WOLFSBURG (Germany): Volkswagen and Siemens want to further improve road safety, especially at crossroads.
To achieve this, new functions have been developed for the local exchange of information between vehicles and digital transport infrastructure. The overall system uses the Car2X technology WLANp (ITS-G5) and is currently undergoing tests on Wolfsburg roads.
In a joint project, the city of Wolfsburg, Volkswagen and Siemens are currently setting up a test section on a main road in Wolfsburg in which 10 traffic signal systems will transmit the traffic light phases in the vicinity via WLANp (ITS-G5).
Future Car2X vehicles will be able to process that information and inform the driver, for example, when all traffic lights in succession are on green.
That way, they can avoid braking or accelerating unnecessarily. In the near future, assistant functions will be able to do this without driver intervention.
The forward-looking traffic light functions in the vehicle improve the flow of traffic in built-up areas.
Both companies hoped that this project will also contribute to road safety in general.
To do this, two crossroads in Wolfsburg are being equipped with modern sensor technology to detect pedestrians and cyclists.
“Crossroads equipped with radar sensor technology are able to significantly increase accuracy in the detection of pedestrians and cyclists," said Siemens Mobility Germany head Manfred Fuhg.
"Information that vehicles are not able to detect themselves is provided at complex intersections and accident black spots in particular.”
To distribute the sensor object data from the traffic infrastructure to the vehicle, the Car2X technology WLANp, to be introduced by Volkswagen next year, will be supplemented with additional messages.
The addition enables cooperative security functions to be implemented. They intervene in situations in which the driver or vehicle cannot recognise the surrounding road users with their own senses/sensors or can only do so at a very late stage. In particular, road users such as pedestrians and cyclists, who are often involved in accidents, should be better protected in this way.
