Integrated research results unveiled for the first time

For the last four years, Alexander Frötscher has worked as coordinator with the major European research and development project COOPERS (Co-operative Systems for Intelligent Road Safety). "The combination of a conference, content-rich demonstrations and an exhibition makes this a unique showcase. We look forward to giving a public debut to our research results and at the same time demonstrating their use in everyday traffic situations."

Which major areas of cooperative mobility will be the focus of the conference?
Two key aspects will be addressed, The first being the various technical subsystems and elements that have been developed, validated and tested by an impressive number of companies and universities in the EU. These are used for
  • CALM based communication between vehicles and infrastructure,
  • Lane specific positioning and mapping,
  • service generation with TPEG encoding/decoding and transmission
The conference will show how these elements go together and that they are likely to be extended in the future. For cooperative mobility to work it is essential that the underlying components and systems are perfectly integrated. This requires many companies and organisations to seamlessly work together
The second focus will be the steps towards collaboration that are currently being made by all stakeholders involved in cooperative mobility. Examples include public authorities, vehicle manufacturers, ITS industries, road operators and service providers.
One of the reasons why the Cooperative Mobility Showcase is so valuable is the fact that it will give the Big Picture in a unique way, as we will take a joint look at the integrated research projects that have been carried out so far.

Has the COOPERS integrated research project made clear which applications will have the most influence on future driving?
We concentrated our work in COOPERS on the messages and events that are directly related to road safety, warnings that have an impact on the way we drive in the coming five kilometers of road ahead of us, e.g. a roadwork warning, a dynamic in vehicle speed advice, a warning of a blocked lane.

The ultimate goal is to enhance the perception of drivers for them to always get the latest information from traffic management authorities and infrastructure operators when on the move. At the Cooperative Mobility Showcase we will draw the picture of how this pans out in practice.

Is this the first time that the results of the COOPERS integrated research project have been presented in their entirety?
Yes, and this is one of the reasons we believe that the Cooperative Mobility Showcase is an event not to be missed. While single technical elements have been shown already, the full concept and the results of the demonstration phase will be on display for the first time in Amsterdam. The demonstration tours are sure to be an eye-opener for all professionals in the sector.

Which systems will be shown in the demonstration vehicles?
The impressive array of technical elements on display at the showcase will make this a genuinely newsworthy event. Before I am identifying four main areas of applications on show, let me first mention that we will be unveiling at the conference some unique test results based on user reactions to and acceptance of these systems.
COOPERS is the only project to have conducted research into user friendliness and the way in vehicle information is received and processed by drivers. We have carried out over 200 acceptance tests with drivers of various ages and backgrounds, including some not experienced in using navigation systems as a subgroup. The results make for fascinating reading related to the following systems on display:
  1. An intelligent router for connecting vehicles with the infrastructure based on the existing CALM standard. All the equipment has been updated and made compatible with the CALM standard, allowing vehicles to exchange information with road infrastructure via different communication technologies.
  2. Examples of the extension and scalable upgrades of Traffic Management Centres so that an entire network of roads - from motorways to secondary roads - can be monitored with high quality of data. Sensors catch all traffic movements. Via car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication they are transmitted to the traffic management centre, and this will result in a full update of the network status, e.g. for a motorway network of 2000 km every 180 seconds.
  3. Standard en/decoder for TPEG traffic information. COOPERS has developed and extended the TPEG standard. This allows open and seamless transmission of traffic information between vehicles and road-side units.
  4. Robust Positioning Unit (RPU) for lane-specific vehicle positioning. RPU-based location fixing is now so accurate that it can process and generate traffic-lane-specific-information. It also works in tunnels, mountainous areas and inner city urban environments were GPS positions are often lost.
    5. Please summarise why this conference is so important I don’t think there has ever been an event on cooperative mobility that combines so much innovative technology and research 'under one roof'. The combination of a conference, the live on-road demonstrations and the products and services in the exhibition will just be unique.

    More information about Coopers
    Conference Programme
    Demonstration tour