A new electronic tolling system that utilises high performance lidar sensors from Cepton and a vehicle identification solution from Red Fox ID, is expected to be deployed soon on a major highway turnpike crossing multiple states in the United States.
It aims to provide fast, accurate, barrier-free, real-time tolling to enable smooth traffic flows. This marks the maturing of the partnership between Cepton and Red Fox ID bringing new, automated tolling solutions to customers across North America, EMEA and Asia.
Based on an extended collaboration with leading lidar solution provider Cepton, Red Fox ID a provider in designer and developer of vehicle identification and classification solutions has developed a multi-lane free flow tolling system called Quantum, which is able to accurately detect, track and classify vehicles of any size or type at highway speeds.
Quantum uses Cepton’s Micro Motion Technology (MMT) based Sora™-P60 or Sora™-P90 lidar sensors for high-resolution vehicle profiling, to enable integrators and road operators to achieve highly accurate customer billing in real time, with free flow, barrier-free tolling.
For tolls to be charged correctly based on vehicle class, traditional tolling systems often use tollbooths for manual processing or depend on vehicle speed reduction infrastructure to allow for time to capture vehicle information. That can cause congestion, increased emissions and frustration amongst customers.
More advanced systems that aim to enable faster tolling, however, are often subject to significant errors such as missed vehicles or wrong vehicle classification, due to limitations of the sensors currently being used, such as cameras and weight-based ground sensors.
Vehicle classification errors can have significant operating cost consequences for tolling operators while leakage leads to lower revenues. With tollways processing tens of millions of vehicles a year, the cumulative impact of inaccuracies and errors creates significant administrative costs, losses and customer dissatisfaction.
Red Fox ID’s Quantum solution addresses such challenges by adding an extra layer of accuracy to the tolling system by integrating Cepton’s unique lidar technology. A gantry mounted system using Quantum is therefore able to accurately detect and track vehicles, even as they switch lanes.
The lidar-enabled Quantum solution captures and extracts high quality information, such as vehicle velocity, size and class. All of that information is used as input to a separate billing system to compute and apply the appropriate tolling charge.
Quantum can also direct camera-based systems on the gantry to capture a vehicle’s front and rear plates in the event that a transponder cannot be detected. Through these innovations, Quantum has demonstrated a vehicle detection accuracy in all traffic conditions of 99.96%, an axle classification accuracy in all traffic conditions of 99.9% and a vehicle length accuracy of +/-5%.
This world-class performance is enabled by Cepton’s innovative Sora-P sensor family which has been tested and proven during extended trials, including in various weather and light conditions.
The recently released Sora-P90 lidar features a 380 Hz frame rate to deliver 1140 line scans per second, providing high-fidelity profiling of vehicles passing at highway speeds. Powered by Cepton’s patented, rotation-free, frictionless and mirrorless MMT, the Sora-P90 is rugged, reliable and scalable, making it ideally suited for automated tolling applications.
In addition, with it’s 90° horizontal field of view, the lidar can be set up using one gantry instead of requiring two separate sensors and gantries, making overall deployment more cost effective for tolling system integrators.
Jun Pei
With their experience in building innovative tolling solutions, and understanding of the industry trend away from ground loop-based tolling systems towards next-generation gantry-based overhead systems powered by advanced sensor technologies, Red Fox ID has been working with Cepton on multiple trials and proof of concept projects across the globe since 2019.
This has allowed both partners to expand the application of advanced lidar intelligence for high accuracy tolling on highways and roadways in a growing list of countries, across North America, EMEA and Asia.
Steve Bird, CEO of Red Fox ID, says, “Our industry’s drive for overhead tolling solutions has failed to materialise in the mainstream due, primarily, to a lack of sensors capable of achieving the high levels of accuracy required for a modern tolling product. The technical innovations enabled by Cepton offers us new design options.”
“Improvements in the resolution of the data, the ability to deal with the full range of weather-related conditions, and the development of a sensor with an in-service lifespan suitable for tolling make it possible, for the first time, for us to develop an accurate, overhead free flow system. Our partnership with Cepton will be a game-changer in revolutionising the tolling market.”
Dr. Jun Pei, CEO of Cepton, adds, “It is very clear that lidar’s uses extend far beyond just serving as the ‘eyes’ of autonomous vehicles. Our lidar technology has a huge part to play in making our transport infrastructure smarter, safer, greener and more efficient, as we can see here following Quantum’s highly successful real-world testing.”
“The key to success for toll operators and providers is minimal error and maximum yield, and we are excited to be partnering with Red Fox ID to help our mutual customers achieve this goal with our market leading lidar technology. We look forward to working with them to expand our partnership worldwide.”
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