Preview: Joint Driving Demo in Vienna

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems: On the Road to Deployment

European drivers will soon benefit from safety, environmental and efficiency improvements to their journeys thanks to the collaborative project being demonstrated at this year’s ITS World Congress in Vienna from 22 to 26 October 2012.

19^th ITS World Congress
22 to 26 October 2012
Reed Exhibition Vienna, Messeplatz 1
1020 Vienna, Austria

Research into how vehicles can communicate with each other and the road infrastructure around them is advanced. Now, the vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, road infrastructure providers and standards authorities in Europe are working together to bring about the market introduction of these advanced technology systems.
 

Vienna Driving Demonstration

Congress attendees in Vienna will have the opportunity to see for themselves how cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems can assist drivers in real-time and in real-world traffic. A series of example scenarios will be demonstrated in a collaborative project by the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium, representing 58 partners from vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and research organisations, together with the Testfeld Telematik Consortium, representing 14 partners from the industry, the public sector and road operators. Using sections of the TT Consortium’s 45km test-field route around the motorway junctions A2/A23-A4-S1 in Vienna, participants in the demo will experience the interaction between telematic services delivered from road side units to and between intelligent vehicles via an exclusively allocated ITS frequency band for Europe (5.875 GHz – 5.905 GHz). The appointed technology and reference system has been established in DRIVE C2X, a European project which aims at initiating a framework for deployment of Cooperative Systems and its Europe-wide evaluation in large-scale field operational tests. Participants can also experience how intelligent cars as well as motorcycles and utility vehicles can alert one another to potentially dan-gerous situations, such as when road users are obscured or in a blind spot. 
 

How does it work?

Intelligent vehicles transmit data, for example about their position, direction and speed, as well as simultaneously receiving the same data set from other vehicles or information from road  infrastructure, for example about the upcoming signal phase and timing of traffic lights. The exchange of data between the vehicles and infrastructure is imperceptible by drivers until a potentially dangerous situation is detected, at which moment the drivers concerned will receive an alert.
 

Driver Benefits

Safety

Among the many valuable applications of this technology are some clear safety benefits for road users. The development of passive safety equipment such as seatbelts, airbags and crumple zones have all reduced the severity of road traffic accidents but sadly, not the frequency. Accident prevention can be enhanced by ensuring drivers are made aware of any potential collision.

The safety benefits of cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems include:

• informing drivers when they are on a collision course with a nearby vehicle
• informing drivers of the current speed limit
• alerting drivers of an approaching and potentially unseen motorcycle or other vehicles when for example changing lanes or approaching a blind intersection
• alerting drivers of probable red light violations by calculating information - based on driver speed and traffic light phase timing
• informing drivers of local road conditions, such as side winds and possible aqua-planing
• informing drivers when there is an obstruction on the road ahead such as road works or the end of a traffic jam, allowing the driver to reduce their speed in time

Efficiency and environmental performance

Further applications include real-time, accurate information about traffic jams, route recommendations, and information about approaching emergency vehicles to ensure their efficient passage through urban areas and green light optimum speed advisory which can provide a signal phase and timing alert, facilitating steady traffic flow and avoiding abrupt speed changes which cause high emissions.
 

Collaboration & Cooperation for an Interoperability Success Story

Over the last decade, the operability and potential benefits of Cooperative Systems have been investigated and thoroughly tested in several national and European research projects. The tech-nical systems allowing vehicles to communicate with infrastructure, known as Car2X Technology, will be ready for use in the second half of the decade on European roads. Through the hard work and investment in projects such as the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium and the Testfeld Telematik Consortium, we are moving closer towards the international harmonisation of ITS stand-ards to ensure interoperability across brands and across borders. The success of cooperative Intelli-gent Transport Systems lies in the deep cooperation between public authorities, standards agen-cies, road and infrastructure operators and the component and vehicle industries.

We hope to see you in Vienna, and you will see we are already there!
 

Download press release as pdf
 

View german version

Notes to Editors:

CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium

The CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium is an industrial driven, non-profit association funded by European vehicle manufacturers and supported by equipment suppliers as well as research institutions. Currently 58 partners – 12 vehicle manufacturers, 16 suppliers and 30 research organisations – work together in the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium on non-profit basis with the aim of enhancing traffic safety and efficiency due to cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems. In particular, the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium contributes to the development of Cooperative Systems by exploring the capabilities of Inter-Vehicle Communications and Vehicle2Roadside Communication – summarised in the acronym Car2X Communication and Technology – and by creating a common standard for cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems. Therefore the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium assists the activities of the European standardisation organisations, especially ETSI TC ITS, but also CEN, in accomplishing a European standard which guarantees the interoperability of Cooperative Systems across borders. In addition the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium is occupied also with the international harmonisation of standards, particularly in cooperation with US-American and Japanese OEMs and authorities, to increase the benefits of cooperative ITS and ensure the maximal utility for the end-user.

Testfeld Telematik Consortium

The research project Testfeld Telematik lays its focus on telematic services based on data receivable from road infrastructure, public transport and individual vehicles and used for supporting traffic participation in a safe, efficient and sustainable manner. The Testfeld Telematik Consortium therefore explores requirements and use cases for those data-based cooperative services in a testfield encompassing 45 kilometres of test route, located around the motorway junction A2/A23-A4-S1 in Vienna. The Testfeld Telematik Consortium is an association of 14 industrial companies, including research institutions, infrastructure operators and organisations from the public sector – in this way covering all parts in the value chain of cooperative systems and services – and co-funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy fund. The ITS World Congress supplies the background for the first exposure of results from the test drives in the area mounted with road side units. Tested technologies are personal navigation devices, smartphone applications, internal vehicles systems extended to cooperative systems, exchanging real time information between in-vehicle and infrastructure units and hence ensuring safe, efficient and sustainable mobility.