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

  • New name offers new solutions
    November 26, 2013
    Pete Goldin examines Nokia’s rationale for combining its location services, digital mapping and other capabilities under the HERE brand. While it has divested itself of its mobile phone business to Microsoft, Nokia has kept hold of its HERE business unit and brand which incorporates the company’s location services with digital mapping and other capabilities. The creation of HERE is much more than rebranding as its services are heading off the map and into the cloud. “HERE offers the first location cloud
  • Continental developing road departure protection systems
    June 25, 2015
    International automotive supplier Continental is working on new road departure protection systems that aim to eliminate unintended road departures, which currently are not completely covered by today’s lateral guidance advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), preventing fatal accidents from occurring on highways and rural roads. According to the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, approximately 55 per cent of traffic fatalities in the US involve a vehicle crossing the roadwa
  • Machine vision makes progress in traffic applications
    June 2, 2014
    Machine Vision technology is easing the burden on hard-pressed control room staff and overloaded communications networks.
  • Connected vehicle trials get big backing from USDOT
    March 14, 2016
    Connected vehicle technology will emerge as a sustainable reality at three sites in the US over the next four years. Jon Masters reports. Advocates of connected vehicle (CV) technology have received a welcome boost from news that the US government has committed a further $4 billion towards automated vehicle research and CV technology. This comes hot on the heels of the US Department of Transportation’s $42 million CV pilot pledge in October last year.