Smart Pole to light up the smart city of tomorrow

Designed and produced in collaboration with Equans, GHM-Eclatec, Kickmaker and LaCroix City, the Valeo Smart Pole is an all-in-one light pole, pedestrian traffic signal, and charging station. At its unveiling at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, Smart Pole was highlighted as an innovative solution to seamlessly integrate EV charging stations into cities.

With an ultrasonic sensor belt, smart lighting (including on-the-ground projection), a charging station, composite material, and more, Smart Pole is a package of sensors and technologies offering solutions such as near-range motion detection, smart public space lighting suited to real-life needs and safe pedestrian crossing in urban areas.

The Smart Pole is a technological powerhouse equipped with a thermal camera, a SCALA™ 2 LiDAR, SCALA™ 3 LiDAR, near-field LiDAR and 6 ultrasonic sensors.

Thanks to its detection sensors, the Smart Pole observes the environment in real time. Its lighting system is triggered only when a pedestrian approaches, and then follows the person’s trajectory.

Lastly, the Smart Pole is able to signal when it’s safe for a pedestrian to cross.

Bringing new services to the city

Thanks to its suite of innovative sensors, Smart Pole is potentially a source of data for urban areas, and can offer new services to cities and communities, such as recording the number of cars passing by in order to provide real-time road traffic information, controlling traffic lights to ease traffic flow (green wave), and facilitating parking space management.

Seamless integration into the urban landscape

With the help of Kickmaker, Valeo designed the Smart Pole in the form of a tree to better blend into the city of tomorrow. The design was inspired by an automatic image generator using AI. The sensors are fully integrated into a shell partly made of bio-based flax fiber composite-like materials that help mitigate carbon impact. Smart Pole also houses a charging station for electric vehicles, helping keep city infrastructure as lean as possible. The user is informed of the vehicle’s remaining charging time through an interface intuitively projected on the ground.

Smart Pole is just one more example of how Valeo’s innovative technologies are making both mobility and cities safer, cleaner and smarter.