The power of traffic detection

The digitization of infrastructure has opened new doors in smart traffic management, making it greener, safer, and more flexible

Words |René Pohl and Tim Bissé, product and project managers, Traffic

Technology division, Vitronic, Germany

Digital technologies are transforming the transport industry at a rapid pace. Innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) have the potential to improve everything from pricing models and traffic management to safety and emission reduction.

Vitronic is harnessing the full potential of intelligent infrastructure and its data to take traffic management to the next level – to the benefit of customers, road users, and the environment.

Above: Vitronic is using sensors to detect vulnerable road users (VRU) such as cyclists and pedestrians and pass on their position to vehicles

Efficient and sustainable tolling

Tolling is playing an increasingly important role in future mobility – reducing congestion, making traffic safer, and contributing to new mobility solutions like Mobility-as-aService (MaaS). Tolling also has an important role to play in reducing emissions and overcoming the climate crisis. Dynamic tolling systems that differentiate between factors like vehicle types and emissions are a fair solution to fund modern infrastructure and more environmentally friendly means of transport. Tolling can also be used to control pollution and congestion, with models being developed that impose speed limits, access restrictions, or increased fees when thresholds are exceeded.

Versatile, flexible, and userfriendly tolling systems are needed to manage the increased volume of traffic in cities and allow the sustainable financing of alternative mobility concepts such as connected and autonomous driving. Vitronic enables a new level of tolling through 360° technology and comprehensive tolling expertise, including image/ video-based tolling (AI detection), high-performance laser vehicle detection, and both mobile and stationary automatic control. Systems from the Vitronic portfolio do more than measure excessive speed – defining vehicle classes, capturing

red light violations, ensuring the correct use of lanes, and gathering information on the configuration of the traffic flow.

One new Vitronic development is mobile toll control vehicles. These vehicles are powered by an Enforcement Bar – a mobile, fully automatic number plate reading and classification system that can recognise number plates in four directions. Even at high speeds, the system achieves a very high recognition rate – meaning the detection, identification, and classification of vehicles can be carried out automatically from a moving vehicle. More than 100 of these vehicles are already being used by the National Tax Administration in Poland.

Greater safety for VRUs

Below: The Enforcement Bar is a fully automated license plate recognition system that is integrated into the latestgenerated siren Vulnerable road users (VRUs) – pedestrians and those on system on patrol cars bicycles/e-scooters – account for about half of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents. This rises to 70% in cities. Excessive speed is one of the main reasons for fatal accidents, along with driver and human error. With the number of VRUs increasing in urban centres, cities need intelligent technology and traffic concepts to help protect them. Speed cameras, red- 70% light cameras, object The percentage of VRU detection, agile speed limitations, and the exclusion of heavy vehicles in cities can injuries and deaths on city roads all protect VRUs. A number of innovative pilot programmes are currently taking place all over the world to explore how new technologies can be utilised to protect road users.

At the test track for automated and connected driving (TAVF) in Hamburg, real-time data from Vitronic cameras and sensors helps optimize traffic flow and increase safety for VRUs. Collective perception messages (CPMs) are sent to the autonomous or semiautonomous vehicles in use, warning the driver of a potential collision.

Meanwhile in Potsdam, a research partnership between Vitronic, the German Aerospace Center and the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is developing a Local Traffic Safety Analyzer (LTSA) to record VRUs in complex traffic scenarios. The objective is to identify potentially dangerous situations, namely collisions, between various types of road users before they occur and send messages to warn road users of a potential situation. In Dubai, a pilot project jointly developed by Dubai Police and Vitronic Middle East is exploring how machine learning and AI can be used to increase safety at crosswalks. A convolutional neural network (CNN)-based system monitors the crosswalk and automatically distinguishes between pedestrians, cyclists, and motorised road users. If a vehicle disregards a pedestrian’s right of way or endangers them, a violation is issued. The system can also connect to a traffic light and automatically switch it to red to allow pedestrians to cross.

The future of smart mobility

Vitronic’s vision for future mobility is intelligent infrastructure that comes to life through the smart integration of different traffic technologies – from speed cameras and traffic lights to the vehicle itself. This connectedness could generate a wealth of data that could be used to shape all kinds of planning and policy activities. Data could help structural engineers and architects predict the utilization of a bridge, and inspectors measure abrasion and potential danger. It could also help countries monitor mobility trends or reduce pollution, congestion, and noise – paving the way for greener cities. To fully unlock the potential of traffic data, it needs to be centrally accessible, yet adhere to the highest data protection standards. By using two data streams, Vitronic seeks to help transport authorities differentiate between data used for toll enforcement and anonymized data to support mobility concepts that enhance safety, efficiency, and emission reduction. Smart mobility is about more than just traffic control. Reliable and precise traffic detection systems will play a central role in the future of transport. With the right technology and infrastructure in place, traffic management becomes green, sustainable, safe, and flexible. ■