INFRASTRUCTURE & TALKING TRAFFIC

 

Within the main blocks of Core Technologies, Cooperative Applications, Test Sites, and Deployment Enablers, the CVIS sub-projects; the following key results were expected:

• a multi-channel terminal capable of maintaining a continuous Internet connection over a wide range of carriers, including cellular, mobile Wi-Fi networks, infra-red or short-range microwave channels, ensuring full interoperability in the communication between different makes of vehicle and of traffic management systems;

• an open architecture connecting in-vehicle and traffic management systems and telematics services at the roadside, that can be easily updated and scaled up to allow implementation for various client and back-end server technologies;

• techniques for enhanced vehicle positioning and the creation of local dynamic maps, using satellite positioning, radio triangulation and the latest methods for location referencing;

• extended protocols for vehicle, road, and environment monitoring to allow vehicles to share and verify their data with other vehicles or infrastructure nearby, and with a roadside service centre;

• application design and core software development for:

1. cooperative urban network management, cooperative area destination-based control, cooperative acceleration/deceleration and dynamic bus lanes;

2. enhanced driver awareness and cooperative traveler assistance on inter-urban highways;

3. commercial vehicle parking and loading zones booking and management, monitoring and guidance of hazardous goods and vehicle access control to sensitive areas.

• deployment enabling toolkit in the form of models, guidelines, and recommendations in the areas of openness and interoperability; safe, secure and fault-tolerant design; utility, usability and user acceptance; costs, benefits and business models; risks and liability; cooperative systems as a policy tool; and deployment road-maps.

 

The progress towards achieving IP level objectives is summarised below:

 

CVIS objective 1: Interoperability

 

A total of 56 vehicles in 14 test sites in 7 countries were used to demonstrate the CVIS cooperative ITS concepts. Several makes of the vehicle were used during these demonstrations. The CVIS and SAFESPOT systems were demonstrated to be interoperable: routers could be shared, and both systems understood the same cooperative awareness messages. Interoperability with COOPERS was limited to three demonstration scenarios at the 2009 ITS World Congress in Stockholm, so real interoperability was not validated. Within the CVIS project interoperability has been achieved in that various SPs used each others’ software modules. 

 

CVIS objective 2: Open source

 

From the individual SPs, the requirement that 80% of software modules and interfaces should be under open source license was fully realized by COMM. Moreover: o All interface descriptions were the fully open source. o CVIS was implemented on an open source operating system (Ubuntu Linux) o The Knopflerfish OSGi service platform (the heart of FOAM) was also open source.

 

CVIS objective 3: Reference platform

 

A software repository was created providing source code, installation guides, FAQ and documentation (wiki). The reference platform containing the core technologies could be obtained from this software repository. The application innovation contest proved that external developers could also rapidly develop applications using the reference implementation.

 

CVIS objective 4: User acceptance

 

CVIS questionnaire surveys carried out at several events and online assessed user acceptance of CVIS applications. Although the majority of the end-users considered the presented applications to be useful and easy to use, they also showed somewhat less enthusiasm to pay for these systems.

 

CVIS objective 5: Data sharing

 

According to CVIS surveys, most European drivers (60%) are willing to share data from their vehicles for supporting cooperative systems as long as no personal data are involved. The eSecurity Working Group of the eSafety Forum has been drafting a code of practice to deal with privacy issues related to cooperative systems. CVIS contributed via the eSecurity Working group to the work plan of the Article 29 WP (European Union Working Party on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the processing of Personal Data).

 

CVIS objective 6: Impact on driving behaviour

 

During the development of the Validation Plan, it was concluded that this objective could not be achieved during the CVIS project lifetime since it requires a large number of vehicles driven in a realistic context over a long period of time using applications that are a product ready. This objective is one of the main points for forthcoming Field Implementation of tests for validation at test sites (SP level): All SPs conducted the tests at various test sites as specified in their validation plans. A table summarising the degree to which each of the validation objectives was met is presented below. The rating scale ranges from 1 (unsuccessful) to 5 (fully successful).