Lina Konstantinopoulou, Project Manager at ERTICO – ITS Europe gives an insight into the current status of the CVIS project and how it could be deployed in the future.
The Volvo Group is currently involved in two EU projects involving Cooperative Systems – Safespot and CVIS (Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Systems).
“We’re working together with the vehicle manufacturers, roadside equipment manufacturers, the government and the cities which own and operate the roads, and users like motorists and truck drivers. All stakeholders need to be involved in Cooperative Systems,” Lina Konstantinopoulou explains.
CVIS focuses on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. Each vehicle will be able to communicate the latest traffic information and safety warnings to road operators and other nearby vehicles, connecting through a multi-channel terminal with a wide range of potential carriers, including cellular networks (GPRS, UMTS), mobile wireless local area networks (WLAN, or Wi-Fi), short-range microwave beacons (DSRC) or infrared (IR). This will be based on the new international "CALM" standards.
The project covers urban, inter-urban and freight and fleet applications, including dynamic information services for drivers, hazardous goods monitoring and emergency vehicle support. It will also assess costs, acceptance, usability and security issues for drivers, operators and public authorities, and will define roadmaps for deployment.
Safespot will share several test sites with CVIS, and both projects will benefit from each other's complementary functionality. While CVIS applications focus on optimising traffic flows through the planning and dynamic control of traffic to avoid congestion and minimise travel time, Safespot aims to detect potential dangerous situations at junctions and to trigger actions that prevent accidents occurring.
Volvo Technology is working to provide the CVIS project with a standardised onboard unit which can be fitted in all vehicles and which has an antennae allowing it to communicate wirelessly with other road side units.
Technology like this already exists in the US and Japan but most of these applications are currently stand alone systems. “We want to make them work as Cooperative Systems,” Konstantinopoulou says.
CVIS user needs have been tested in several surveys – one which targeted 8,000 motorists and a third one which is being conducted at the 16th ITS World Congress.
“I see three different deployment scenarios for CVIS,” she concludes. “Either the government will push CVIS and Safespot due to safety and environmental concerns, through needs driven from commercial transportation or that CVIS is introduced through personal devices like GPS systems.”
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