Roadside Unit Accident Detection via Image Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional accident monitoring systems are unable to detect and monitor accidents involving vehicles without an onboard device, limiting their effectiveness in recognizing and detailing accident situations.
Innovation Solution
A roadside unit (RSU) equipped with a communicator, acquirer, and detector that captures and analyzes road images to detect accidents, acquires vehicle information, and transmits relevant data to an accident monitoring server, enabling the detection and detailed monitoring of accidents even if the involved vehicle does not have an onboard device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If accident monitoring relies on on-board devices in vehicles, then vehicle-to-road communication is enabled, but accidents involving vehicles without on-board devices cannot be detected
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having vehicles communicate accident information to the road (on-board device approach), the patent inverts the architecture so that the roadside unit actively monitors and detects accidents using imaging devices and image recognition algorithms. This allows detection of all vehicles regardless of whether they have on-board devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an imaging device as an intermediary between the vehicle and the communication system. The imaging device captures visual evidence of accidents, and the roadside unit processes these images to detect accidents, serving as a mediator that doesn't require direct vehicle cooperation.
2Extent of automation
If only on-board devices are used for accident notification, then vehicle-initiated reporting is achieved, but road-side autonomous detection capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The roadside unit performs self-service by autonomously monitoring the road environment using imaging devices, automatically detecting accidents through image recognition, and transmitting accident information to the server without requiring any vehicle equipment or driver action.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of vehicle-based reporting (requiring on-board devices and driver initiation) with an optical/electronic system using imaging devices and image processing algorithms for autonomous detection.
3Loss of information
If detailed accident monitoring is implemented, then comprehensive accident information is gathered, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the accident monitoring function into distinct modules: imaging device for data collection, image recognition unit for analysis, and communication unit for data transmission. This modular segmentation enables detailed monitoring while managing system complexity through functional separation.
Data Source
AI summary
A roadside unit includes a first communicator that performs road-to-vehicle communication with an on-board device incorporated in a first vehicle, a second communicator that communicates with an accident monitoring server, an acquirer that acquires first image information from an imaging device that takes images of object on a road, and a detector that detects an occurrence of an accident caused by a second vehicle based on the first image information acquired by the acquirer. The acquirer acquires vehicle information from the first vehicle via the first communicator when the detector detects the occurrence of the accident. The second communicator transmits, to the accident monitoring server, the first image information and the vehicle information both acquired by the acquirer.