Following the US Department of Transportation’s latest proposals to progress the widespread introduction of V2V and V2I technologies, the European Union (EU) is reinforcing its commitment to connected and cooperative mobility.
The EU sees digital technology that lets vehicles ‘talk’ to each other (V2V) and to the infrastructure (V2I) in Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) as key in moving toward a smart road transport sector. The European Commission (EC), the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA), and beneficiaries from the EU’s C-Roads projects have met in Brussels, Belgium, to reinforce this notion.
The seven C-Roads projects are supported with a combined 55m (US$58.5m) grant from the EU and will implement C-ITS services in eight countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the UK. The projects are part of those supported by the EU under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport instrument and were selected under the 2015 CEF Transport calls, which made 7.6bn (US$8bn) available to finance projects to improve European transport infrastructure, promote transport safety, develop intelligent transport systems, and mitigate the environmental impact of the sector.
European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc signed a special C-Roads poster to reinforce the EU’s commitment to supporting ITS as one of the chief solutions to making the road transport sector safer, greener, and more efficient.
Bulc remarked, “We already have many examples of successful projects proving the enormous potential of Cooperative Intelligent Transport System. But with C-Roads we are stepping up a gear. It is a platform for all deployment initiatives, including those not funded by the EU, focusing on interoperability, and making sure that C-ITS services are actually deployed and made available to EU citizens. C-Roads will take the road sector to the next level, with vehicles capable of communicating with users, with infrastructure, and with each other.”
INEA’s director, Dirk Beckers, who also signed the poster together with representatives of the C-Roads projects, commented, “INEA will offer its continuous support to the C-Roads projects, so that cooperative ITS services may be quickly implemented, in a harmonized and interoperable way across the EU. Our ITS project portfolio keeps growing every year, a clear sign of the strategic interest for ITS from Member States and the European industry.”
The C-Roads projects will install C-ITS equipment in various locations throughout the EU, with pilot schemes designed to test the systems in different operating environments. The C-Roads partners will also cooperate with each other to identify common specifications for communication and security, to ensure interoperability of C-ITS services. By making cross-border C-ITS services a reality, the C-Roads platform is building the foundations for connected vehicles across the EU.
