ITS industry best practice for Cooperative Systems

The recent evolution of traffic control systems has been shaped by a push towards the integration of functionalities and the desire to exploit new communication technologies as well as the growth of mobile networks and opportunities offered by developments such as cloud computing. The development of cooperative systems, which involve the real-time exchange of data between vehicles and the infrastructure, is in many ways a logical extension of the move towards integration of individual telematics systems which began several decades ago. This evolution saw transport telematics move from stand-alone systems to integrated mobility platforms. Internet technologies made it possible to combine separate systems, such as traffic control, public transport management, and travel information systems, within a single harmonised environment, permitting considerable improvements in overall system performance. Cooperative systems involve exploiting the potential of local communications networks to allow vehicles to become “mobile sensors” and make available vastly enriched data to the road operator. Such systems are expected to bring significant advantages in both the urban and interurban road environment. These include improvements in safety as well as traffic flow efficiency and information for road users. Applications in the safety area aim to increase drivers’ awareness by providing, for example, advance warning of dangers ahead, imminent changes in traffic signals, and speed recommendations based on the current local road status. The cooperative approach makes it possible to collect more accurate and detailed data on road conditions and traffic status than at present, and therefore to offer drivers information with greatly improved content, timeliness and accuracy. They also open the way to safety-critical applications where vehicles are “always connected”. With regard to cooperative systems, EC funded research has resulted in demonstrations and prototypes that have illustrated the potential for substantial benefits in terms of traveller comfort, safety and energy savings. This herald a new era in traffic control which takes advantage the real-time data exchange between vehicles and the road infrastructure. We are now entering the deployment phase. Although business plans are not yet fully defined, vehicle manufacturers have announced the introduction of the first “talking” vehicles by 2015, and the ITS industry is gearing up with solutions on the infrastructure side. In order to provide a migratory path and protect existing infrastructure investment, the next steps involve upgrading existing roadside devices so they can “beacon” their information to passing vehicles. Vehicles to will gradually be equipped with a wireless device so they can continuously (and anonymously) beacon their own basic data, such as vehicle type, position, and speed, so it can be “collected” by the roadside equipment and used as input for information services for drivers.