Skip to main content

ITS World Congress first for Q-Free solution

Q-Free’s Universal ITS (U-ITS) Station will be help to achieve two significant firsts at the ITS World Congress Melbourne. The outdoor demonstration area will host the first Cooperative ITS (C-ITS) showcase of its type in the southern hemisphere. It will also be the first implementation anywhere in the world on live intersections of C-ITS technology and applications using open, agreed standards.
September 13, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

108 Q-Free’s Universal ITS (U-ITS) Station will be help to achieve two significant firsts at the ITS World Congress Melbourne. The outdoor demonstration area will host the first Cooperative ITS (C-ITS) showcase of its type in the southern hemisphere. It will also be the first implementation anywhere in the world on live intersections of C-ITS technology and applications using open, agreed standards. 

The U-ITS Station is a compact, comprehensive C-ITS solution providing full hybrid, ETSI/ISOstandard communications. Available in roadside and in-vehicle versions that use many of the same components, its conformity with internationally agreed C-ITS standards enables ready interfacing with other manufacturers’ technologies. This is significant — previous ITS World Congress outdoor demonstrations have featured proprietary standards or effectively represented a single supplier’s product set. 

During the ITS World Congress, U-ITS Station-equipped coaches travelling to and from the outdoor demonstration area will pass through a series of intersections. The roadside U-ITS Stations will broadcast standard messages including intersection map and traffic signal status (SPaT/MAP) roadside awareness messages (CAM) and roadside service announcements. A central ITS station will provide open web access, enabling smartphone, tablet or PC users to follow the demonstration live.

“The Universal ITS Station is the most technically advanced ITS product we have ever created,” says Knut Evensen, Q-Free’s Chief Technologist. “This is the third generation unit and it is now a very highly capable and — crucially — robust solution for the C-ITS environment. Interoperability testing with other manufacturers went entirely according to plan. Everything worked just fine, first time.

 “What we now have is an effective, accessible, totally standards-compliant solution that is fully capable of supporting C-ITS pilots around the world.

We’ve already achieved our first sales in this respect,”  Evensen said.

Q-Free also will be exhibiting within the main exhibition where the U-ITS Station, as well as the company’s other solutions that support smarter mobility in both urban and inter-urban environments, will feature.  

Related Content

  • September 24, 2012
    Kapsch, ITS World Congress main sponsor, showcases ITS expertise
    During this year’s ITS World Congress, Kapsch TrafficCom - as the event’s main sponsor - will have a multi-faceted presence: Georg Kapsch, CEO of Kapsch TrafficCom and the Kapsch Group will speak during the Opening Ceremony and host the Welcome Reception. Kapsch TrafficCom will participate in about 20 congress sessions as speakers, moderators or panel members.
  • September 8, 2016
    Welcome to the world's most liveable city, Melbourne
    It would be hard to imagine a more appropriate venue for the 23rd ITS World Congress which runs from 10-14 October. For the 6th successive year, Melbourne has won the title of the World’s Most Liveable City, helped by its perfect 100 out of 100 score for infrastructure.
  • February 28, 2013
    Flir takeover of Traficon and the role of thermal imaging
    Andy Teich, president of commercial systems at Flir, discusses the growing role of thermal technology in ITS and his company’s latest high-profile acquisition with Jason Barnes. Andy Teich, Flir’s president of commercial systems, doesn’t want to talk about infrared (IR). Instead, he’d prefer, he says, to discuss ‘thermal technology’. It is, he explains, to differentiate between the imaging technologies which his company specialises in and the LED illumination of IR cameras, an altogether different beast. Fl
  • October 28, 2016
    New solutions for catching texting drivers
    Many countries have laws prohibiting texting while driving but enforcement is proving difficult – David Crawford looks at some new approaches being tried by authorities. Finding definitive solutions – technological, regulatory and educational - to the potentially lethal practice of people driving while using mobile phones is proving elusive, while the stakes grow higher.