The benefits of light vehicles are attracting more and more people, but the future of micromobility lies in whether cities are able to protect vulnerable road users (VRUs).

Some have switched modes with confidence, but many do not feel comfortable in the current state of transition. Standing on a sheet of metal is not comparable to the safety of a car body.

There is a significant increase in the risk of unintentional road injuries and fatalities

Some cities already have an extensive network of bicycle roads, some are planning to build, others are lagging behind. Whatever the case, people traveling by bicycle or e-scooter will encounter cars during their journey. In the battle of standing on two legs vs two tons of steel, there is no doubt who will be the winner.

There’s a way to increase safety and confidence in diverse traffic. We need to connect all road users with vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology. Commsignia brought its expertise in V2X and partnered with Spoke to build game-changer  VRU safety solutions.

One of the most common causes of VRU incidents is that the driver of the car doesn’t see the light vehicle coming.

A bicycle or e-scooter can easily go unnoticed in the vehicle’s blind spot. Turning cars can cross the path of a light vehicle passing by them or in the opposite lane, which can lead to an incident with injury. Even an ordinary event like the opening of a car door can also have serious consequences.

Real time V2X communication guarantees that vehicles nearby receive real-time alerts. They will know about each other, even if they don’t see each other, and they can avoid these dangerous situations.

Find out more about the future of micromobility and our VRU protection and bicycle safety solutions by contacting us here.

If anything, we at Commsignia speak V2X – the language of mobility.

It’s easy to take a popular quote out of context and use them in wide variety of topics. These words by Rita Mae Brown have a very different meaning in the business of vehicle communications. We literally use V2X messages to tell where people and their vehicles come from, and where they are going.

How is V2X a language?

Now let’s get to the point. V2X has it’s own mother language defined by international standards, so every single vehicle understands each other. Although we don’t use linguistic prefixes or suffixes, the messages are well structured. Would you like to see one? Fasten your seat belt because we are going fast and very deep.

Take a look below at the beautiful structure of the standard V2X “sentence”, a Traveler Information Message (TIM) that typically contains information about actual traffic situations.

{
  "dtype": "TIM",
  "decodedMessageData": {
    "travelerInformation": {
      "msgCnt": 1,
      "timeStamp": 381239,
      "dataFrames": [
        {
          "sspTimRights": 0,
          "frameType": "advisory",
          "msgId": {
            "choiceID": 1,
            "roadSignID": {
              "position": {
                "lat": 474751745,
                "long_": 190578618
              },
              "viewAngle": {
                "bytes": "//8=",
                "unusedBits": "0",
                "from292_5to315_0degrees": true,
                "from315_0to337_5degrees": true,
                "from112_5to135_0degrees": true,
                "from135_0to157_5degrees": true,
                "from157_5to180_0degrees": true,
                "from202_5to225_0degrees": true,
                "from225_0to247_5degrees": true,
                "from022_5to045_0degrees": true,
                "from045_0to067_5degrees": true,
                "from090_0to112_5degrees": true,
                "from270_0to292_5degrees": true,
                "from247_5to270_0degrees": true,
                "from337_5to360_0degrees": true,
                "from067_5to090_0degrees": true,
                "from180_0to202_5degrees": true,
                "from000_0to022_5degrees": true,
                "bitSize": 16
              }
            }
          },
          "startTime": 73440,
          "duratonTime": 480,
          "priority": 3,
          "sspLocationRights": 0,
          "regions": [
            {
              "anchor": {
                "lat": 474753846,
                "long_": 190575238
              },
              "description": {
                "path": {
                  "offset": {
                    "xy": {
                      "nodes": [
                        {
                          "delta": {
                            "choiceID": 6,
                            "node_LatLon": {
                              "lat": 474753846,
                              "lon": 190575238
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "delta": {
                            "choiceID": 6,
                            "node_LatLon": {
                              "lat": 474754975,
                              "lon": 190577181
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "delta": {
                            "choiceID": 6,
                            "node_LatLon": {
                              "lat": 474751456,
                              "lon": 190582348
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "delta": {
                            "choiceID": 6,
                            "node_LatLon": {
                              "lat": 474749460,
                              "lon": 190578308
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "delta": {
                            "choiceID": 6,
                            "node_LatLon": {
                              "lat": 474753872,
                              "lon": 190575160
                            }
                          }
                        }
                      ]
                    }
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          ],
          "sspMsgRights1": 0,
          "sspMsgRights2": 0,
          "content": {
            "choiceID": 1,
            "workZone": [
              {
                "item": {
                  "choiceID": 0,
                  "itis": 6952
                }
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Let’s take a look at the details! Geographical coordinates are easily recognizable, they describe our engineering office in Budapest, Hungary. The start time is from the beginning of the year, from 0:00 a.m. on January 1, 2022, and is, at least officially, 8 hours a day. These values we have to input in minutes.

You can also see the “workZone” expression in the text. It usually describes an event on the road, but we are also proud to work on those roads: using our software to make them safer. Our free interpretation is not a problem at all. The ITIS code 6952 of the event only states: look-out-for-workers.

We could call ITIS codes the words and syllables of the V2X language. The codes are issued by an international body, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). SAE plays a key role in V2X standardization, without which communication between vehicles would hardly work.

Here at Commsignia we speak V2X on a native level and are happy to translate your everyday traffic problem into the language of mobility. Get in touch!

Mercedes takes a big step forward in self driving by being the first to receive a regulatory approval for Level 3 autonomous driving. Upcoming models with enhanced self-driving functions will rely on various sensors. LiDARs, radars and cameras will help cars navigate the streets autonomously with speeds up to 60 km/hour.

News articles focus on how drivers will benefit from autonomous systems, and that’s okay. The improvement truly changes the way we can work or have more fun in vehicles. But Commsignia is all about road safety, and we have found other interesting pieces in the details. 

It’s good to see how an OEM ensures failsafe operation. When self-driving conditions aren’t met, and the driver is not ready to take back control of the vehicle, the cars will safely stop, put on the hazard lights and activate an emergency call. That’s one of the moments in traffic when Vehicle-to-Everything or V2X communication solutions can come handy.

So where does V2X come into the picture?

With integrated V2X, cars can send a warning to other vehicles nearby: Hey, watch out, there’s a stopped vehicle on the road! Of course the message drivers see or hear won’t exactly sound like this, it’s up to the OEMs to find the best way to alert drivers.

How does the evolution of V2X compare to the evolution of self-driving? And where exactly is level 3 autonomous driving in relation to complete autonomy?

Take a look at this chart below to find out more:

As you can see, cooperation and automation evolve in parallel. We are at the point when deployed V2X systems can share sensor data with each other, allowing us to use improved safety services in vehicles. We’ve been working on the next level of cooperation for a while. Commsignia is actively participating in the standardization of Cooperative Perception, and not only for cars. 

Cooperative Perception is an integral part of how street sensors and cameras can share information with vehicles. This is essential to include the otherwise non-connected vulnerable road users, pedestrians and people riding bicycles or electric kickscooters in the V2X ecosystem.

Some say that a mobile phone provides a great opportunity to improve pedestrian safety. We can also argue the mobile phones cause dangerous situations on the streets, with drivers or pedestrians watching the display instead of the environment. It is certain that the development of digital communication between motorists and pedestrians requires great care so that it doesn’t become a distraction from a solution that seeks to increase safety.

This connection can be built up gradually, and smartphones that support Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology provide an excellent opportunity for this. Apple iPhones have UWB, and Commsignia has a neat solution built on that. 

UWB acts as a sensor

In road safety, the most important thing is to know where the traffic participants are and where they are going. UWB provides exactly what we need: the position of the user with an accuracy down to just a few centimeters. For reference, other technologies offer accuracy of few meters. UWB devices forward data to our Roadside Unit – or shortly RSU – which converts this information to standard V2X messages. These messages are understood by V2X on-board devices of vehicles, and appropriate actions can be taken before accidents occur.

This way we don’t have to deal with the user’s distraction, making pedestrian safety something more accessible to all. Smartphones can even stay in the pocket, and we only use UWB to determine the presence of the pedestrian. Our V2X roadside unit can also fuse data from multiple sources, so UWB can increase the reliability of pedestrian detection in various scenarios. This is especially helpful in avoiding false alarms.

Find out more about our VRU protection and pedestrian safety solutions by contacting us here.