Estonia, Good for Business, Technology, Transport

The company's CEO Gaspar Anton said in a press release that the new technology combines a panoramic camera attached to the car, lidar or laser scanning device and artificial intelligence, and as a result, precise three-dimensional map applications are drawn up.

The development and testing of the device was advised by the state-owned company AS Teede Tehnokeskus. Now, EyeVi Technologies and Teede Tehnokeskus have signed a partnership agreement, according to which EyeVi Technologies will continue product development and the measurement service will be provided by Teede Tehnokeskus.

"Previously, for example, holes and cracks were detected with several cars and at a slow speed in the middle of traffic. With an EyeVi-equipped car, all measurements can be made at normal speed and efficiency is several times higher," Marek Truu, head of the department for development and surveys at Teede Tehnokeskus, said.

Truu added that Teede Tehnokeskus currently uses EyeVi to inventory defects along 7,000 kilometers of Estonian state roads and, on the basis of that, provides the Road Administration with an overview of the condition of the roads and input for planning repairs. With the same technology, the center also collects data for several municipalities.

"In order to get an overview of the condition of the roads and to plan the necessary repairs most effectively, other local governments would need similar information," Truu said, adding that Teede Tehnokeskus plans to start mapping roads also in other Baltic countries with EyeVi technology. EyeVi has already been implemented in Greece, Rwanda and the Caribbean, for example.

According to the CEO of EyeVi Technologies, road mapping is not limited to planning repairs, but can also be used with self-driving vehicles in the future.

"Road mapping with EyeVi technology provides vital input to self-driving vehicles -- GPS and street geo-coordinates, which are updated constantly, are combined to ensure that the vehicle actually navigates on the road. For example, where exactly the road verges, intersections, curbstones and lines are located," Anton added.