Skip to main content

Singapore piloting next-gen congestion management

NXP Semiconductors has announced it has begun testing a next-generation congestion management system in Singapore. Cars equipped with the company’s 3.5G telematics solution ATOP (automotive telematics on-board unit platform) are currently piloting this urban modern mobility solution.
July 5, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSS566 NXP Semiconductors has announced it has begun testing a next-generation congestion management system in Singapore. Cars equipped with the company’s 3.5G telematics solution ATOP (automotive telematics on-board unit platform) are currently piloting this urban modern mobility solution.

Singapore’s world-class infrastructure is the ideal test bed for intelligent traffic solutions as it faces the mobility challenges of today’s global megacities and aims to reduce pollution and congestion. During the Singapore trial, cars equipped with ATOP, a module allowing for cost-efficient and flexible integration into automotive electronics, will wirelessly collect real-time traffic data via 3.5G mobile broadband. This will not only test the congestion management system, but also secure payment, road-side assistance and paperless parking.

The ATOP module is the core of an on board unit (OBU) which contains a GPS receiver that collects, with optimal privacy, real-time data such as the vehicle’s exact location, and wirelessly feeds it to a back office. This allows service centres to calculate the fastest and most cost-effective route or advise drivers to choose the best means of transportation. The NXP technology can also wirelessly communicate with other cars and traffic signs to warn drivers of dangers ahead and advise on optimum speed.

3.5G communication has the bandwidth to accommodate congestion management schemes as well as other services to improve the traffic flow and road safety. In a second step, these can be complemented with car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication functionality. NXP says that such comprehensive mobility concepts will allow people in global megacities such as Singapore to optimally use and combine all means of transportation - including public transport, taxi, individual transport means and car sharing. A secure element is another key feature within this communication system. Financial-grade smart card technology allows for convenient and secure payment, regardless if public or individual transport.

“We are very pleased with the results of the Singapore trial so far, as it proves that NXP technologies can help alleviate congestion and help manage peak-hour traffic, ultimately helping drivers to save costs and contribute to a greener environment,” said explains Kin Wah Loh, e VP of global sales and marketing and general manager of NXP Semiconductors. “As a result of the success in Singapore, NXP is now working with governments around the world who are investing in new, smarter transportation systems.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Future traffic management needs new thinking, new technology
    January 23, 2012
    One of the biggest problems facing US ITS professionals, says Georgia DOT's Hugh Colton, is the constrained thinking which is sometimes forced upon those making procurement decisions. It is time, he says, to look again at how we do things. In the November/December 2010 edition of this journal, Pete Goldin interviewed Joseph Sussman, chairman of the US's ITS Program Advisory Committee. Amongst other observations that Sussman made was that, technologically, ITS in the US is 10 years behind that in the world-l
  • EU aims to turn ITS theory into practice
    May 18, 2016
    Gareth Horton explains how the European Commission’s Transport Research and Innovation Portal can help expedite research and turn theory into practice. Over the next few years Europe’s transport systems face a number of challenges, such as improving urban mobility while at the same time protecting population health and accommodating the accessibility needs of an ageing but active population.
  • Barcelona's bike share scheme a life saver
    January 26, 2012
    A recent study of the health benefits of Barcelona's Bicing communal bike share scheme, reveals it is a life-saver, responsible for saving 12 lives a year. Barcelona's community bicycle programme, Bicing, was inaugurated in March 2007. One of several schemes operated in cities around the world by Clear Channel, it has fulfilled its role of providing an efficient, ecologically friendly and critically important form of transport, helping to increase urban mobility and reduce street congestion. Clear Channel h
  • Sustainable mobility: innovative solutions needed to reduce traffic emissions
    May 1, 2021
    Kapsch TrafficCom’s Mobility Report 2021 reveals how new ITS measures such as vehicle connectivity and AI-based data processing can help create joined-up traffic management