The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), The Ray, Kia Georgia and Panasonic have demonstrated a fully operational connected vehicle environment along 18 miles of Interstate 85 in Georgia, USA known as The Ray Highway using Panasonic’s Cirrus connected vehicle data management platform.
Cirrus detects real-time roadway events and communicates safety-critical messages to travellers about driving conditions.
The partnership between the four organizations is focused on raising awareness of the life-saving potential of connected vehicle technology as well as deploying real-world use cases with measurable benefits. Showcasing GDOT and Kia Georgia vehicles equipped with vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, GDOT can now deliver real-time situational awareness to drivers on equipped roadways.
GDOT, The Ray, and Panasonic are now providing “ride-along” experiences for stakeholders where drivers will be warned of hazardous conditions ahead on the roadway in advance of the event coming into the driver’s view. These “ride-along” experiences showcase how connected vehicle technology can detect and warn drivers about weather events, work zones, hard braking and even vehicle crashes in a real-world highway environment. The experience includes an in-vehicle visualization of traveller warnings, the capabilities of V2X technology installed on and along roadways, the digital communication that enables the intelligence of connected roadways, as well as the Cirrus cloud platform point of view that manages the data for GDOT in order to detect events and provide real-time alerts to drivers.
“It is important that Georgia DOT leads in the deployment of transportation technology that benefits all drivers, that helps to move freight across the region more efficiently and safely, and that advances Georgia as the technology epicenter of the east coast. We know that connected vehicle technology will save lives, and we are determined to see it come to life in Georgia as soon as possible,” said Russell McMurry, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation.
