ORLANDO, Fla. — More than 40,000 people are killed on U.S. roads each year, and in many cases, help does not come right away.
A group of students at the University of Central Florida College of Engineering is working on new technology that could change that.
The project focuses on a critical gap in roadway safety. While crashes happen every day, roads themselves do not respond when something goes wrong. That delay can be the difference between life and death.
Benjamin Mingst, a senior at UCF, said the idea came from his own close calls in-line skating on Central Florida roads.
“This really just built a frustration in me when I realized that nothing was being done reactively by our infrastructure,” Mingst said.
Mingst and a team of fellow seniors created a system to respond in real time.
When a crash happens, multiple sensors using radar, lidar, and thermal sensors feed data into an artificial intelligence system.
“Ideally, these would be up everywhere, and any time an accident happens, it goes straight off to emergency responders,” said fellow student Caleb Rosenfeld.
The speed of that response could be especially important in hit-and-run cases, where victims may not be able to call for help.
“When a hit and run happens, 911 might not be called immediately,” Mingst said. ”It might be minutes or hours and that’s where a system like this would really benefit the victim.”
The system is still in the prototype stage, but fellow team member Andres Aguilar said it is already achieving 97% accuracy in detecting crashes.
Unlike some existing traffic systems, the students said their design is meant to work even in difficult conditions when traditional cameras may struggle, such as during heavy storms.
Next, the team hopes to pilot the technology with cities, installing the system at intersections.
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