IoT system includes drone imagery and real-time data processing
Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica, the
Directorate General for Traffic (DGT) and Spanish car marker SEAT have
presented two cases in which IoT technology is used to increase road safety by
helping to reduce accidents on Spanish roads.
The
aim of the project, carried out in Becerril de la Sierra (Madrid), is to show
how an Internet of Things solution works in the early detection and warning of
hazards to drivers travelling on a road with two specific cases that often
cause situations of great danger: The presence of a cyclist riding along the
same road, and the existence of a stationary car on the road due to a breakdown
or some other type of incident.
The IoT
system consists of a drone with a camera, which captures images of what is
happening on the road and sends them in real time to a server that will soon be
connected to the DGT 3.0 platform via Telefónica’s mobile network. The system
processes the image, detects if there is a bicycle or a stationary vehicle on
the road and sends an alert to the connected SEAT car.
The
vehicle is connected to the network by a Telematic Control Unit (TCU), using Cellular
Vehicle to Everything (C-V2X) technology through software that enables
communication between the vehicle’s internal network and its surroundings.
“The
result is that the connected cars travelling on that road and in the same
direction in which the obstacle has been detected receive an alert that warns
them of the danger they are going to encounter further on. This means that the
driver can anticipate the problem and make decisions, having time to react,
thus avoiding possible accidents,” Telefonica said in a release.
Telefónica
has provided the project with end-to-end connectivity and has opened its
network so that third parties can deploy applications on the edge of the
network, enabling critical communications with immediate response such as
traffic management.
At
this year’s Mobile World Congress, Telefónica and SEAT presented several use
cases for connected cars and assisted driving via 5G in a real environment, in
which sensors installed in various infrastructures of the city of Barcelona
warned the connected cars of the presence of pedestrians, cyclists and
stationary vehicles on the roads.
“The
DGT 3.0 platform keeps road users connected by informing them of real-time
traffic status, diversions, reversible lanes, application of measures for
pollution protocols, traffic restrictions, road works being carried out and any
type of incident that may affect traffic circulation. Similarly, it can also
send them alerts about the proximity of cyclists, the forecast of roadblocks or
traffic jams as well as the risk of fog. All this information is of vital
importance when it comes to improving road safety, particularly on secondary
roads,” Telefonica said.
All
this data will be exchanged between the drivers and the DGT intelligent
platform anonymously with all the assurances in place to maintain users’
digital security, the telco added.