AEye Automated Incident Detection wins ITS America Award
AEye, Inc., a global leader in adaptive, high-performance lidar solutions, today announced it has been awarded Intelligent Transportation Society of America’s (ITS America) Best of ITS Award for its Ultra-Long Range Automated Incident Detection (AID) project with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and VSI Labs.
The three entities partnered to validate that AEye’s 4Sight™ M lidar can provide reliable detection, even in harsh Minnesota winter weather conditions, at 800 meter range – performance that exceeds existing AID application expectations and pushes the baseline standard of ITS safety.
“Transportation technologies that detect incidents on highways can help reduce response and clearing times and road congestion, but have clear limitations,” said Tara Olds, Director of Connected and Automated Vehicles at the Minnesota Department of Transportation. “It’s important for us to continually advance our technology tools in order to improve roadway safety, and AEye’s lidar is an example of how they are pushing the industry, even in the most challenging weather conditions.”
For the project, AEye partnered with MnROAD, the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s cold-weather pavement testing facility, and VSI Labs, to test AEye 4Sight M lidar sensors on Interstate 94. While MnDOT currently uses cameras to obtain analytics on the flow of traffic on this corridor, the 4Sight M lidar sensor offers greater precision when it comes to speeds, lane positioning, number of axles, and even load profiles. In addition, AEye’s AID solution provides superior performance in poor weather, and is able to detect incidents at distances up to one kilometer.
“The testing shows that AEye’s 4Sight M lidar offers longer range detection and greater accuracy compared to cameras, radars, or other roadway monitoring solutions,” said Akram Benmbarek, AEye’s VP of Strategic Initiatives. “With improved analytics and intelligence derived from this lidar data, agencies like MnDOT can better track and respond to traffic flow and incidents. We’re honored to be recognized by ITS America, and to play a part in helping municipalities reduce congestion, prevent accidents, and realize cost savings.”
“VSI Labs was delighted to support this project,” said Phil Magney, Founder and President of VSI Labs. “Being based in Minnesota, we have a particular interest in helping agencies like MnDOT deploy new solutions that improve the performance and safety of the transportation network.”
AEye’s 4Sight M is a high-resolution, ultra-long range lidar sensor, which enables increased coverage with fewer sensors, lowering the cost of materials, installation, and maintenance over the lifespan of the system, while improving data collection quality and reliability. It enables traffic managers and emergency vehicles to respond quickly to a collision and drivers to travel more safely by warning them of hazardous conditions on the road that may not be immediately visible.
AEye’s lidar sensor leverages AEye’s 4Sight™ Intelligent Sensing Platform to better locate, identify, classify, and track objects. This allows for improved data collection speed and quality, ensuring that more accurate information is used to drive decisions and improve highway safety, as well as reduce traffic congestion and maintenance costs. AEye’s all-in-one solution comes complete with a library of optimized high-resolution scan patterns to tackle the unique requirements of AID applications.
ITS America is the country’s leading organization to advance transportation technology. Its Best of ITS awards recognize innovative projects which best advance ITS to benefit communities.
