LiDAR Sensors Enhance Nevada’s Transportation Systems

In February 2017, on the corner of Virginia and 15 th Streets, Civil & Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Hao Xu installed a roadside LiDAR sensor — and made history. While these devices had been widely used in other applications before — including autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles — this installation at an entrance to the University of Nevada, Reno is believed to be the first time a LiDAR sensor had been used roadside to facilitate the development of smarter, safer transportation infrastructure.

From an article in Nevada Today by Curtis Vickers.

The groundbreaking project recently received a boost from the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County and its Virginia Street redevelopment. As the major transportation corridor was updated, eight new sensors were also installed, with another dozen soon to follow. Additional sensors were also recently installed in Henderson, Nev., a suburb of Las Vegas, in partnership with RTC of Southern Nevada.

“The most exciting thing about this research is the data coming from the LiDAR sensors,” Xu said. “New, revolutionary data change the whole transportation system and prepare our roads for the future. The LiDAR sensors make collecting this data possible.”

The project is part of Intelligent Mobility, a multi-disciplinary research initiative coordinated through the University’s Nevada Center for Applied Research and involving a coalition of public and private partners. Guided by the vision of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, it establishes Reno as a Nevada Living Lab — a complex and real-world environment where transportation-related data are gathered and concepts can be tested.

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