A partnership between automotive technology supplier Bosch and the Antenne Bayern radio station aims to eliminate fatalities on the German road network caused by wrong-way drivers.
The new partnership will allow Antenne Bayern to integrate Bosch’s cloud-based wrong-way driver warning into its app for radio listeners. The system rapidly warns both wrong-way drivers and all other road users in the vicinity, with a push message giving everybody a chance to react in time.
Currently German radio broadcasts warn listeners of approximately 2,000 wrong-way driving situations annually, with an average of 20 people killed by wrong-way drivers in the country each year. Drivers who use exit lanes to enter the freeway account for 46% of wrong-way accidents, with nearly one-third of such incidents ending after the wrong-way driver has traveled only 1,640ft (500m), often with fatal consequences.
Due to the new function developed by Bosch, the nationwide Antenne Bayern radio station can immediately warn its 250,000 active app users throughout the country of hazardous situations caused by wrong-way drivers. Cloud connectivity enables the app to issue a warning within seconds, not only to the wrong-way driver, but also to all right-way drivers in the same or adjacent lanes.
Whenever a vehicle approaches a freeway entrance or exit, the wrong-way driver warning system automatically transmits anonymized movement data to the Bosch cloud. The company’s technology then compares the vehicle’s current direction with the permitted direction of travel, which is stored in an online database. If these two pieces of information clash, the system will alert the wrong-way driver to their mistake.
“Our wrong-way driver warning system shows that we take a comprehensive approach to road safety, and we don’t restrict our thinking to the vehicles only,” noted Dr Volkmar Denner, CEO of Bosch.
“Each traffic fatality is one too many. I’m pleased that together with Antenne Bayern, we are helping to improve traffic safety. We can alert a lot of road users to wrong-way drivers in time. I’m convinced our partnership will prevent fatal accidents.”
Ina Tenz, program director and content manager at Antenne Bayern, said, “Bosch’s wrong-way driver warning technology allows us to raise the bar in service for our listeners. We hope this innovation helps them to always arrive safely. All our listeners need to do before they drive is open the Antenne Bayern app and leave it on. The app will regularly update them with the latest traffic information. And wrong-way driver warnings will help them stay safer than ever on the road.”
