Counting Empty Parking Spots at Truck Stops Using Computer Vision

For at least the past decade, truck driver fatigue has been thought to be a contributing factor in a number of heavy truck accidents. For better utilization of truck stops and to provide truck drivers with safe rest options, we are designing an automated truck stop management system that can compute occupancy rates at stops and notify drivers about the availability of parking spots using variable message displays located about 30 or 40 miles before the stop. Our system detects, classifies and localizes vehicles on the truck stop's grounds by using a set of video cameras, from which video frames are analyzed in real-time.