Quanergy Systems, a California-based provider of lidar sensors, has installed smart crosswalks in school zones in Seoul, South Korea.

This recent deployment was enabled by Quanergy’s partnership with South Korean integrator iCent.

“Many people hear the word lidar, and they think autonomous cars,” said Enzo Signore, CMO at Quanergy, “But there’s so much more the technology can do to improve the quality of life for people around the world. We’re excited to leverage our expertise in lidar to make school zones safer and more efficient.”

The 3D lidar-based smart safety school zone actively monitors the movement of objects including people and vehicles in crosswalks to protect pedestrian safety and prevent accidents.

In the deployment in Seoul, M series lidar sensors from Quanergy are installed at school crosswalks in the local government of Nowon-Gu. The sensors gather real-time data about the surrounding environment including patterns in vehicle traffic, vehicle speed and pedestrian numbers.

Quanergy’s Qortex DTC perception software analyses the raw data and routes it to iCent’s iSaver software platform for evaluation. The data are then assessed to determine the actions necessary to ensure safety. With more reliable data to work with, government officials can more easily establish effective traffic policies and install better safety technologies to keep the crosswalk safe for drivers and pedestrians alike.

The lidar sensors provide 360˚ coverage and better than 95% accuracy to deliver reliable data with just one sensor per crosswalk. Because this requires a limited number of devices to install and maintain, the lidar-based platform can be installed and operated cheaply. The local government of Nowon-Gu, for example, saved on its budget by replacing its existing traffic monitoring system with the lidar installation.

“With Quanergy’s AI-based 3D lidar combined with iSaver from iCent, we are able to move one step closer to establish safety policy for the children,” said Seung Rok Oh, alderman of Nowon-Gu.

It provides insights including situational awareness, broader coverage and increased accuracy. For example, it can accurately detect a person standing in a blind zone, a situation that frequently contributes to pedestrian-involved accidents. In addition, lidar sensors perform reliably in any environmental condition, including inclement weather and extremely bright or low light.

Quanergy Systems was founded in 2012 and builds on decades of experience of its team in the areas of optics, photonics, optoelectronics, artificial intelligence software and control systems. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, it provides an AI-powered lidar platform designed to accelerate the automation of key business processes to increase productivity, efficiency and safety. The system provides actionable insights to organisations across major industries including, mapping, security, smart cities, smart spaces, industrial automation and transportation.

Founded in 2000, iCent provides technical information and communications, mostly for total network, security and safety platforms. It is a one-stop service company that has developed network analysis and management products and provides network consulting, design, construction and operation support.