The 2021 ITS World Congress in Hamburg marked the largest event of the intelligent transport industry after the pandemic. It was great to see the ITS community at its full strength in innovations. The Messe halls were packed full of vehicle-to-everything solutions, and several exhibitors even held live demos on the streets with V2X. This shows us the importance of this technology, and also the accelerated pace of its adoption.

V2X achieves a major milestone as Austria and Germany allow communication between cars and infrastructure

Safety solutions for vulnerable road users (VRU) was a key topic for city representatives, and many visitors watched our demonstrations about it. We set up a virtual pedestrian crossing at the Commsignia booth and showed the two ways we solved pedestrian detection: with a smart camera and ultra-wideband positioning. We integrated these sensors into our roadside unit, which broadcast warnings using V2X technology to both drivers and pedestrians. Protection of cyclists was also a popular topic, highlighting the growing popularity of micromobility worldwide.

E-bikes, scooters and other forms of personal transportation are clearly becoming part of V2X. 

We saw the growing presence of telecom companies at ITS, who are boosting the whole V2X ecosystem. All the while, the industry is exploring the benefits and challenges of 5G. V2X infrastructure is evolving at both ends of the communications network. Traditional vendors have introduced Edge computing tools to bring data processing closer to the roads. Furthermore, centralized solutions are becoming popular. In this case as well, there was a focus on data utilization. For this, we presented Commsignia Central, our Device & Data Manager Platform that manages V2X devices at the Qualcomm booth. We presented data visualization and the simple setup for V2X message broadcasting using this system.

Everyone is talking about the monetization of traffic data. For us, it’s not a case of doing it just because we can. Our priority is bringing real public benefits by solving traffic and safety issues.

Commsignia Central also debuted at the ITSWC 2021

The record-setting ITSWC 2021 in Hamburg has shown that the ongoing digitization of transport infrastructure is taking place on an increasing scale. At the same time, urban traffic is changing globally, with electric, shared and increasingly diverse modes of transport gaining ground. Some things will not change though: there is a huge need for efficient traffic management, safety solutions, and Commsignia provides countless solutions for both.