Towards a Platform for Widespread Embedded Intelligence - ERCIM

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SPECIAL THEME: Embedded Intelligence
Automotive Visions beyond In-Car Driver
Assistance: Integrated Traffic Management
with Coopers
by Thomas Gruber and Erwin Schoitsch
Vehicles connected via continuous wireless communication with road
infrastructure on motorways, exchanging data and information relevant for the
specific road segment to increase overall road safety and enable co-operative
traffic management – this is the vision of the Coopers project.
In the Sixth Framework Programme of
the European Commission, one of the
main themes deals with road traffic
safety. Several projects funded by the
Sixth IST Framework Programme
address this topic, but Coopers takes a
specific position with unique ways of
achieving a safety improvement through
an intelligent network which exploits
existing technologies for co-operative
services.
Some 38 partners from 15 European
countries with industry, university and
research institution backgrounds formed
a consortium under the leadership of
Austria Tech, a company founded by the
Austrian Ministry for Transport,
Innovation and Technology for driving
technological development. The kick-off
meeting took place in early spring 2006
and since then the innovative work has
been driven by the partners in the areas
of system and service architecture, safety
analysis and assessment and evaluation
of technologies.
Today, there exists a limited set of measures
for improving road safety. Those
responsible introduce legal regulations
and mainly static roadside installations
which warn drivers of bends, humps,
narrowings and other static danger. But
when it comes to accidents or traffic congestions,
at present there is little guidance
for the driver. Road traffic authorities
and road operators rely mainly on
the driver's attention, experience and
capabilities. Radio traffic news is often
late and inaccurate in respect of the location
of the event in question. VMS (variable
message signs), which could give
Intelligent Infrastructure and Smart Cars plus individual location based services – I2V
and V2I communication.
ERCIM News No. 67, October 2006
concrete and more precise advice in case
of situation-related dangers, are expensive
and therefore rarely used. Currently,
the high cost for VMS deployment prevents
European road operators adopting
this equipment for major road sections,
so missing out on a huge safety gain.
Coopers is preparing the way for
improving road safety on motorways at
an affordable cost. Based on existing
technologies and infrastructure, the
driver is provided with real-time data on
the current traffic situation ahead of him.
Coopers Mission:
To define, develop and test new safety
related services, equipment and
applications using two way communication
between road infrastructure and vehicles
from a traffic management perspective.
COOPERS will build upon existing
equipment and infrastructure as far as
possible to incorporate bi-directional
infrastructure-vehicle links as an open
standardised wireless communication
technology. The role of motorwayoperators
in offering and retrieving safety
relevant and traffic management
information for specific road segments on
European motorways based on
infrastructure and in-vehicle data will be
investigated.
Work Areas in Coopers
• Safety related traffic management and
information services
• Roadside and vehicle based data
acquisition
• Traffic Control Centre – TCC
Applications
• Bi-directional I2V / V2I link
• Roadside Transmitter
• On Board Unit extension and
integration
• Standardisation.