Z+F, Volkswagen Develop Dynamic Scanning System to Capture Accident Scenes

Whoops – our last SparView on dynamic scanning inadvertently omitted Z+F‘s demonstration at INTERGEO of a mobile scanning system developed in cooperation with Volkswagen based on Z+F’s new IMAGER 5006. We believe this merits particular note as an economical way to scan on the go, because the system uses no special hardware besides the laser scanner. All other information needed – vehicle position, speed, wheel turns, wheel positioning, tilt and the like – is collected from the speedometer, GPS, inertial and other sensor systems already present in the production vehicle. According to Z+F managing director Dr. Christoph Fröhlich, “In every Volkswagen you can buy a plug-in card to get access to this data.” In this manner, any IMAGER 500x system can be operated in profile mode to capture dynamic measurements, according to the company.Volkswagen’s interest was in capturing and analyzing accident scenes involving its vehicles. Specifically it wanted the ability to scan a 1km-long accident scene in less than 10 minutes with relative accuracy better than 10cm, using a vehicle equipped with no measurement device other than the IMAGER 5006. As we noted in our last issue, safety and speed are key values of scanning on the go – accident scenes can be documented more quickly, minimizing lane closures, and the surveyor can remain safely in the vehicle. Besides Volkswagen, Z+F expects the offering will find appeal with police agencies and insurance companies.