Automatic visual inspection system of car body surface for carsharing service

These days, carsharing service which is a service to share cars with multiple persons has attracted attention. Carsharing service aims at promoting thc use of public transportation facilities and suppressing the excessive dcpcndcnce on the automobile. Users of the service can use the cars immediately just after the reservations through their mobile terminaT once the registration of each user is conducted on the first use. The users can use the cars stress-free because there is no procedure in renting and returning and can use for a short period of time such as about 15 minutes. However, there is a problem that responsible for an accident or malfunction cannot be clear because much of the service bases are operated without field staff. Therefore, we have developed automatic visual inspection system to be used for sharing cars with multiple persons. Our inspection apparatus consists of a long LED bar light and a camera. This system automatically inspects a side surface of the car that is going across in front of the apparatus. In an experiment, inspection accuracy of scratches and dents on car body surface has achieved 95.6 %. Our system is able to identify who is responsible for an accident by comparing inspection results before and after use. Furthermore, our system has a possible to lead to the cost reduction in car rental business.