Skip to main content

Cooperative driving will become common by 2020, say researchers

The international Celtic Plus Co-operative Mobility Services of the Future (CoMoSeF) project which, involved the development of data exchange between vehicles and infrastructure, has just presented its findings. The resulting communication system provides drivers with real time information on road weather, road conditions and incidents. During the project a cooperative roadside weather monitoring station run by the Finnish Meteorological Institute relays the latest reports – and weather updates covering
July 1, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
The international Celtic Plus Co-operative Mobility Services of the Future (CoMoSeF) project which, involved the development of data exchange between vehicles and infrastructure, has just presented its findings. The resulting communication system provides drivers with real time information on road weather, road conditions and incidents.

During the project a cooperative roadside weather monitoring station run by the Finnish Meteorological Institute relays the latest reports – and weather updates covering larger road areas – to vehicles in the vicinity, using short-range WLAN-based ITS-G5 technology and the mobile phone network. This data is received by a vehicle system developed by 814 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The system can receive multichannel data either via ITS-G5 mediating between vehicles, or the mobile phone network. The switch from one signal reception technology to another is so fast that there are no breaks in contact with the station.

Data transfer techniques of this kind, which seamlessly combine several radio systems, have recently emerged as a potential model for the ITS solutions of the future.

”As it proliferates, cooperative driving based on communication and data exchange between vehicles and road network systems will noticeably improve traffic safety,” says Johan Scholliers principal scientist at VTT.

Cooperative traffic systems will extend the electronic horizon of vehicles, so that drivers can prepare in advance for hazards which they know are lurking behind corners. This will help drivers and vehicles to anticipate traffic more effectively and to decide accordingly on issues such as the right speed and choice of route.

These solutions represent a step towards automated, smart traffic. It is predicted that cooperative driving will be part of everyday life by the 2020s. One objective which is likely to accelerate uptake lies in markedly lowering the price of the required vehicle infrastructure.

One of the project's test sites has been the Hervanta feeder road and E63 exit ramp close to Tampere, where a cooperative road side unit with camera and laser scanner has been installed on the ramp for fog surveillance purposes. Another station relaying weather data to vehicles has been installed along the E75 road south of Sodankylä town centre.

In addition to Finland, intelligent traffic solutions and services have been developed and tested under the CoMoSeF project in France, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, Turkey and South Korea, where road traffic faces different challenges to those of Finland.

The three-year CoMoSeF project was led by the Tampere company DDS/Mobisoft which, in addition to project coordination, gathers real-time traffic information from taxis in the city and relays processed traffic and road condition information to in-vehicle devices in taxis. Finnish participants included the Finnish Meteorological Institute, VTT, Infotripla, Taipale Telematics and Centria. There were also enterprises and research institutions from six other countries: France, Spain, Luxembourg, Romania, Turkey and South Korea.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • I-80 Smart Corridor sets the ITS standard for California's Bay Area
    March 23, 2015
    Colin Sowman looks at California’s ‘smartest’ road which will open this spring to counter congestion and accidents on one of the Bay Area’s busiest interstates. Interstate 80 (I-80) is one of the busiest roads in the San Francisco Bay area with up to 270,000 vehicles using the corridor every day. The section between the Carquinez Bridge in Crockett and the Bay Bridge not only suffers congestion during the working week but also at weekends. Traditional remedies such as building additional lanes (there are al
  • Proposed system to take guesswork out of choosing a freeway lane
    March 17, 2014
    A fledgling advanced lane management assist system can take the guesswork out of selecting the right lane on a congested freeway, as its inventor Robert Gordon explains. As drivers we’ve all done it and control room staff see it all the time – motorists on congested freeways switching into what they perceive is a faster lane, only to come to a halt a few moments later and watch vehicles in the other lanes continue to move past. Now, by re-analysing readily available data in an advanced lane management as
  • European, Australian companies to collaborate on V2I
    October 8, 2015
    Siemens, Cohda Wireless and NXP Semiconductors are to partner on vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) technology, a part of cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS), which share information between vehicles and roadside infrastructure such as traffic lights. This increases the quality and reliability of information available to drivers about their immediate environment, other vehicles and road users. Under the agreement, Cohda Wireless will develop and produce V2I roadside units (RSUs) for Siemens, e
  • Enforcement needs automation and communication
    February 1, 2012
    TISPOL's Peter van de Beek questions whether the thought processes which drive enforcement technology development are always the right ones. Peter van de Beek sees an ever-greater role for technology in traffic enforcement but is concerned that the emphasis of technological development and discussion is not always in the right places. 'Old-fashioned' face-to-face policing remains as valid as it ever did, he feels, but adds that there should be greater communication with those engaged at the sharp end of saf