Skip to main content

Smart reflector improves pedestrian safety

In collaboration with Finnish plastics manufacturer Coreplast Laitila, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a reflector that can be wirelessly controlled via a mobile phone application. A traditional reflector, carried by a pedestrian and equipped with sensors, LED lights and wireless charging and communication, can be made to blink and alert vehicle drivers when the pedestrian is approaching a dangerous crossing. In the future, researchers say it could communicate directly with smart traf
January 29, 2016 Read time: 1 min
RSS

In collaboration with Finnish plastics manufacturer 8310 Coreplast Laitila, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a reflector that can be wirelessly controlled via a mobile phone application.

A traditional reflector, carried by a pedestrian and equipped with sensors, LED lights and wireless charging and communication, can be made to blink and alert vehicle drivers when the pedestrian is approaching a dangerous crossing. In the future, researchers say it could communicate directly with smart traffic lights or cars to warn, say, a turning truck driver that a pedestrian is in the area of a crossing.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Preventing connected vehicles creating disconnected drivers
    November 12, 2015
    Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are evolving at a rapid pace – but drivers’ ability to cope with them is not and at some point the mismatch must be addressed. Probably the biggest challenge the transportation industry has ever faced.” That is how Dr Bryan Reimer of Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab describes the challenges posed by semi-autonomous vehicles.
  • Work to begin on North Virginia highway improvements to ease congestion
    August 2, 2016
    Work will begin this summer on the first major improvements to US Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway, Virginia, in 15 years. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) project is part of a comprehensive initiative to transform the I-66 corridor, giving commuters and other travellers a variety of fast and reliable choices for getting to and from work. Toll revenues will fund multimodal improvements, giving commuters expanded options for travel. To jumpstart the process, the Commonwealth Transp
  • New range extenders for hybrid electric vehicles in 2015
    March 6, 2015
    According to the IDTechEx report Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles Land, Water & Air 2015-2025, over eight million hybrid cars will be made in 2025, with a range extender, the additional power source that distinguishes them from pure-electric. They will also be in buses, military vehicles and boats: a major new market overall. Today's range extenders consist of little more than off-the-shelf internal combustion engines. They are being replaced by second-generation range extenders - piston engines design
  • Mobinet counters weighty cross border concerns
    November 9, 2017
    A Mobinet pilot is combining onboard weighing with V2X comms to streamline vehicle weight enforcement. David Crawford reports. Pan-European, cross-border weigh-in-motion (WIM) for trucks is now a practical possibility, following successful Scandinavian trials within the EU-co-funded Mobinet (Internet of Mobility) programme. New technology is using strain sensors, located on load-bearing components and routinely installed in truck fleet management systems.