Colorado’s I-70 leads to the state’s ski resorts and C-V2X technology is
ensuring the path remains clear and safe for travelers
Left: Panasonic’s
V2X system can
warn drivers of
dangers ahead
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com 041
November/December 2019 Traffic Technology International
Below: Colorado’s
network operations
center monitors V2X
systems on I-70
Safer connections
| Hybrid V2X
C-V2X deployment on 90
miles of I-70 in Colorado will
create the largest
transportation dataset in history,
according to Colorado Department
of Transportation (CDOT).
Connected cars will transmit data
from a variety of sensors 10 times
a second to other cars and also to
the cloud for analysis via roadside
units. This will enable applications
like automated snowplow
deployment where cars lose
traction, alerting drivers to
crashes around blind bends and
dynamic rerouting to counter
congestion. It will give CDOT
traffic managers an end-to-end
view of the roadway through
Panasonic’s software platform.
“The I-70 Mountain Corridor
takes you from Denver up
into the ski resorts,” says
Panasonic’s vice president of
smart mobility, Chris Armstrong.
“It’s high-altitude with sharp
curves and fast-changing
weather and we felt connected
cars acting as sensors could
help define the dangers and
find solutions. CDOT gave us the
hardest problem to start with.
If we could get that corridor
right, they felt confident we
could use it as a mechanism to
scale and institutionalize the
technology around the rest of
the state.” Panasonic’s key aims
in Colorado are to push forward
production-grade deployment,
build a traffic management
software platform and launch a
marketplace and engage thirdparties
in innovation.
Using an optimization tool,
dual-mode C-V2X-DSRC units
were positioned between 0.3
and 3 miles apart to support
situational awareness across
the corridor. The project’s
second phase will use
automation and machine
learning to disseminate driver
alerts. “We might extrapolate
weather insights from
windshield-wiper, ambient air
temperature or traction controlsystem
status in the basic
safety message. Once we collect
enough of it, we can use that
data to train machine learning
models and shift from reactive
to predictive.” C-V2X will initially
mitigate non-recurring events
like weather or incidents, which
can cause 60% of congestion.
But eventually, platooning
and interactive signal design
applications could address
recurring congestion, which
happens when volume
exceeds capacity.
latency and long-range, latencytolerant
connectivity between
vehicles and other vehicles,
infrastructure, pedestrians, bicycles,
scooters and the worldwide Internetof
Things IoT.” But Ford’s gamechanging
2022 commitment carries
an important caveat: it will only
happen if a permissive regulatory
environment can first be established.
“China is on a different planet in
moving forward with C-V2X, but in
Europe and North America we still
have some regulatory challenges,”
says Zagajac.
US Federal Communication
Commission (FCC) rules have
prohibited C-V2X in Ford’s favored
spectrum while the European
Commission was pursuing a
delegated act to mandate ITS-G5,
a version of DSRC, and preclude
C-V2X deployment. But its defeat by
member-states and the FCC’s recent
adoption of a more agnostic stance
have both followed petitioning by the
5G Automobile Association (5GAA),
a trade body of automotive, telecom
and silicon companies with the
shared aim of CV advancement.
Mulligan’s firm AII recently joined
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