ITS (UK) launches A-F scale for connected vehicles

ITS (UK) has developed a ‘Scale of connections for co-operation of connected vehicles’ to help people understand how connected their vehicles are. It mirrors the existing scale for automated vehicles, the SAE international standard, which goes from Level 1 (driver assistance required) to Level 5 (fully autonomous). The ITS (UK) scale, developed by the group’s Connected and Automated Vehicles (C/AV) Forum and supported by the Department for Transport and Highways England, uses letters instead. “Currently a
April 12, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

ITS (UK) has developed a ‘Scale of connections for co-operation of connected vehicles’ to help people understand how connected their vehicles are.

It mirrors the existing scale for automated vehicles, the 567 SAE international standard, which goes from Level 1 (driver assistance required) to Level 5 (fully autonomous). The ITS (UK) scale, developed by the group’s Connected and Automated Vehicles (C/AV) Forum and supported by the 1837 Department for Transport and 8101 Highways England, uses letters instead.

“Currently all vehicles are at Level A, and with a smartphone they can get to C,” explains Andy Graham, chair of the C/AV Forum.

“Level D would take the services many of us work on today in research and demonstrations and make them more widely available and used, as the first step “connected roads ready” allied to existing communications and vehicles,” he continues.

The scale has been designed to focus on what is possible – rather than on details of the technology. This means that a service is only designated at a particular level when it is widely available – for instance, when an app is published – rather than when it has been tested as part of a research project.

All new vehicles today with connections to head units would be level D, “but the roads and communications are not yet at the level”, Graham points out. “This reflects HD TV rollout when HD TVs became available before HD programmes. Level E vehicles are not yet available, but maybe soon.”

ITS (UK) says the scale will be reviewed ‘periodically’, as Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) plans develop.

Networking & Communication Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Jenoptik measures out the future
    June 15, 2022
    The speed of tech changes means Jenoptik is redrawing how it sees itself. Adam Hill catches up with Stefan Traeger and Kevin Chevis at Intertraffic Amsterdam to find out more about ‘extended reality’…
    Read More
  • Dynamic Message Signs : Don’t replace, refurbish and upgrade
    August 12, 2015
    Refurbishing old dynamic message signs can save money and increase technical capabilities as David Crawford discovers. Evidence is growing on both sides of the Atlantic of the scope for retrofitting old or technically out-of-date dynamic message signs (DMS) with new electronic equipment, to save on the costs of installing full-scale replacements. In the last four months of 2014, a number of US states progressed programmes that achieved savings of more than US$1.75 million (€1.56million).
    Read More
  • Align transport infrastructure needs with ITS offerings
    July 19, 2012
    Kallistratos Dionelis, General Secretary of ASECAP, ponders the absence of creativity and innovation in the road management sector. 'Traditional' road managers and ITS specialists share many of the same ultimate goals and yet, he says, a common understanding of what technology can achieve is still conspicuously absent.
    Read More
  • Align transport infrastructure needs with ITS offerings
    July 19, 2012
    Kallistratos Dionelis, General Secretary of ASECAP, ponders the absence of creativity and innovation in the road management sector. 'Traditional' road managers and ITS specialists share many of the same ultimate goals and yet, he says, a common understanding of what technology can achieve is still conspicuously absent.
    Read More

Highlighted Content