Above: West of
Denver a 90-mile
stretch of I-70 is the
USA’s first connected
interstate
042 Traffic Technology International November/December 2019
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com
For an extra US$200 you can
have both radios in the box and
two sets of antennae, then the software
figures things out
Bryan Mulligan, president, Applied Information Inc
5GAA to
work with road operators in getting
infrastructure deployed. “It’s
a chicken-and-egg situation,” says
Armstrong. “The DOT market is
looking to automotive companies to
introduce technology to cars and
automotive companies are looking to
federal government to stabilize the
technology landscape. We’re working
hard to get both markets moving
simultaneously and end this chickenand
egg conversation.”
Like Panasonic, Ford has a dualmode
unit which it showcased at ITS
America’s 2019 Annual Meeting in
Washington back in June.
“The roadside unit acts as a
bridge,” says Zagajac. “It
can intercept a message
from a Bluetooth device
which is retransmitted and
processed by devices which
speak other languages like
C-V2X and DSRC. It also
allows us to plug in as-yet unknown
technologies five years from now,
thus future-proofing development.”
AII have deployed similar technology
in North Fulton, Georgia. “The way
to unlock infrastructure is with
hybrid technology,” says Mulligan.
“For an extra $200 per intersection
you can have both radios in the box
and two sets of antennae, then the
software figures things out. The local
authority doesn’t have to choose
between VHS and Betamax because
their player can deal with both. We’re
now going ahead with our first local
agency, to show the world how this
will be done.”
Dual-mode provides a market
expedient, but ultimately Mulligan
sees DSRC as the lesser technology.
“C-V2X is extensible to a cellular
world supported by telecoms
companies with massive
infrastructure investment,” he says.
“This ecosystem has billions of
devices worldwide and provides car
companies with longevity and
economies of scale, whereas doing a
dedicated car-industry ‘Betamax’
probably isn’t sustainable.”
In contrast to beacon-style DSRC
transmissions, C-V2X offers a
capacity for bidirectional
communication which could enable
autonomous vehicles (AVs) to interact
with human drivers and vulnerable
road users in non-geofenced settings.
“A pedestrian must signal intent but
also receive confirmation that the car
has acknowledged it,” says Zagajac.
“Interacting with an
uncommunicative vehicle is like
playing poker against a stone-faced
player. But C-V2X gives the vehicle
Hybrid V2X |
/www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com