Tallinn Researchers Test Automated Traffic Sign Inspection Using Buses and Garbage Trucks

Tallinn has approximately 50,000 traffic signs, and regularly monitoring their condition is a resource-intensive task. Currently, traffic signs are inspected by people, and identifying deficiencies can take weeks. Now researchers are testing how this task could be automated and made faster.

Although using buses makes it possible to cover a large portion of city streets, they still do not travel everywhere where information would be needed, noted senior researcher and project lead Uljana Reinsalu from Tallinn University of Technology. For this reason, the researchers are considering alternative solutions. "We need to find other types of vehicles that allow better coverage, Reinsalu said.

One option is to use garbage trucks," she explained. According to the researcher, the data are processed with artificial intelligence already inside the vehicle, and only the necessary results are sent to the city. Since the system uses video footage that inevitably captures other road users, the researchers consulted the university's research ethics experts and the Data Protection Inspectorate.