Electronics engineering consultancy, Roke Manor Research, has developed a dashboard camera to provide precise 3D reconstruction of road accidents.
The UK-based company fitted the camera to an autonomous Toyota Prius to demonstrate how data captured via vision processing technology could be used to reconstruct the scene following a road incident.
The company thinks the technology will give insurers, drivers and, in the case of autonomous vehicles, manufacturers independent evidence of what happened in an accident.
Dr James Revell, consultant engineer at Roke, said: ‘Unlike current dashcams, the technology we tested today uses computer vision algorithms to enable the precise position and orientation of any vehicle – car, bike, lorry or autonomous vehicle. This allows for near-perfect 3D reconstruction of any accident to be created even if the vehicle loses complete control.’
Early iterations of this technology were first developed by Roke for soldiers in research undertaken for the UK government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). Over the past year, Roke has been developing and miniaturising the technology with the help of funding from Innovate UK.
David Cole, managing Director of Roke, said: ‘The funding from Innovate UK is essential in helping Roke remain at the forefront of autonomous and sensing technology. With 60 years of research under our belt, the money invested has the benefit of world-class engineers with experience across the defence, commercial and national security sectors.’
With further investment, the technology is not just limited to accident reconstruction but could also prove useful for sports coaching or meet wider needs in the transport industry.
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