How LiDAR and Edge Computing Are Powering Vision Zero

Edge Computing + LiDAR enable real-time road safety. Outsight’s software solution ensures seamless integration, making Vision Zero a reality.

Benjamin Lombard

Feb 8, 2025

Edge computing—processing data close to where it's generated—is transforming how cities approach traffic safety. This shift is particularly vital for realizing Vision Zero, the international initiative aimed at eliminating all traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries.

Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.

When paired with 3D LiDAR-based Spatial Intelligence, edge computing becomes a transformative enabler of real-time decision-making in dynamic urban environments.

Traditional models transmit real-time sensor data to cloud platforms for analysis. Although the sensors operate in real time, offsite data processing demands substantial bandwidth and can introduce latency—an unacceptable compromise in environments where every millisecond matters.

LiDAR enhances traffic safety on the busy intersection

In urban settings, where over 50% of fatal traffic incidents occur due to limited visibility or delayed detection, real-time responsiveness in all lighting conditions is non-negotiable.

By processing 3D LiDAR data directly at the edge, municipalities and infrastructure operators can instantly detect hazards, optimize traffic flow, and enhance road user safety.

Unlike traditional sensors, such as cameras, LiDAR generates precise, anonymous 3D maps unaffected by lighting or weather conditions, offering robust detection of pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles in real time.

This high-frequency, high-fidelity data—when processed at the edge—enables predictive analytics, real-time alerts, and continuous traffic monitoring. As the result, it enhance safer streets, smarter intersections, and accelerated progress toward Vision Zero goals.

Fusion of Two Lidars on Intersection by Outsight

Despite its potential, large-scale LiDAR adoption is hindered by fragmentation in hardware protocols. Many LiDAR manufacturers use proprietary data formats, complicating integration and limiting scalability. Open and standardized data formats are essential to accelerate deployment and prevent vendor lock-in.

Learn more about ITS solution using LiDAR

Outsight brings the solution to this challenge with a hardware-agnostic software platform designed to work seamlessly with multiple sensor brands, overcoming compatibility challenges and enabling faster adoption.

Outsight’s open LiDAR data approach ensures compatibility across a wide range of sensor models, significantly streamlining integration and accelerating deployment timelines.

LiDAR hardware is only part of the equation. Without powerful software to interpret raw data in real time, its potential remains untapped. Outsight’s software transforms complex 3D data into meaningful, real-time insights, enabling smarter mobility decisions directly at the edge.

Learn more about attributes of an open data format for LiDAR software

Outsight is the leading and most experienced player in real-time edge processing for LiDAR, a position recognized as early as 2023 by the prestigious Edge AI Product of the Year award.

From traffic analytics to vulnerable road user detection, Outsight’s technology empowers infrastructure operators and cities to make faster, more informed safety decisions.

By enabling real-time Spatial Intelligence through open, scalable software, we help move global mobility systems closer to Vision Zero—turning real-time perception into real-world impact.