South Korea is about to start a 12-month trial of a cooperative intelligent transportation system (C-ITS) as part of its preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, with the technology being supplied by both homegrown and Netherlands-based companies.
Dutch secure connectivity supplier NXP Semiconductors and Korean automotive electronics and telematics company eSSys have announced that they will be technology partners in South Korea’s next-generation C-ITS project promoted by the country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. NXP will supply eSSys with its RoadLINK V2X chipset, a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication and security system, which will be test-operated on a 54.5-mile (87.8km) route between Sejong City, the administrative capital and home of many government offices, and Daejon. The year-long pilot operation begins this month.
Currently, a variety of smart transport technologies are being installed on national highways, including the primary highway for access to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. The fundamental differentiator that the newly adopted C-ITS with NXP will offer is secure information exchange in real time between vehicles (V2V) and between cars and the surrounding intelligent infrastructure (V2I), including roadworks, traffic signs or traffic lights. Rapid response times, combined with the ability of V2X-capable cars to ‘see around corners’ or through obstacles beyond the driver’s line of sight, will prevent accidents, while significantly improving traffic flow and reducing CO? emissions. According to the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA), more than 5,000 people die in accidents each year and more than 300,000 people incur injuries. The Korea Transport Institute estimates that 76% of all road accidents could be avoided with the full deployment of its C-ITS plans.
NXP’s RoadLINK V2X communication and security technology is essential for the continued development and advancement of self-driving cars and macro-traffic management. It enables vehicles to wirelessly exchange information, such as speed, position and direction with other automobiles in their vicinity, and allows vehicles and infrastructure to communicate traffic management data or notices, such as localized speed limits, traffic signaling and road works warnings, and hazardous conditions. RoadLINK’s secure element is an integral part of the chipset that protects the privacy of the driver and prevents hacking or manipulation.
“It is an honor that our proven RoadLINK V2X chipset was selected for the next-generation intelligent transport system by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation,” said Lars Reger, chief technology officer for NXP’s automotive business unit. “Our advanced intelligent transport technologies will significantly contribute to saving lives on Korean roads, improving traffic flow, and boosting the overall convenience of transport. Based on software-defined radio technology, our hardware platform is able to support the Korean V2X standard, as well as the vast majority of regional variants around the globe.”
Yong-beom Kim, CEO of eSSys, noted, “As a Korea-based vehicle electronics systems provider, we supply communications modules to automobile manufacturers and tier one suppliers, combining high efficiency and optimum performance. Our WAVE communications systems, based on NXP’s proven RoadLINK V2X chipset, are expected to play a key role in the national C-ITS project.”
