Lidar system partnership intends to end toll road delays

21 Oct 2019

Cepton Technologies and MechaSpin collaborate to deliver laser-based traffic monitoring and billing system.

A new technology partnership is set to transform road tolling for both providers and motorists alike by utilizing a combination of lidar technology and data analytics. Cepton Technologies has collaborated with MechaSpin, an industrial perception and machine learning systems developer, to create a lidar-based solution that produces detailed 3D classification of vehicles in real time for automated tolling applications.

The solution combines Cepton’s Sora-P60 with MechaSpin’s MSx software to enable immediate profiling and classification of vehicles traveling at highway speeds in a wide range of weather and lighting conditions.

The partners commented, “The tolling industry lacks an integrated end-to-end solution for deploying 3D lidar for vehicle classification and tracking. We have partnered to deliver a solution for this need. Cepton's lidar technology coupled with MechaSpin's MSx Processing Engine offers a robust solution for tolling, intermodal and other transportation industry applications.”

Conventional road tolling systems often depend on physical infrastructure to reduce vehicle speed, or tollbooths to allow for manual processing, which can cause congestion and frustration amongst motorists. Advanced systems that allow for faster tolling, however, are often subject to abuses such as leakage, while road-based sensors often fail due to wear and tear.

Physical infrastructure eliminated

Cepton and MechaSpin’s solution addresses these challenges by eliminating the need for physical infrastructure while providing accurate data, such as vehicle velocity, size and axle count, in a format that can be integrated with other sensor, data capture and billing systems. The hardware is designed for aerial installation and contains minimal moving parts, reducing the likelihood of failure.

Neil Huntingdon, Cepton’s VP of Business Development, commented, “This partnership will bring major innovations to the tolling industry. Our Sora-P60 lidar delivers an unrivalled scan speed at 380Hz, making it possible to profile vehicles as they pass at highway speeds. Our partnership with MechaSpin will allow for faster, more accurate and lower cost management of our transport infrastructure as the number of vehicles continues to grow globally.”

Danny Kent, PhD, MechaSpin’s President, added, “The tolling industry lacks an integrated end-to-end solution for deploying 3D lidar for vehicle classification and tracking. MechaSpin and Cepton have partnered to deliver a solution for this need. Cepton's lidar technology coupled with MechaSpin's MSx Processing Engine offers a robust solution for tolling, intermodal and other transportation industry applications.”

Cepton says its Micro Motion Technology is unlike conventional beam-steering technologies, such as spinning lidar and MEMS. Instead Cepton’s MMT architecture enables a mirrorless, frictionless and rotation-free system to increase the durability of the product, while delivering accurate 3D sensing. The company is this week showcasing its lidar solutions at the 26th ITS World Congress in Singapore, between October 21st to 25th.