Smart Vehicles
Smart vehicles are vehicles that can think, communicate with each other and the transport network, and take action to improve safety and efficient operation. Smart vehicles include not only cars, but also trucks, trains, trams and buses.
It is possible to get live updates on traffic conditions beamed to your in-vehicle or portable navigation device so you can divert around traffic jams.
Smart vehicle technologies are not something only of the future. Almost all of us would be familiar with anti-lock brakes, where the vehicle thinks and then acts to brake more safely than a human can. Of course, there are even more advanced technologies already available, such as adaptive cruise control that can keep vehicles at a safe following distance and dynamic navigation systems that receive data to always calculate the best route home.
Some examples of smart vehicle technology already in use here and overseas that could be developed further include:
- Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) technology – allowing vehicles to talk to each other to avoid potential crashes, and warning of hazards ahead with real time traffic conditions
- Public transport vehicles that know whether they are ahead or behind schedule, request traffic signal priority to catch up on time, and inform passengers at stops ahead of their expected arrival time.
- Gap detection – allowing vehicles to keep safe distance from other vehicles to avoid collisions, and even taking evasive action by applying brakes
- Lane drift – helping drivers stay safely within their lane and warning if they are drifting into traffic
- Anti-locking devices – a range of ITS applications being used in vehicles to detect alcohol, ensure seat-belts are worn, and ensure heavy vehicles and young drivers keep to mandatory speed limits
- Electronic log books – ensuring truck drivers take mandatory rest breaks and keep to designated freight routes
- Adaptive speed control – an improvement to cruise control, which can adapt to local speed limits
- Driver fatigue warnings
- Driver information – informing the driver of upcoming traffic congestion, roadworks, railway crossings, school zones or known black spots.
Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (VII) communications will only be possible for a small number of vehicles on the road within the next ten years, but even at low penetration rates this technology delivers significant benefits.
- Smart Cities, Buildings & Communities
- Smart Grids – Energy & Environmental Issues
- Smart Grids – Global Overview & Activities
- Smart Grids – Grid IT – Where Energy Meets Comms
- Smart Grids and the Communications Revolution
Tagged in: Global
