Skip to main content

Connected Signals offers cities free C2X

Connected Signals is offering city authorities the ability of providing C2X connectivity at around 80% of their signalised intersections within three months for less than it would cost to instrument a single junction using dedicated short range communications (DSRC). In fact the company is offering to provide the equipment, known as V2If (Vehicle to Infrastructure for Free), free of charge to city authorities.
June 15, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Matthew Ginsberg of Connected Signals

8440 Connected Signals is offering city authorities the ability of providing C2X connectivity at around 80% of their signalised intersections within three months for less than it would cost to instrument a single junction using dedicated short range communications (DSRC). In fact the company is offering to provide the equipment, known as V2If (Vehicle to Infrastructure for Free), free of charge to city authorities.

Key to this generosity is that the company’s solution runs on a single Raspberry Pibased device which monitors the existing communications between the roadside signal controllers and the traffic management centre (TMC).

Those communications are then processed to determine signal timings and that information is then available over the internet. “We don’t intervene in the communications system so there are no warranty or compatibility issues with the existing equipment and our algorithms then determine the timing and sequencing of the lights and can predict when the changes will happen,” said company president David Etherington. “We then make that information available via the internet so it can be used in ‘Speed to Green’ type applications,” he added.

“It would cost around $20,000 to instrument a single intersection in a traditional fashion with DSRC in each signal head and at the roadside. We can do a whole city for less than that – in fact the equipment, support and maintenance is free to city authorities,” said Etherington.

While the system works best with fixed light timings, Etherington said the system learns how adaptive signals react in various traffic conditions and as we don’t have any input to the signalling system, there are no security issues to worry about.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Preventing connected vehicles creating disconnected drivers
    November 12, 2015
    Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are evolving at a rapid pace – but drivers’ ability to cope with them is not and at some point the mismatch must be addressed. Probably the biggest challenge the transportation industry has ever faced.” That is how Dr Bryan Reimer of Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab describes the challenges posed by semi-autonomous vehicles.
  • Need for secure approach to connected vehicle technology
    January 7, 2013
    Accidental or malicious issue of false messages to connected vehicles could result in dire consequences, so secure systems of authentication and certification are likely to be necessary, write Paul Avery and Sandra Dykes. Connectivity among vehicles in urban traffic systems will provide opportunity for beneficial impacts such as congestion reduction and greater safety. However, it also creates security risks with the potential for targeted disruption. Security algorithms, protocols and procedures must take
  • Here: AI has place in ‘privacy by design’
    June 23, 2020
    Artificial intelligence may improve traffic in cities and keep location data private, but Here Technologies shows that it only takes four points of anonymous data to predict your identity.
  • Greenowl brings bespoke traveller information one step closer
    June 4, 2015
    Greenowl’s voice-only congestion warning smartphone app alerts drivers to problems ahead and could be the way ahead for traffic information. If there is one point Matt Man, CEO of Canadian company Greenowl, wants to make clear from the start, it is that his company’s app is not a navigation system. He says: “Our system does not direct drivers to their destination because we mainly focus on commuters who know how to get to where they are going and only need information about any delays and incidents ahead of