We have regular public meetups in our Budapest office to explore the potential of vehicle communication from different perspectives. This time, our guest was Péter Dalos, a mobility expert from BKK, the Hungarian capital’s public mobility management company. András Váradi, Research Director at Commsignia, took part in the discussion. Read our summary of this great conversation.

At BKK, as the mobility manager, planner, and developer of Budapest, we see public transport as the “backbone” of urban mobility. However, besides walking and cycling that are traditional “limbs“ connecting to this “backbone”, a large market for shared services is emerging and we do not consider them to be competitors – said Peter Dalos of the BKK. Our aim is to integrate them into the larger transport system in a way that will make their customers also passengers of public transport services.

In order to reduce traffic hazards and road dangers, data from sensors, passenger counts, route planning applications and safety risk assessment based on hotspot identification are collected through multiple channels – Peter Dalos added. The operational public road manager monitors vehicle traffic via CCTV, and pilot projects are underway as well to monitor pedestrian traffic and optimize traffic flow.

Commsignia develops vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology for car manufacturers, and we also have a smart city business, supporting intersection connectivity. V2X provides data transfer between road users, so that what one car sees, knows or decides, other cars receive digitally, and they don’t have to locate, scan, predict or decide anything themselves – said Andras Varadi.

Vehicular communication is based on the idea that cars do not collide because they anonymously share their location, speed and direction. Connected vehicles can also be considered as moving sensors, and cities can use roadside devices to collect the shared information – Andras Varadi added. In the second generation of V2X, cars not only talk about themselves, but also about what they perceive with their onboard sensors, radars and cameras: whether they see a parking space, another car, a pedestrian.

Limited speed is the most important

Urban citizens are increasingly demanding a more humane environment. Less dangerous or perceived to be so, less noisy, without speeding vehicles in their neighborhoods. Shared micromobility service providers are pioneering in this respect, as they can remotely and automatically control the speed of their own vehicles by so called geofenced zones defined by BKK. For example, a virtual fence around a pedestrian zone forces all micromobility vehicles to slow down or not enter the zone with acceleration at all. Modern solutions really help to ensure that rules that used to be enforced with a lot of communication, monitoring and sanctions can be   enforced automatically in the near future.

And the question also arises:

If we are serious about Vision Zero and want to minimize the number of injury conflicts, the key is to ensure that large and heavy vehicles do not travel faster than 30 km/h in the city – Peter Dalos underlined.

The EU is trying to enforce speed limits through automatic cruise control, and I think it will soon be mandatory – replied Andras Varadi. This means that cars will have to be aware of the speed limit. This information can be distributed digitally, so that road signs don’t not have to be recognized by a camera, which can be challenging at night and in poor visibility conditions. If the speed information is posted as a digital message with certificates, there is no room for error, these software are highly reliable.

Andras Varadi mentioned that Commsignia has also experimented with using artificial intelligence to detect situations that could escalate into collisions before they happen. “In such cases, we don’t control traffic, just tweak the existing rules: change the traffic light rules, insert a speed limit.”

Giving back public space

BKK’s strategic aim is to return space to its original urban functions in actively used areas that have been flooded by cars. “To do so, we need to pay close attention to the behavior of the people at intersections, and understanding this will lead to much higher quality urban public spaces. If such a development is initiated, fewer people will unnecessarily burden the city with their car use.”

MOL Bubi is a bike-sharing service managed by the BKK, and its backend software sees the bikes that have accumulated due to sporting events for instance – said Peter Dalos. The dispatcher knows if there’s room for that many bikes, and there’s no need to call logistics, because two hours later, people will take away most of them. If the city had 200,000 shared bicycles instead of 2,000, it would make sense to use artificial intelligence to deal with such situations.

However, reducing the number of parking spaces, if the number of cars remains the same, leads to heavy traffic – adds Andras Varadi. V2X can help in the way mentioned earlier, when cars use their sensors to scan the streets for available parking spaces. Connected vehicles know whether it makes sense to drive into a particular street to look for a spot. A more sophisticated solution is automated valet parking: cars automatically park in a pre-designated space and automatically pull out when we want to move on. For now this only works in closed environments, and will be available on public roads after further developments.

Taking back control

Some urban citizens use technology to hack their environment: they set up non-existent virtual speed cameras in Waze because they are fed up with speeding on their street, and they see that it makes drivers go slower – said Péter Dalos. In many cases, however, these same solutions allow users to harm others. While some people avoid traffic jams by using apps, those living in quiet residential areas are not happy about the increased car traffic.

Apps are certainly influencing transport if there is no better alternative, says András Váradi.

The standardized language of V2X needs to be understood by everyone in traffic, and it’s used on a frequency dedicated to road safety.

V2X messages generated by cities will be displayed by cars: first only signs, suggestions, later full routes. Commsignia has research in which we propose complete routes to cars. Initially this only works with ambulances and first responders, but if a city’s infrastructure allows it, dynamically organized self-driving fleets can be driven from one point to another.

Building a better environment

Successful cities have a road safety strategy to reduce the danger on the roads and streets. Traffic safety is determined by three factors: human behavior, infrastructure and vehicles. Until the vast majority of vehicles and objects in the city are self-driving, the built environment will remain determining how vehicles driven by people, cyclists and pedestrians travel – Peter Dalos stressed.

After all, an accident is an event made up of coincidences, but here we are talking about events that we know will happen. As part of BKK’s strategy, we do not consider injuries and deaths as accidents, but we believe that they are preventable through specific interventions – said Peter Dalos. These are not technology-dependent, but technology can help a lot: it can tell us where the first places are that we need to address.

This obviously requires penetration – added András Váradi – to get vehicle communication in as many cars as possible. Once this is in place, the system can reconfigure itself within a second in response to dangerous situations. If, for example, a V2X application detects emergency braking from three different cars, it’s trivial that something has happened, traffic needs to be slowed down, which can then be checked again by a human operator and modified a few seconds or minutes later.

In the second generation of V2X, when vehicles also share sensor data, it will be enough for every third car to communicate with each other to detect every other car, pedestrian and cyclist on the road. We are trying to map everything that could cause a safety-critical situation, even a piece of rock falling on the road, because it’s important information for the vehicles.

Everyone walks a bit during the day. It’s basically a healthy activity, but pedestrian safety is a pressing issue. You have to be very careful if you want to get around in traffic. 

A pedestrian is killed in 17% of road collisions.

The US Department of Transportation is dedicating the entire month of October to pedestrian safety to raise awareness of the related issues. Their goals couldn’t be closer to Commsignia. We want to ensure that all road users communicate with each other and that vulnerable road users are always safe.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has divided the month into four themes on its website last year, and we think we have answers to all of them.

Everyone deserves the highest quality of safety 

Technology cannot discriminate between modes of transport: everyone needs the same quality of safety. Commsignia’s broad V2X portfolio treats all road users equally. It’s also able to include unconnected pedestrians in the vehicle communication network, making vulnerable road users more visible to drivers.

Drive at a safe speed even if the rules have changed

Some trips take you through special events or areas that require more attention. Speed limits near schools and roadworks are often different from the usual. Rules can change from one hour to the next. For example, school children may be allowed to go home earlier. V2X will always inform you about the current speed limit.

It works even if you’ve left the traditional roadside sign behind and can’t remember what it said.  Digital solutions like V2X allow dynamic speed control, so restrictions can be lifted or eased when no one is working in a work zone.  

Connecting vehicles with each other for better road safety

Connected vehicles send standardized V2X messages with important parameters to upgrade well-known applications such as lane change assist, collision warning and cruise control by understanding traffic situations from the perspective of other vehicles. There’s no need to have a line of sight between the vehicles to share messages. V2X works in harsh weather conditions such as fog and heavy snow.

In addition to cars, Commsignia V2X also covers micromobility, so that pedestrians and two-wheeled vehicles can safely co-exist on the roads.

Safer roads are built on better insights

Traffic data provide a rock-solid foundation for well-designed roadways. Commsignia Central Data and Device Manager platform can use connected vehicles and smart sensors to collect information on potential conflict zones. So road managers know exactly where to improve the built environment – before serious collisions happen.

Today is World Car Free Day, and we are proud to support efforts to make all modes of transport more equal and improve fuel efficiency. Our technology, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, is designed to do just that.

We all enjoy car-free days, when festivals, family events, cyclists and pedestrians take over the roads in cities. All this reminds us that the streets used to be a place of community life, and that we didn’t just pass through them on our way to distant destinations. Feeling safe and secure is a prerequisite for community life, and Commsignia wants to help make this happen.

It’s important to add that it’s easy to think of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology as car-centric, but in fact we’re trying to involve every single road user in the V2X ecosystem. Besides vehicles, V2X provides improved road safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and micromobility.

V2X helps road users be aware they are sharing the road with others.

Although cars stop for this one day, there are some vehicles that need to be on the road at all times. One example is public transport, where V2X helps to ensure smooth journeys.

If buses have to stop less often at traffic lights because V2X gives them a clear path through the intersection, their fuel consumption is significantly reduced and they emit fewer pollutants.

Goods trucks also need to keep moving. Advanced V2X applications such as platooning help freight trucks travel very close together with minimal drag.

Vehicle communications coordinate huge vehicles for better fuel efficiency

It is worth noting that the initiative for a car-free world day was originally triggered by the 1973 oil crisis, and today there are again serious fuel supply problems. Climate change and emissions are also issues that are being addressed by cities and transport managers around the world. 

V2X is here to help address these issues and move us towards a more efficient, safer and cleaner world.

More than ten thousand road fatalities happened at intersections last year in the United States, most of them in urban areas. Speeding and multi-vehicle crashes also greatly contribute to poor road safety.

Some road infrastructure owners have already started to plan and build smart intersections to improve road safety. Now they are getting a huge boost from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program which will provide a total of $5 billion over five years to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.

Now you can learn how vehicle-to-everything (V2X) will help these developments with better results. Commsignia offers end-to-end V2X solutions and recommends these 5 steps to build a comprehensive and future-proof system. This will allow you to keep the number of road fatalities and injuries at a permanently low level.

1. Generate more data

Vehicles generate a vast amount of information, and V2X provides real-time access to this valuable data source. Installing V2X on-board units (OBU) on fleets allow operators to be up-to-date with the vehicles’ statuses. 

Smart sensors like cameras, radars and lidar can be integrated with V2X roadside units (RSU) so traffic safety experts will know more about non-connected road users. Pedestrians and two-wheeled vehicles are better protected if infrastructure owners and operators have real-time information on their presence.

2. Connect your assets

Roadside units turn signalized intersections into smart intersections. Traffic light controllers connected to RSUs broadcast accurate status information to road users, so they can choose the right speed to avoid running red lights.

Variable Message Signs display dynamic speed limit and road hazard information for drivers. The same information can be delivered through V2X messages over a much larger area, directly to the vehicles’ dashboard. It will be harder to miss critical information!

3. Use data to plan safe streets

Commsignia Central visualizes data in an easy-to-understand interface. V2X and sensor data help road authorities better understand traffic offenses and conflicts in an area. They can even find situations that almost become collisions. In addition to collecting data, Commsignia Central allows road operators to create and upload V2X messages to the RSUs.

The built-in management tools ensure the continuous operation of the V2x infrastructure by monitoring the roadside equipment.

4. Optimize signal timing for equity

Urban maintenance such as roadside mowing, garbage collection and snow plowing can make drivers impatient. V2X applications allow priority emergency vehicles and publicly owned fleets to request a free pass at signalized intersections. Faster moving fleets create less disruption in traffic and lower the risk of crashes.

V2X can make public transport more predictable and attractive, because buses can catch up with the schedule with a few longer green lights. A similar approach can be taken to promote walking and cycling. After detecting the presence of pedestrians and cyclists, traffic signals can quickly turn green or provide longer crossing time. This will make active mobility more convenient.

5. Prepare the infrastructure for self-driving

Self-driving vehicles can cause fewer crashes than human drivers, but their algorithms need to use huge amounts of data. V2X provides accurate information, therefore self-driving cars make better decisions with less data processing, and they will move faster and safer on the roads.

Details about the SS4A grants can be found on the USDOT website. Find out how to apply in their webinar series covering Action Plan Grants, Implementation Grants and the general overview of this funding opportunity.

For related Commsignia products, please contact [email protected]

With more than 150 people killed in road maintenance crashes in a year, it is clear that more needs to be done to improve work zone safety. To mark the National Work Zone Awareness Week, we’d like to raise awareness of how vehicle-to-everything (V2X) can help when people are on the road.

Normally, roadworks are signposted well in advance to give drivers time to slow down. When you get right up to the work area on a minor road, flaggers will stand in your way and show you if you can pass.

This is exactly what happened last week when we were traveling on a mountain road near Boulder Creek, CA. The flagger even waved us to slow down and we couldn’t understand why. Then, about 30 yards later, it became obvious: a man was kneeling down on the road, working right next to our lane.

A similar situation on the motorways is not nearly as safe. You can travel at much higher speeds, and there is no special signalling for the presence of workers.

This is where V2X can help the most

It is essential to involve vulnerable road users in the V2X ecosystem to significantly reduce road fatalities. We have the technology to equip road workers with V2X beacons so that drivers know exactly that there is a man on the road. Cars with on-board V2X can receive the messages and display a warning long before the flagger is in sight.

Accurate information is the key to confident and safe driving, and only V2X can deliver it to vehicles in a timely manner, even when the hazard is out of the driver’s line of sight.

We’re premiering a “The V2X files” video series today! Although V2X is a mature technology that has begun to be used worldwide, many of our customers and partners are interested in the details. So we start this new series to show where they can get using Commsignia’s V2X solutions.

The format for the whole series is pretty straightforward: two of our experts sit down in front of the camera in our office and questions pop up on a monitor. The questions are then answered briefly and we move on to the next one.

Since one episode can contain many questions, we marked each question in the timeline of the video. This makes it easier to find any question you might have or even skip over any parts you might already be familiar with.

Nonetheless, we highly recommend you share your questions with us about business models, technologies and the deployments. This helps us answer you in the next episodes. Feel free to do that in the description of the video or even here in the comments section. We will gather up all the questions and group them according to the general theme they belong to. We then create the new episode with the new questions, so stay tuned!

In the first episode, which premieres February 4, at 16:00 CET, we start with easier topics in the first part, but then we quickly get to the question in the title about how V2X will be the ultimate and perhaps the only type of sensor in a city. In the upcoming episodes we will be covering vulnerable road user safety (VRU safety), automotive revenue opportunities, and many other topics. Listen to the V2X-files – the truth is out there, in this and the upcoming videos.

Although tolls cannot be avoided, there is room for improvement in the payment process, and innovations like V2X-based toll payment can make it more convenient, and this can open new revenue opportunities for OEMs.

The global market for electronic toll collection (ETC) systems has grown significantly in the past years. According to forecasts, this will continue for years to come. Global Market Insights predicts 11% annual growth between 2021 and 2027 and identifies urbanization and traffic congestion as one of the major driving forces behind the increasing demand for ETC systems. 

Authorities usually build toll stations with multiple gates to identify vehicles. This is quite expensive and also slows down traffic, since each vehicle has to get in their respective lanes. These ETC systems typically use cameras combined with transponders to enforce payment. It’s far from an optimal solution.

The ETC market is fragmented, and because of this, long-haul trucks, delivery vehicles, and everyone else travelling through state lines or even countries has to carry that many more transponders.

There’s an excellent opportunity for state-of-the-art solutions built on global V2X standards.

Here at Commsignia, we are working to make V2X-based tolling happen. From drivers, to operators and service providers, ETC systems based on standard V2X messaging and security are convenient for everyone. 

In fact, carmakers have already started implementing V2X solutions into their vehicles, so drivers won’t have to buy and install various toll tags. This aligns with the trends in the automotive industry where connectivity is considered to be one of the major revenue drivers for OEMs. Carmakers will be able to offer V2X-based tolling as a comfortable option to car owners.

Last, but certainly not least, V2X roadside units are capable of running a number of V2X applications besides tolling. This allows for a more efficient traffic management so road operators can reduce congestion and increase safety.

Let us know how we can help you with your V2X implementation. We’d love to her about your projects, thoughts, and questions!

Click here to contact us!