Passenger detection technology wins award
Vehicle Occupancy Ltd, a technology company based in Loughborough, which has developed a pioneering system that uses infra-red technology to automatically count the number of passengers in moving vehicles, has won a prestigious global award for innovation at the IET's annual Innovation in Engineering Awards
Vehicle Occupancy Ltd.specialises in innovative and bespoke laser products and services. The vehicle monitoring system, called dtect, is designed to accurately count occupants in moving road vehicles in all weathers, day or night.
The technology was originally designed to enforce car sharing priority lanes which help ease road congestion but is also used in road tolling and to monitor vehicles entering high security areas.
dtect can instantly differentiate between humans and "decoy" passengers and is designed to detect human skin behind all types of automotive glass at a range of 10-100 metres, meaning that it will not mistake a hand for a face or a dog or dummy for a human.
The technology is the result of a three year research program and has been trailed in major trunk roads in the UK and successfully tested on the A647 in Leeds.
A total of 15 awards, each sponsored by a major company, were presented and at a ceremony at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London hosted by TV personality Johnny Ball.
