Xerox demonstrates effectiveness of vehicle passenger detection system

Xerox recently piloted its vehicle passenger detection system in Europe on the busy French-Swiss border, to demonstrate how an accurate automated system would enable transport authorities to operate high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and encourage commuters to adopt carpooling. The pilot, conducted in conjunction with the French Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, Environment, Mobility, and Urban and Country planning (Cerema) and the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (
October 8, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
4186 Xerox recently piloted its vehicle passenger detection system in Europe on the busy French-Swiss border, to demonstrate how an accurate automated system would enable transport authorities to operate high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and encourage commuters to adopt carpooling.

The pilot, conducted in conjunction with the French Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, Environment, Mobility, and Urban and Country planning (Cerema) and the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL), delivered highly satisfactory results, says Xerox. It demonstrated greater than 95 per cent accuracy in detecting the number of passengers in each vehicle and greater than 97 per cent accuracy in detecting that a vehicle had only a driver.

The pilot also found that, in the peak morning rush hours, 85 per cent of vehicles had no passengers; 12 per cent had one passenger and fewer than three per cent had two or more passengers.

The solution is based on patented computer vision techniques and geometric algorithms from Xerox research labs that distinguish between empty and occupied seats. The system complies with data protection law through non-reversible blurring techniques to prevent personal identification and photograph destruction after processing.

According to DREAL, the Xerox vehicle passenger detection system’s automated counting capability and high level of accuracy remove a significant barrier to the introduction of carpooling initiatives and HOV lanes, giving transport authorities a valuable tool to help them take action to reduce congestion.  Hervé Fagard, department head, DREAL Franche-Comté, said, “The pilot results give the authorities the necessary data to inform any initiative they may consider to reduce congestion.”

“The Jougne pilot has proved that the Xerox system, the most accurate automated device on the market, is now ready for us to launch it in Europe,” said Jean-Charles Caulier, sales director, International Public Sector, Xerox. “The system can be used on a large scale to avoid organisations having to manually monitor lanes reserved for carpooling.”
Classification & Data Collection

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • US regulator ‘paves the way for Google’s self-driving car’
    February 11, 2016
    A letter to Google, the US federal transport regulator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), appears to pave the way for self-driving cars, but adds the proviso that the rule-making could take some time. Google had requested clarification of a number of provisions in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs) as they apply to Google’s described design for self-driving vehicles (SDVs). “If no human occupant of the vehicle can actually drive the vehicle, it is more reasonable
    Read More
  • Managed motorways, hard shoulder running aids safety, saves time
    January 30, 2012
    The announcement that, in 2012/13, work to extend Managed Motorways to Junctions 5-8 of the M6 near Birmingham in the West Midlands is scheduled to start marks the next step for the UK's hard shoulder running concept, first introduced on the M42 in 2006. The M6 scheme is in fact one of several announced; over the next few years work will start on applying Managed Motorways to various sections of the M1, M25 London Orbital, M60 and M62. According to Paul Unwin, senior project manager with the Highways Agency
    Read More
  • Half of passengers ‘would pay for better technology’
    August 2, 2013
    David Crawford considers the finding of a passenger attitude survey in nine cities worldwide. Three quarters of regular users of public transport in nine capital and other major cities worldwide believe that electronic ticketing would make travel easier; while an overwhelming 92% would welcome paperless travel in any form, according to a recent consumer survey from global management consultants Accenture. Of the 4,500 urban travellers aged over-18 who were quizzed, some 90% routinely used public transport.
    Read More
  • AGD’s new radar delivers multi-lane monitoring
    June 16, 2015
    AGD’s new multi-lane monitoring radar, the 342MM, is an FMCW radar measuring the number and speed, range and length of passing vehicles for traffic profiling and incident detection. According to AGD, the radar monitors multi-lane highways at 195 frames per second, allowing it to process up to ten times more data per vehicle than some other units, providing greater count, speed and length accuracy. The high frame rate is said to reduce the effects of occlusion from central reserve concrete barriers and other
    Read More

Highlighted Content