Drone crossing arm for stopping wrong-way vehicles
A computerized roadway safety system, method, and apparatus are provided for preventing wrong-way collisions on roadways and exit ramps of roadways by maintaining robotic drones at a drone docking station; monitoring the exit ramp with sensors to detect a wrong-way vehicle that enters the exit ramp in a wrong direction; transmitting a wrong-way vehicle detection signal from the sensors upon detecting the wrong-way vehicle; and launching a plurality of robotic drones in response to the wrong-way vehicle detection signal to fly to a position over the exit ramp in front of the wrong-way vehicle, where the plurality of robotic drones automatically hover in a linear formation and at a predetermined distance above the exit ramp to form a crossing arm barrier in front of the wrong-way vehicle to block forward movement of the wrong-way vehicle.
1 . A method for stopping wrong way vehicles on a roadway, comprising:
continuously monitoring an exit ramp of a roadway with one or more sensors positioned at an exit end of the exit ramp to promptly detect when any wrong-way vehicle enters the exit end of the exit ramp from a wrong direction;
transmitting a wrong-way vehicle detection signal from the one or more sensors to a computerized roadway safety system upon detecting a wrong-way vehicle entered the exit ramp from the wrong direction;
maintaining a drone docking station that is located within a range of the exit ramp and that houses a plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones that are controlled by the computerized roadway safety system;
launching, in response to the wrong-way vehicle detection signal, a plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones from the drone docking station to fly to a position over the exit ramp in front of the wrong-way vehicle, where the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones automatically hover in a linear formation and at a predetermined distance above the exit ramp to form a crossing arm barrier in front of the wrong-way vehicle to block forward movement of the wrong-way vehicle; and
activating light sources on the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones that project laser light beams to enhance a visual appearance of the crossing arm barrier formed by the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones while hovering above the exit ramp, where the laser light beams comprise one or more laser light beams between adjacent drones in the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones.
2 . The method of claim 1 , where the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones maintain the crossing arm barrier in a position over the exit ramp to collide with the wrong-way vehicle that does not stop before reaching the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones.
3 . The method of claim 1 , where the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones monitor movement of the wrong-way vehicle on the exit ramp, and automatically return to the drone docking station after the wrong-way vehicle stops movement along the exit ramp in the wrong direction and leaves the exit ramp.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising activating light sources on the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones that illuminate the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones to enhance a visual appearance of the crossing arm barrier formed by the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones while hovering above the exit ramp.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising activating light sources on the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones that project laser light beams onto a road surface of the exit ramp to enhance a visual appearance of the crossing arm barrier formed by the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones while hovering above the exit ramp.
6 . The method of claim 5 , where the laser light beams are projected onto the road surface of the exit ramp to create a warning message to warn a driver to change a travel direction of the wrong-way vehicle.
7 . A roadway safety system, comprising:
one or more sensors connected and configured to continuously monitor a roadway to detect when any wrong-way vehicle that travels on the roadway in a wrong direction;
a vehicle detection and drone control system connected to said one or more sensors to detect a wrong-way vehicle and generate a wrong-way vehicle detection signal; and
a plurality of battery-powered eVTOL drones which are programmed to respond to the wrong-way vehicle detection signal by flying to a position over the roadway in front of the wrong-way vehicle and to hover in a linear formation and at a predetermined distance above the roadway to form a crossing arm barrier in front of the wrong-way vehicle to block forward movement of the wrong-way vehicle, where each drone in the plurality of battery-powered eVTOL drones comprises one or more laser beam generators that are activated to enhance a visual appearance of the crossing arm barrier formed by the plurality of battery-powered eVTOL drones while hovering above the roadway, where the one or more laser beam generators at each drone are configured and controlled to illuminate an adjacent drone from the plurality of battery-powered eVTOL drones which is flying in the linear formation.
8 . The roadway safety system of claim 7 , where the plurality of battery-powered eVTOL drones is programmed to maintain the crossing arm barrier in a position over the roadway to collide with the wrong-way vehicle that does not stop before reaching the plurality of battery-powered eVTOL drones.
9 . The roadway safety system of claim 7 , where the plurality of battery-powered eVTOL drones is programmed to monitor movement of the wrong-way vehicle on the roadway, and automatically return to a launching station after the wrong-way vehicle stops movement along the roadway in the wrong direction and leaves the roadway.
10 . The roadway safety system of claim 7 , where each drone in the plurality of battery-powered eVTOL drones comprises an attached light source that is activated to enhance a visual appearance of the crossing arm barrier formed by the plurality of battery-powered eVTOL drones while hovering above the roadway.
11 . The roadway safety system of claim 7 , where the one or more laser beam generators at each drone are configured and controlled to project laser light beams onto a surface of the roadway to enhance a visual appearance of the crossing arm barrier formed by the plurality of preprogrammed robotic drones while hovering above the roadway.
12 . The roadway safety system of claim 11 , where the laser light beams are projected onto the surface of the roadway to create a warning message for a driver of the wrong-way vehicle.
13 . An autonomous drone device, comprising:
a first radio frequency transceiver device configured to receive a wrong-way vehicle detection signal from a drone controller;
a second radio frequency transceiver device configured to communicate with one or more additional autonomous drone devices;
a plurality of light sources that project laser light beams; and
one or more processing devices and one or more computer readable memories for storing operational program code instructions for execution by the one or more processing devices, the operational program code instructions comprising:
program instructions to detect, at the first radio frequency transceiver device, the wrong-way vehicle detection signal from the drone controller;
program instructions to launch the autonomous drone device to fly to a position over a roadway in front of the wrong-way vehicle;
program instructions to communicate with the one or more additional autonomous drone devices through the second radio frequency transceiver device to coordinate positioning of the autonomous drone device and one or more additional autonomous drone devices to hover in a linear formation and at a predetermined distance above the roadway to form a crossing arm barrier in front of the wrong-way vehicle to block forward movement of the wrong-way vehicle; and
program instructions to activate the plurality of light sources to project laser light beams to enhance a visual appearance of the crossing arm barrier, where the laser light beams comprise one or more laser light beams that are projected onto one or more adjacent autonomous drone devices in the one or more additional autonomous drone devices.
14 . The autonomous drone device of claim 13 , where the operational program code instructions further comprise program instructions to control the autonomous drone device to communicate with the one or more additional autonomous drone devices through the second radio frequency transceiver device to maintain the crossing arm barrier in a position over the roadway to collide with the wrong-way vehicle that does not stop before reaching the autonomous drone device and one or more additional autonomous drone devices.
15 . The autonomous drone device of claim 13 , further comprising one or more laser light beam generators that are activated to enhance a visual appearance of the crossing arm barrier formed by the autonomous drone device and one or more additional autonomous drone devices while hovering above the roadway.
16 . The autonomous drone device of claim 15 , where the one or more laser light beam generators are configured and controlled to project laser light beams onto a surface of the roadway to enhance a visual appearance of the crossing arm barrier formed by the autonomous drone device and one or more additional autonomous drone devices while hovering above the roadway.