Cohda Wireless joins TMR’s CAVI connected vehicle pilot

Cohda Wireless, an iMOVE partner, is bringing its technical know-how and can-do to one of Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads’ iMOVE projects, the CAVI 500-vehicle C-ITS Field Operational Test.

Cohda is to retrofit 500 public and fleet vehicles with a Cohda Wireless On-Board Unit (OBU), allowing those vehicles to communicate with roadside Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), and with each other — V2V (vehicle to vehicle) and V2I (vehicle to infrastructure).

In addition the the OBU, Cohda Wireless is supplying and fitting the in-vehicle display screens, conveying alerts and messages to the drivers.

What sort of alerts and messages?

These are some of the potential dangers that can be conveyed to the driver from this nexus of communications between vehicles and infrastructure:

• Emergency braking warning (V2V) – a cooperative vehicle braking hard some distance ahead
• In-vehicle speed warning (V2I) – active, static or variable speed limits, alerting drivers if they are exceeding that limit
• Turning warning for bicycle riders and pedestrians (V2V) – pedestrians or bicycles crossing at an upcoming intersection
• Road works warning (V2I) – upcoming roadworks, providing time to slow down or change lanes
• Back-of-queue-warning (V2I) – information about an upcoming traffic queue
• Red light violator warning (V2I/V2V) – in cases where another cooperative vehicle is likely to run a red light across their path at the intersection ahead
• Red light warning (V2I) – instances where it appears likely that drivers will run a red light ahead, unless they brake
• Stopped or slow vehicle warnings (V2V) – impending rear-end collision with another cooperative vehicle ahead of them
• Hazard warning (V2I) – upcoming hazards, such as water on the road, road closures, or a crash

Cohda Wireless CEO Dr Paul Gray, said, ‘We firmly believe that the Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot will contribute significantly to the advancement of a connected and cooperative road transport environment in Australia and we are delighted to be a partner in it. We are particularly excited about being involved in an initiative of this scale and magnitude that has connectivity at its core. We believe that connecting road users and infrastructure is critical.’

C-ITS central

Ipswich and south-east Queensland is a busy part of the C-ITS world right now. In addition to the 500-vehicle C-ITS Field Operational Test, iMOVE and the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads have three other projects running in that part of the world:

• C-ITS Pilot Security Credential Management System: Evaluation and Research
• How automated vehicles will interact with road infrastructure
• Cooperative and Highly Automated Driving Safety Study

UPDATE: June 2022

The final reports for this project are now available for download, at Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot: Final reports.