Automatic Determination of Vehicle Occupancy by a Novel Optical Means

Future traffic management planning will attempt to increase the occupancy of passenger vehicles by either enforcement or financial incentive. Enforcement will include such schemes as high occupancy vehicle lanes whilst toll reductions on bridges and motorways will be used as a financial incentive. In all cases accurate remote detection of occupancy is essential. Conventional vision based approaches are easily fooled with inflatable dolls, dummies and life size photographs. This paper examines the strategies behind remote optical in car occupancy detection and how this data is processed in the roadside environment.