Panasonic, Colorado Department of Transportation, Ford and Qualcomm showed the first real-world application of C-V2X technology connecting the vehicle, the roadways and a regional traffic management center in Denver.
Other partners included Kapsch, Ficosa and Savari.
The demonstrations included:
- V2X with CDOT
- Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X)
- V2V
- V21
- A Ford F-150
- Infrastructure
- Traffic management center allows for real-time decisions.
- The system uses “basic safety message” that allows information about winschield wiper status.
In Denver, Panasonic has created a connected vehicle ecosystem that collects travel data from cars and other sources and communicates that information to vehicles and external systems. The system comes out of a collaboration between Panasonic and the Colorado Dept. of Transportation to create the first production-grade, U.S. connected vehicle system in which real-time data would be shared across vehicles, infrastructure and people with a goal to improve safety, lower fuel consumption and reduce congestion. The promise from efforts such as those taking place in Colorado are extraordinary. IoT linked roads are expected to reduce travel times by almost half, and potentially eliminate up to 80% of crashes.
This is the first U.S. deployment of C-V2X technology and is an extension of a previously announced partnership between the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Panasonic to integrate connected vehicle technology in the state of Colorado. Panasonic, Qualcomm Technologies and Ford have joined the advanced development efforts to help deploy the technology, and to assess C-V2X capabilities this summer on select roadways throughout Panasonic’s CityNOW headquarters in Denver, which will be followed by deployment in select areas along the I-70 Mountain Corridor later in the year.
Panasonic is leading a strategic effort to help the city determine which technology developments can best improve city services and reach community goals.
Panasonic is working with Kapsch TrafficCom in CDOT’s V2X development program, in which Kapsch TrafficCom will provide roadside units (RSUs), as well as with Ficosa to provide C-V2X onboard units (OBUs). The transit authority’s existing fleet of Ford utility vehicles will be equipped with C-V2X devices utilizing Ficosa’s CarCom platform to enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) direct communications. Panasonic’s connected vehicle data platform will collect and disseminate C-V2X data to provide roadway operators with improved situational awareness and a new ability to send safety critical information directly to vehicles.
With the ability of C-V2X direct communications to be integrated into an LTE-based telematics unit, C-V2X is also cost-effective and continues to gain worldwide support in the automotive industry, and broader transportation ecosystem.