Skip to main content

Flir boosts traffic flow with TrafiBot AI camera

It uses two proprietary AI models developed from millions of Flir-captured images
By David Arminas May 13, 2024 Read time: 3 mins
TrafiBot AI 4K visible camera system

Flir, a Teledyne Technologies company, has introduced the TrafiBot AI 4K visible camera system for interurban traffic intelligence.

The company says that the closed-circuit traffic camera offers the most robust artificial intelligence (AI) for the highest detection performance. It provides the most reliable traffic data collection along interurban roadways from highways to tunnels without sacrificing imaging resolution or data loss due to bandwidth issues.

TrafiBot AI uses two Flir proprietary AI models developed from millions of Flir-captured images collected across the world during the past 30 years. One model identifies and classifies fallen objects. Meanwhile, the other classifies vehicles, including unusual objects such as e-scooters and car-hauler trucks, along with vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and bicyclists.

Combined with the patented 3D world tracker, TrafiBot AI features a greater capacity to detect incidents within a scene. As vehicles enter its field of view, the camera anticipates vehicle speed and trajectory, even if tracked objects become occluded or obscured by other vehicles, objects or road infrastructure. TrafiBot AI can also detect sudden lane changes, tailgating or wrong-way drivers, providing critical data to traffic managers to better manage safety incidents while reducing false alarms.

“Intelligent traffic management systems have made great strides during the past decade, and today traffic management teams require more immediate, accurate traffic data to alert first responders, save lives, and get vehicles moving again,” said Stefaan Pinck, vice president of business development at Flir. 

“TrafiBot AI provides that capability through a combination of proprietary AI models, 3D world tracker and an innovative three-axis rotational design that provides greater installation flexibility for mounting on roadway infrastructure, including sloped walls of tunnels and within tight spaces.”

Gil Marques, president of Tacel, a Canadian supplier of advanced traffic management systems and traffic control devices, said Flir “has gone in the right direction” by integrating its own traffic intelligence experience dating back more than 30 years within its AI algorithm. 

The three-axis camera swivel pans, tilts, and rolls sideways, eliminating the need for custom adapter plates that take time to install. The tilt sensor inside also calibrates automatically, further reducing installation time and any ensuing traffic disruption.

TrafiBot AI is housed within an IP 66/67-rated non-corrosive, stainless-steel casing built to withstand all types of weather, including salt air and humidity, along with high-pressure water blasts from road-and-tunnel cleaning operations. The 4K camera also features an optical zoom of six to 22mm with a detection range of up to 300m. This provides greater coverage per camera compared to predecessor Flir intelligent traffic cameras for improved decision support.

The camera is designed to integrate with the recently launched Flir Cascade software that collects and organises data from TrafiBot AI. It also provides a incident filtering system to ensure only the relevant incidents are shown to the traffic operator. If an incident is detected, a short, 4Kresolution video clip of the scene is flagged for the traffic management team for immediate review. TrafiBot AI can further integrate with video management systems to provide live footage.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Driver aids make inroads on improving safety
    November 12, 2015
    In-vehicle anti-collision systems continue to evolve and could eliminate some incidents altogether. John Kendall rounds up the current developments. A few weeks ago, I watched a driver reverse a car from a parking bay at right angles to the road, straight into a car driving along the road. The accident happened at walking pace, no-one was hurt and both cars had body panels that regain their shape after a low speed shunt.
  • Vitronic introduces precise average speed enforcement
    December 3, 2013
    PoliScanseco, Vitronic’s latest solution for average speed measurement uses laser based automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and is said to deliver clear identification of vehicles on free flow lanes, together with precise average speed measurement between two or more checkpoints. All number plates are captured and data is flagged with GPS-based time synchronisation information from each of the nominated check points to achieve the most precise average speed measurement. Optional features of the s
  • Smart technology keeps infrastructure operating safely
    August 30, 2013
    US Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are using smart technology to warn civil engineers when something is wrong with the infrastructure, says the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Association (AASHTO). Sensors installed on bridges, in roadways, and on maintenance vehicles are communicating real-time performance and weather data, allowing engineers to solve problems before they occur. "Most people look at a road or a bridge and never realise the technology that today's modern tra
  • Tecsidel’s Pan-American Highway tunnel eases Lima’s traffic woes
    December 4, 2018
    The Pan-American Highway connects the US and Canada with Latin America, running for thousands of miles from Alaska in the north to Argentina in the south. Mauro Nogarin finds that one tunnel built underneath it is now providing relief for thousands of travellers each day On the Pan-American Highway, the lengthy series of roads which spans both American continents - from the US state of Alaska to the Latin American country of Argentina - ITS solutions are many and varied. One of these, in Peru’s capital