Skip to main content

5G-Safe project developing road weather services based on vehicle data

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is coordinating the 5G-Safe project, which is part of Tekes’ Challenge Finland competition. It is focused on the identification of local weather and road conditions on the basis of data collected from vehicles, and the sending of warnings to road users. In addition, real-time video and radar data will be exchanged between passing vehicles. Other issues being investigated include the use of data on local road weather conditions to improve the situational awareness of
April 21, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
814 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is coordinating the 5G-Safe project, which is part of Tekes’ Challenge Finland competition. It is focused on the identification of local weather and road conditions on the basis of data collected from vehicles, and the sending of warnings to road users. In addition, real-time video and radar data will be exchanged between passing vehicles.


Other issues being investigated include the use of data on local road weather conditions to improve the situational awareness of autonomous vehicles and the enhancement of autonomous operation in harsh weather.

The services currently being developed require no action during driving in order to send data or warnings. Instead, the prevailing local weather and road conditions are automatically identified based on data collected from vehicles. Warnings and other useful information are sent in real-time to road users, road operators and autonomous vehicle control systems. The new network and cloud computing technologies being researched under the project aim to reduce delays in data exchange and be more scalable than current services.

According to Tiia Ojanperä, a project manager from VTT, the wide introduction of real-time services, based on sensor and video data collected from vehicles, is being made possible by next-generation 5G mobile network technology and new solutions supporting optimal data collection and exchange.

As an example, he says 5G will form the cornerstone of interaction between autonomous cars. Contemporary driver support systems are mainly vision-based, relying on signals generated by the vehicle’s sensors. 5G and short-range radios will also bring the power of speech and hearing to vehicles, taking their capabilities to a new level, he claims.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Saving the smartphone zombies from themselves
    October 15, 2020
    As roads – particularly in cities – become busier, companies are fielding a steady trickle of products to keep pedestrians safe and vehicles flowing
  • Benefits of traffic data sharing with app developers
    November 10, 2015
    Timothy Compston finds out if exchanging traffic and road condition data with private app developers makes sense for both drivers and road authorities. Much has been said about the potential benefits for authorities in sharing data with traffic and navigation app developers, and receiving ‘crowdsourced’ information in return – so how is it working in practice?
  • Central Europe signs up to ITS standards
    May 31, 2013
    Seamless multi-modal traveller information services are becoming reality in the Danube Region. On 15th of March 2013, a Hungarian national holiday of which many people were unaware, unexpected extreme winter weather paralysed Hungary as well as large parts of Slovakia. Several thousand people were stranded on the region’s highways and the railways incurred delays of several hours. Not only did the transport system in the affected regions break down, the information flow to neighbouring countries was very sl
  • New Hampshire plans for tomorrow’s communication
    August 21, 2017
    Someone once likened predicting the future to ‘nailing a jelly to the wall’. With ITS, C-ITS and V2X technology progressing at such a pace, predicting the future is more akin to trying to nail three jellies to the wall – but only having one nail. And yet with roadways having a lifetime measured in decades, that is exactly what highway engineers and traffic planners are expected to do. Fortunately, New Hampshire DoT (NHDoT) believes its technological advances may be able to provide a solution. The Central Ne