A recent white paper by Velodyne calls for action to save pedestrian lives through the use of lidar especially in dark, nighttime conditions. This is a separate issue from the more complicated one of autonomous vehicle safety.
###
As populations have swelled and road traffic has increased in major metro areas throughout the world, keeping pedestrians and cyclists safe has become an increasingly important global public health concern. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3,700 people are fatally injured each day in traffic accidents around the world— a total of more than 1.35 million per year. More than half of these fatalities are pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. Pedestrian lives can be saved with lidar today.
From an article in Mass Transit by Gerald Becker.
The most recent road safety report from the World Health Organization (WHO) notes that traffic injuries are now the leading cause of death globally for individuals between the ages of 5 and 29. The economic toll is massive: One study of 166 countries estimated that crash injuries will cost the world economy $1.8 trillion dollars (in 2010 USD) from 2015-2030.
With more people and vehicles sharing the roads, intelligent road management and smarter traffic policies are critical to saving lives and building safer cities. To meet this growing need, smart cities around the world have begun implementing LiDAR to monitor traffic and collect critical data to inform policies and infrastructure changes to protect pedestrian and cyclist safety.
LiDAR-Based Traffic Intelligence: How it Works
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a time-of-flight sensing technology that pulses low-power, eye-safe lasers and measures the time it takes for the laser to complete a round trip between the sensor and a target. The resulting data is used to generate 3D point cloud images, providing advanced 3D perception and situational awareness about the scanned area. This data is then analyzed with computer perception software to extract valuable insights and power real-time, data-driven decision-making.
Installed at roads and intersections, LiDAR sensors monitor and autonomously collect traffic data, including how and when people and vehicles use this critical infrastructure. For example, the LiDAR sensors can identify and count pedestrians jaywalking, measure vehicle traffic volume, identify speeding vehicles and other hazards and much more.
This data can then be compared by time of day, day of the week, to identify patterns, predict safety hazards and ultimately inform transportation policies to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety. For example, data from LiDAR sensors is currently being used in cities to inform decisions and understand key metrics like:
How many traffic lights should be installed, and where, to be most effective?
How long should the pedestrian crossing time be?
What hours and days of the week are experiencing the highest traffic and pose the highest safety risk?
What are the most common factors that contribute to safety incidents? How can these factors be mitigated or eliminated?
In addition to driving policy and technology decisions, collected data can also be used in vehicle to everything (V2X) applications and delivered to both drivers and passengers to enable real-time decisions on the road.
For the complete article on saving pedestrian lives CLICK HERE.
Note – If you liked this post click here to stay informed of all of the 3D laser scanning, geomatics, UAS, autonomous vehicle, Lidar News and more. If you have an informative 3D video that you would like us to promote, please forward to editor@lidarnews.com and if you would like to join the Younger Geospatial Professional movement click here.
