A survey, conducted among visitors at last week’s Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, found that the technology on show that most people wanted to have in their hometown was a Smart Pedestrian Crosswalk (SPC), designed by Estonian company Bercman Technologies.
During the expo people were asked about their attitudes toward different smart city solutions on display, such as e-tickets, free public wi-fi, parcel delivery robots, voting online, secure bike racks, smart high-tech traffic signs, and online educational information environment. The survey showed that 44% of people would most like to see Bercman’s Smart Pedestrian Crosswalk deployed in their hometown.
The SPC is a smart traffic sign that can be used in any location where increased pedestrian safety and data input are required. The SPC unit uses artificial intelligence (AI), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, sensor fusion, and more than 30 different features to adapt to different traffic situations and weather conditions.
The state-of-the-art device is useful in many different situations and has numerous potential applications. The SPC’s features include:
• All-in-one traffic sign with inbuilt cameras and sensors offering 360-degree images and detection;
• Cheaper than traffic lights for pedestrian crossings;
• Integrated communication with vehicles, pedestrians or other infrastructure (V2X);
• Sensors to measure air quality, humidity, luminosity, noise, speed, and vehicle classification;
• License Plate Recognition (LPR);
• LED warning lights and sound alarm;
• AI-based vehicle/pedestrian collision warning system to prevent potential accidents;
• API for data acquisition available;
• Encrypted WAN data transfer;
• Multiple units linked for average speed measurements.
Bercman shares the European Union’s vision regarding the future deployment of interoperable Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) that will move toward a cooperative, connected and automated mobility (CCAM) ecosystem. The company notes that the impact of getting vehicles and infrastructure to communicate with each other cannot be underestimated, and may provide the backbone in the quest of achieving a fully automated traffic environment.
All of Bercman’s products are supplied with infrastructure-to-vehicle communication hardware. Data gathered by its smart signs can be used by governments and private and law enforcement entities, including live weather reports, vehicle and pedestrian counting for statistical purposes, automatic LPR and data reporting.
The SPC, launched in Barcelona, is the first of many planned C-ITS products from Bercman, which promises the introduction of several new and interesting products and software solutions in the near future.
Head of the country’s delegation at Expo World Congress, Kairit Sikkal from Enterprise Estonia, noted, “As a result of the partnership between a forward-thinking government, proactive entrepreneurs and tech-savvy people, Estonia is in the forefront of all e-things, be it e-solutions, online government services, online voting or e-schooling. There are only three things that are still impossible to do online in Estonia: get married, get divorced, and buy or sell a house.”
