The Intelligent Car Initiative launched by the European Commission in February 2006 aims at smarter, safer and cleaner road transport, namely by fostering research through the 7th Research and Technological Development Framework Programme (FP7).
One of this Inititiave's pillars, the eSafety Forum, has identified with its RTD Working Group ICT for Mobility strategic research areas for FP7's early phase. One of these areas is Cooperative Systems.
The R&D priorities listed for Cooperative Systems are:
- System integration, configuration management, service monitoring
- Intelligent infrastructure
- Simulation and testing for evaluation of concepts and systems
- Communication Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I)
- Enhanced digital maps and positioning of sufficient accuracy
- Large-scale pilot Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure application demonstrations
In order to further develop and deploy cooperative systems technologies and applications, the following challenges have been acknowledged, including the commercial and standardization aspects:
- In order for cooperative systems to deliver their potential benefits, they will have to function on the widest possible scale, both geographic and market wise. The threshold problem of cooperative systems can only be overcome if a large proportion of vehicles and a sufficiently large intelligent infrastructure network at European level, are equipped with the technology.
- Wireless technology has the systemic problem that 100% system performance cannot be reached due to interference or shielding effects. Therefore safe fallback strategies (i.e. by supporting sensor systems like video, radar or ultrasound) must be developed.
- Requirements for compatible interfaces between cooperative systems and Traffic Management Systems: cooperative systems will need reliable and up-to-date network and traffic and travel information; this implies traffic management centres able to receive, collect, monitor and disseminate information.
- Demonstrations are needed to show commercially deployable services that use efficient technical solutions, real users and real market conditions; and to evaluate the potential impact of V2V and V2I applications, notably on network management.
- For successful deployment, a harmonised approach to standards, testing and certification at the European level is needed. Moreover, it is necessary to educate users and operators in advance to familiarise them with the technology and its practical benefits.
- Development of interoperable back office systems of road authorities, road operators, public transport operators, police, banks and credit card companies to cover multiple applications including not only driver assistance, but also enforcement and road user charging.
- A clear goal of projects should be the commercialisation of the results of former projects on cooperative systems
If you would like to receive a copy of the full Strategic Research Agenda - ICT for Mobility, please contact eSafety Support at info@esafetysupport.org
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