British traffic technology company Valerann has been featured on the BBC World Service podcast Tech Life, explaining how its artificial intelligence could help road authorities detect wrong-way drivers within seconds.

The report followed fatal wrong-way collisions in Ireland and northern England and examined how technology might help control-room teams identify and respond to such incidents more quickly.

It included archive material recorded at Transport Infrastructure Ireland’s Motorway Operations Control Centre in Dublin for the BBC programme Tech Now. The footage demonstrated how Valerann’s AI combines information from sources including CCTV, traffic speeds and navigation apps to alert operators to possible collisions and other hazards across Ireland’s motorway network.

Bringing the story up to date, Valerann’s Harriet King told Tech Life that the company is exploring how the technology could use existing roadside cameras to recognise the normal direction of traffic and flag vehicles travelling against it.

Because the system works with cameras and control-centre integrations already in place, it could potentially be introduced without installing large numbers of additional roadside sensors.

Ms King explained that faster detection could allow operators to warn other motorists through variable message signs and take steps to manage the incident. Analysing repeated cases could also reveal whether confusing road layouts or inadequate signs are contributing to drivers mistakenly joining a road in the wrong direction.

She also discussed Valerann’s work to improve the validation of reports from third-party data sources by automatically directing cameras towards suspected incidents.

Listen to the full BBC Tech Life report here from 10m10s in.

(Picture – Valerann)