sites for automobile consumers. Customers can use CarMiner as an Internet-based service
to test their own theories and evaluate information about vehicles in the FARS or other
databases. CarMiner is also available as a software platform. Details may be found at
www.virtualgold.com/CarMiner/ .
Parties interested in business development
opportunities should contact Thomas J. Martin, thomas.martin@virtualgold.com
Executive Vice President,
who is responsible for taking Virtual Gold's next generation data mining software to
market.
About Virtual Gold, Inc www.virtualgold.com
Virtual Gold, Inc. is a leading next-generation business intelligence and data mining
software company. Former IBM scientist Dr. Inderpal Bhandari, one of the world's
leading authorities on data mining and its timely application to real world problems,
founded it in 1997. Virtual Gold provides an integrated family of web-based data mining
software and solutions. The company is headquartered in Hartsdale, New York and has a
software development group located in Kolkata, India.
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