Car-to-car tech gets C2X-rated

Germany’s auto industry has set to on what will likely prove the largest and most complex car communications field trials yet devised.

The so-called “Safe Intelligent Mobility – Testfield Germany” (simTD) project incorporates four years of real-world field trials of a range of car-to-car (C2C) technologies dubbed “car-to-X” C2X).

In essence, C2X connects up a network of vehicles both directly and through central communications and traffic management infrastructure – hence the ‘X’, which alludes to the multitude of devices it potentially takes in.

Experts say C2X is one of the most important areas of advancement in transport. Its potential benefits are profound on several fronts, particularly road safety and traffic efficiency in increasingly crowded urban environments, with flow-on environmental benefits.

It also carries massive commercial potential stemming from its introduction of internet services into the car – an area barely yet explored.

The simTD trial is sponsored and supported by Germany’s Federal Ministries of Economics & Technology, Education & Research, and Transport, Building & Urban Development, along with the state of Hessen.

Its partnership and support list takes in virtually all Germany’s auto industry – Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, Opel and Volkswagen (which presumably includes Porsche, although confirmation is hard to find).

It extends to affiliates and component makers like Bosch and tyre maker Continental, along with academic institutions, public sector and peak bodies and representatives from the energy and telecommunications industries.

The initial phase will put a fleet of 120 C2X-equipped vehicles on the roads of the Rhine-Main region until the end of 2012. The vehicles are capable of keeping each other’s drivers and the wider traffic management system abreast of traffic conditions in their vicinity, forewarning each other of hazards, traffic jams etc ahead.

Ford is contributing 20 specially equipped (Mondeo-based) S-MAX MPVs to test no less than 20 experimental driver-assist technologies, including…

>> Brake lights that don’t just light up, but let following vehicles know in the event of emergency braking. This extends the efficacy of brake lights beyond line-of-sight.
>> An obstacle warning system, which warns other drivers of obstacles and other hazards on the road ahead
>> Traffic sign assistance systems providing traffic management centres with real-time updates on speed limit variations, temporary restrictions and diversions etc
>> Public traffic management and prognosis systems using data from multiple sources updated in real-time
>> In-car internet access, which promises drivers access to a vast and increasing array of services as the system broadens and deepens. Ford uses the example of reservation and advance payment for parking en-route.

simTD is headed up by Dr Christian Weiss, head of cooperating systems at Daimler’s Research and Advance Development division.

“We are convinced that C2X communication is going to play an important role in the mobility of the future,” he said in a media statement marking the project’s commencement.

“C2X communication allows us to detect objects and hazardous situations far beyond the immediate environment of the vehicle. This is a significant step on the path towards accident-free driving.”

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