Smart infrastructure and automotive lidar vendor Cepton Inc. claims it will deploy the largest commercial lidar deployment along one of the largest highway tolling systems in the U.S. in a multi-million-dollar contract.
Under the deal, Cepton’s Sora series of lidar sensors will be deployed on several major tollways located in Northern California. The company said the tolling lidar deal has the potential to scale outside the U.S. for future projects.
The Sora lidars include fast scanning speed and data rate for detailed and accurate 3D profiling of vehicles passing at highway speeds. The sensors have been used to modernize tolling infrastructure worldwide by enabling free-flow, electronic toll collection, significantly reducing traffic congestion and toll leakage, the company said.
Why it is important
Cepton said tollways using lidar is important due to inaccuracies that result from vehicles passing quickly, which could result in:
- Revenue loss
- Administrative costs
- Customer dissatisfaction
Traditionally ground loops have been used to identify vehicle types but compared to gantry-based systems powered by lidar intelligence these lidar systems are more accurate in providing 3D pre-vision and real-time vehicle classification capabilities.
Additionally, lidar enables smart analytics to ensure tollways operate efficiently and are error-free. They also can be installed and maintained without disrupting lane usage. Because of this, lidar-based systems are becoming an alternative by tolling authorities.
