Skip to main content

One of the world’s largest C2X communication trials hits the road

One of the largest ever field trials of car-to-X communication (C2X) is getting underway in Germany in a trial that consists of 120 vehicles that will take to the roads of the Rhine-Main region until the end of the year. Each car has a network link to the others, as well as to the traffic infrastructure, and they will keep each other updated about the current traffic situation.
August 8, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
One of the largest ever field trials of car-to-X communication (C2X) is getting underway in Germany in a trial that consists of 120 vehicles that will take to the roads of the Rhine-Main region until the end of the year. Each car has a network link to the others, as well as to the traffic infrastructure, and they will keep each other updated about the current traffic situation.

The aim of the field trial is to test the systems’ suitability for everyday use in real-life traffic conditions. These experiments are part of the simTD research project headed by 2069 Daimler AG - the name simTD stands for ‘Safe Intelligent Mobility – test field Germany’.

“We are convinced that C2X communication is going to play an important role in the mobility of the future,” said the overall simTD project leader Dr. Christian Weiß, who is in charge of cooperating systems at Daimler Research and Advance Development.

“C2X communication allows us to detect objects and hazardous situations far beyond the immediate environment of the vehicle. This is a significant step on the path towards accident-free driving.”

Project simTD (%$Linker: External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal www.simtd.de stimd false http://www.simtd.de/ false false%>) is a collaboration between German car makers, automotive suppliers, communications companies, research institutes and the public sector. The project is sponsored and supported by Germany’s Federal Ministries of Economics and Technology (BMWi), Education and Research (BMBF), and Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS), as well as the Federal State of Hessen. For Daimler as a pioneer in the area of vehicle safety, C2X communication and the resulting assistance systems are of enormous importance.

Daimler is also engaged in C2X communication research in the US. At its site in Palo Alto, California, it is fitting C2X systems to vehicles and carrying out tests. Its US research enables Daimler, as a major global car maker, to address the particular requirements of the American market with regard to C2X communication, and to achieve the greatest possible level of technological harmonisation.

In addition to its participation in project simTD and its US-based research, Daimler’s strong support for C2X communication is also evident from its long-standing involvement in other projects in this area. For instance, the Group initiated pivotal research projects such as NoW (Network on Wheels) and Fleetnet, the results of which have been incorporated into the current C2X testing and its standardisation. Furthermore, Daimler is a founding member of the Car 2 Car Communication Consortium (C2C CC) and is working towards a harmonisation of this technology across Europe with the project Drive C2X.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cohda Wireless to trial AVs which can talk to each other in Australia
    October 15, 2018
    Cohda Wireless is to trial two autonomous vehicles (AVs) in Australia this month. The MKZ Sedans can communicate with traffic lights and each other – and the company also expects them to be able to detect pedestrians around blind corners. The initiative, approved by the South Australian government, will take place in Adelaide’s central business district on closed-off roads. Dr Paul Gray, chief executive officer of Cohda Wireless, told ABC that the technology is intended to reduce the chance of huma
  • USDOT offers free public workshops at ITS America 2016 San Jose
    May 26, 2016
    The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) is partnering with ITS America to host two free public workshops at ITS America 2016 San Jose in June. These workshops will discuss connected vehicle architecture, standards and software tools, as well as provide new training on developing a plan for deploying a connected vehicle environment. The Connected Vehicle Architecture Workshop takes place on 16 June at 0900-1230 BST in the Almaden Ballroom of the Hilton San Jose Hotel. It will cover connected vehicle a
  • Gardasoft liquid lens provides faster focus and better images
    March 21, 2018
    Gardasoft is demonstrating how to capture high-quality images of fast-moving vehicles using an innovative liquid lens concept. This, the company says, provides significant performance benefits over traditional, fixed-focus lenses. Many ITS applications require vision systems which can cope with widely varying distances between object and camera. A challenge in the ITS space is the high speeds which can be encountered, particularly in free-flowing traffic. Gardasoft’s approach features a shape-changing
  • Car makers release paper for safe autonomous driving systems
    July 3, 2019
    A group of 11 companies including Audi and BMW have released a paper to help developers create safer automated driving solutions. Safety First for Automated Driving (SaFAD) says 12 principles - such as vehicle operator-initiated handover and operational design domain - were used to devise a possible overall structure for creating vehicles which will avoid hazards. SaFAD is designed to offer developers and operators a system for clear traceability that proves AVs are safer than the average driver thro