Romsey: Roke Manor Research demonstrates ‘black-box’ technology for vehicles

At its Romsey base, Roke Manor Research (Roke) has demonstrated the world’s first viable ‘black box’ technology for vehicles, using a single dashboard camera to create a 3D reconstruction of a road accident.

With the box fitted to an autonomous Toyota Prius, Roke has successfully demonstrated how the technology reconstructs the precise position and orientation of any vehicle (car, bike, lorry or autonomous vehicle) even if the fitted vehicle rotates.  It offers insurers, drivers and manufacturers independent evidence of what happened in an accident. 

The technology was first developed by Roke in research undertaken for the Government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. Over the past year, Roke has been developing and miniaturising the technology with the help of funding from Innovate UK.  

Dr James Revell, consultant engineer at Roke, said: “Unlike current dashcams, the new technology uses computer-vision algorithms to enable the precise position and orientation of any vehicle. This allows for near-perfect 3D reconstruction of any accident to be created even if the fitted vehicle loses complete control.”

David Cole, managing director of Roke, said: “The funding from Innovate UK was essential in helping Roke remain at the forefront of autonomous and sensing technology.” 

Roland Meister, head of transport for Innovate UK said: “Innovate UK and the centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles are excited to be able to support UK research and development.  An industry-leading feasibility study such as Roke’s black-box solution is a great examples of UK capability in this area.”

The technology could also prove useful for sports coaching, or meet wider needs in the transport industry.