(Page 2 of 2)
"You can't just eyeball it to determine who is going in there illegally or legally," says Jeff Caldwell, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Transportation. "You need an automated system that can operate day and night, independently, in all kinds of weather."
Caldwell says that his agency is working with Fluor-Transurban, a joint venture between two multinational highway-building firms, to create the toll roads. Jennifer Aument, a spokeswoman for Fluor-Transurban in New York, confirms that her company is interested in the Dtect system.
"We are at the beginning point, but we see promise in that," she says. "It needs intense and rigorous review. The hope is that this technology would be able to distinguish between a human, say, and a dog."
Still, Caldwell says, "We have not capitulated to that as the appropriate technology." Early word that Virginia was even discussing an infrared system for counting passengers, he says, prompted immediate privacy concerns among residents and their state representatives.
"Our people want to know how this fits with privacy worries, and how enforceable it will be," Caldwell says. "This is a really cutting-edge project, and there are a lot of uncertainties."
Ballantyne is aware of the privacy fears and says that Dtect can be programmed to scramble or obscure people's faces. In prototype testing, he says, the system was able to superimpose a green circle over passengers' faces. And the images themselves, he notes, are gray scale and not useful for identification purposes. "When we export the image of the number of persons in the car, we make it so it is impossible to identify the faces," he says. "And of course if someone was hiding in the boot, we wouldn't be able to detect them."
As for good old-fashioned dummies in the car, "it gets the headlines, but it is very rare," Ballantyne says. "People really do have a lot of better things to do with their lives."
Long-lasting near-infrared LEDs could be used to make cheap, flexible night-vision displays and sensors.
These chips could lead to highly sensitive night-vision goggles and new medical imaging devices.
In order to circumvent this charade, I,m going to start manufacturing heated dummies.
Seriosly folks if you have a need to explore real transportation solution please e-mail me at knollallen@gmail.com. I find it truly rediculous to have HOV lanes in the first place unless there is a transportation system that could truly utilize that feature to affect a muc larger percentage of commuters getting to and from work with their employers paying out under IRS rules 132 for parking and transit passes. The road systems that we have in place are a tremendous asset but the systems being used currently are 2 to 3 generation behind the needs of today.
Catching Carpool-lane cheaters with new technology is an interesting development but it is missing the overall problem. Carpool lanes were created to decrease traffic, by promoting car pooling.
There are two solutions for dealing with traffic,
1. Build more roads
2. Optimize the use of the current roads.
Millions upon millions are wasted in overages cost and overage time in building more roads. Actually, road construction for governments is one of the most ineffective building projects there are, you know you seen it first hand! How about a video detect that spots sleeping road construction workers instead! Dollar for dollar that is a better investment.
Optimizing the current road is something that is so simple, but is often overlooked. Light cueing is one item which in particular is abused. Have to drive 20 feet then stop for a light that is out of sequence wastes gas. If you add that up over a year for all the cars that un-necessarily stop you are looking at cumulatively thousands of dollars in wasted gas! Come on, Save gas by telling your local government to fit the lights! Then you have road setups, road configurations, and a so on.
This company should instead pour money into how to optimize cities roads, and become a consulting agency. Saving drives 20 mins a day for a cities drivers is a much better investment than trying to catch the 3 slick people frustrated with the system.
Commercialization
Innovation Management
Guest (DennisB)
As taxpayers, don't we all pay for the roads already? This is just another example of the states trying to dictate behavior, when they created the system in which it operates.
If they do not want crowded roads either:
-Build bigger ones, or
- Zone to keep the population down in given geographic areas.
But no, they would rather wave their finger at us and for not being PC and car pooling.
I am sure all the lawmakers who crafted this "system" carpool....right. And they send their kids to public schools....right.
In the case of major population centers, funnel the moneny into revitalizing and expanding rail and bus systems (in that order). Then, add-on incentives to leave the cars at home. The benefits in terms of reduced traffic, reduced road rage, reduced pollution etc. would truly represent a wise expenditure of the public's money.
Guest (rafael7)
The writer who calls for ramping up out mass transit systems is spot on. I am as guilty as the next guy. I own several personal vehicles. As I look around me in traffic I am constantly amazed that as a highly evolved, intelligent species we allow 3000 lbs of gas-guzzling, pollution belching steel to transport a couple hundred pounds of flesh from the mall to the dentist to the workplace. It's reprehensible. I do favor transport by motorcycle, and am so anal about being without my OWN vehicle whenever I travel, near or far. But I am just aware of my fault and it only adds a layer of guilt. I rode the bus for nearly a year once when I was down on my luck. Truth is, it doesn't hurt much, and you meet a lot of interesting people. As a nation we need to wake up to the fact that we are killing ourselves and the planet with our excess and ignorance. Rant Complete.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
This document is part of the “How-To Guide for Most Common Measurements” centralized resource portal. This tutorial provides a detailed guide for measurement and device considerations to take temperature measurements using thermocouples. Get an introduction to thermocouples, which are inexpensive sensing devices widely used with PC-based data acquisition systems. Also review some specific thermocouple examples and learn how thermocouples work and ways to integrate them into a data acquisition measurement system.
View full PDF >
Listen to story > 
Our list of the 50 most innovative companies, including the following:
On Twitter
Become a Fan on Facebook
Subscribe to the Feed
YankeeBruce
21 Comments
Cost to Benefit
So the government is going to spend $100k+ per station to catch 3 people a year? Nice use of my money. Why do they have to spend so much effort to prevent something that is "very rare"?
Reply
Guest (Orion73)
Re: Cost to Benefit
I read the article as stating that the use of dummies in the passenger seat in "very rare". This technology and it's value lies in catching those inevitable - and let's face it, very not rare - individuals who feel the rules don't apply to them. Now, if you really must get there faster than everyone else, you just have to be willing to pay the extra price. With a toll instead of a ticket.
Reply
z0rr0
99 Comments
Re: Cost to Benefit
All bass-ackward..
The idea here is that once you can tell how many people occupy a car, then you can start a more refined "user tax" structure, and generate more revenues. Note that tolls rose wherever they put in EzPass. Our governments, at all levels, are becoming profit centers. Along the way the interest in serving has been lost.
Reply