Transportation departments in many states have been experimenting with variations of wrong-way-driving technologies.
For example, the Arizona Department of Transportation installed a $4 million camera-based system on a 15-mile stretch of a heavily used road in Phoenix in fall 2017 to reduce the risk from wrong-way-driving incidents.
The system, which is supplied by thermal camera company FLIR and others, has caught 110 wrong-way drivers, according to spokesman Steve Elliott. In all of 2016, the department reported three wrong-way-driving traffic stops on that stretch of Interstate 17.
The Nevada Department of Transportation logged 409 wrong-way crashes from Jan. 1, 2005, to Jan. 1, 2015, resulting in 75 deaths. The state piloted a wrong-way-driver alert system on freeway off-ramps that were under repair. It used radar and closed-circuit cameras to detect vehicles entering in the wrong direction, activating two sets of red flashing wrong-way signs on the ramp.
According to Lori Campbell, the department's traffic safety engineering program manager, the state is considering new vendors for a new pilot program because of issues with image quality and false activations in the existing projects.
The Florida Department of Transportation has also been exploring systems over the past few years for warning wrong-way drivers.
Stone says his approach differs from some of the systems used by states by relying on automotive-grade radars, software and heat-mapping algorithms that boost confidence in the system's detection abilities.
The system can also be more easily integrated into existing infrastructure, and is less costly and easier to maintain, Stone said.
Now it's just a matter of showing more potential users how well the technology works.
"We have to get there before anybody is going to be comfortable with direct infrastructure-to-driver communication," Stone said. "I think proving the efficiency and effectiveness of detection is really key.
"I just want the problem solved," he added.