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

  • Counting the environmental costs of ITS deployment
    October 29, 2015
    David Crawford looks at the latest thinking about calculating the benefits associated with the environmental side of ITS schemes. The penny is dropping that some environmental costs “are being shifted outside the traditional bounds of evaluation methods” for ITS-based road transport projects, according to researchers at the UK University of Leeds’ Institute for Transport Studies.
  • ITS-NY Announces 2012 Project of the Year Award Winners
    June 13, 2012
    The Intelligent Transportation Society of New York (ITS-NY) has announced the 2012 ITS-NY Project of the Year Winners at its Nineteenth Annual Meeting and Technology Exhibition in Saratoga Springs, NY. “These winning projects feature ITS and technologies at work in New York State to improve traveller mobility and safety, as well as the efficiency of New York State’s transportation system across all modes of travel,” said Dr Isaac Takyi, ITS-NY president. Winning Projects were announced in the following ITS
  • FLIPPER - improving the provision of flexible transport services
    February 2, 2012
    John Nelson and Brian Masson, Centre for Transport Research, University of Aberdeen, UK, describe the FLIPPER initiative which is intended to improve the provision of flexible transport services
  • Demand management schemes, is there a better way?
    January 31, 2012
    The European Commission is placing too much emphasis on the use of demand management, according to the FIA. Here, Wil Botman, Director-General of the FIA's European Bureau, explains why. Towards the end of last year, the European Bureau of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) released a statement which criticised the European Commission's (EC's) approach to urban traffic congestion following the adoption of the Action Plan on Urban Mobility. In particular, the FIA voiced concerns over what it