Ready, set, go: Test drive to show off V2X comm tech

A group of companies within the automotive industry will jump start a large-scale test drive through Germany, Austria and Netherlands on Nov. 11. The "Communicating Cars," project is aimed at demonstrating the maturity of vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication technology.

The test drive will run along the projected C-ITS Corridor between Vienna and Rotterdam. Participating companies include NXP, Cohda Wireless, Siemens and Honda, along with safety validation company TÜV Süd.

C-ITS stands for cooperative intelligent traffic systems corridor, a joint project of the governments of Netherlands, Germany and Austria to test V2X technologies by implementing numerous roadside installations that exchange data with cars.

V2X technology enables vehicles to automatically communicate among each other and pass along messages regarding road conditions, traffic flow and obstacles before these appear in the driver's visual range. The vehicles also receive signals from intelligent road signs and can adapt to the switching cycles of traffic lights before they actually reach them. All these features help to support the traffic flow, making roads safer.

The test drive course starts at NXP's booth at the electronica trade fair, then passes through Vienna, and eventually returns to Rotterdam along the C-ITS Corridor over Frankfurt.

Initially, two V2X applications will be implemented: roadworks warning and traffic situation detection. In the case of roadworks information, traffic information centres and mobile traffic signs will transmit warning signals to the vehicles. While in the other application, traffic situation detection, vehicles will communicate amongst each other, exchanging data on the traffic situation. These data are also forwarded to the traffic information centre from where they can be fed into navigation systems capable of processing real-time information.

In both cases, the communication is realised either through the IEEE 802.11p standard, a version of the popular Wi-Fi standard with extensions and modifications for fast-moving objects, or through the cell phone infrastructure.

It is planned that the participating vehicles will stop in Vienna. The test is expected to be finished by Nov. 19 in Rotterdam.

Vehicle-to-X communications may soon become a global standard, where cars use built-in transponders to broadcast their position, type, speed and trajectory wirelessly. But whether or not a received message is legitimate raises security concerns. So is the world really ready for V2X communication technology? (Dig deeper: Should car-to-car talk be mandatory?, Addressing privacy, security issues in connected cars)

- Christoph Hammerschmidt
  EE Times