The current situation
On expressways in areas of scant snowfall, every vehicle is stopped at times of snowfall to manually confirm that it is equipped with winter tires. This entails huge costs: time costs incurred by road users, who need to wait in long lines for the tire check, and labour costs incurred by expressway operators, who need to deploy the tire-check personnel.
The Automatic Winter Tire Determination System
We developed a system that uses a high-sensitivity camera to determine whether each passing vehicle is equipped with winter tires. The system has been in practical operation on a test basis in the winter of 2017 through 2018. Determination based on image luminance cuts the tire check waiting time by 80%! The video shows tests of the system on wet and dry road surfaces using a large vehicle and a compact car, and conducted in daytime and at night.
How does it work?
The luminance differs by lighting method. Using high-intensity LEDs, a clear image is taken every time, improving the determination accuracy. By comparing the original tire images to smoothed images, luminance unevenness is eliminated from the luminance distribution. The resulting images are much clearer than the originals.