Applus+ IDIADA leads the deployment of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems in Europe

Applus+ IDIADA coordinates C-MobILE (Accelerating C-ITS Mobility Innovation and deployment in Europe), the flagship project of the European Commission in Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems. The project aims to enable the large-scale deployment of interoperable C-ITS services in Europe.

C-MobILE will provide the framework for large-scale deployment in Europe, elevating pilot sites to deployment locations for sustainable services, supported by local authorities. C-MobILE will take a common approach in order to ensure interoperability and seamless availability of services, while presenting an acceptable cost for end users and thus enhancing the business case for organisations in the supply chain.

The C-MobILE project has eight key targets:

• C-ITS framework defined (in partnership with major stakeholders) for proposing key deployment enabling solutions on existing pilot sites, including the business case.
• Strategic research agenda defined for key research and innovation areas that promote sustainable C-ITS deployment and work towards automated transport in Europe.
• Assessment (including cost-benefit analysis) of the cumulative real-life benefits of clustering C-ITS applications and integrating multiple transport modes into the C-ITS ecosystem.
• Open and secure large-scale C-ITS deployment of new and existing applications, demonstrated in complex urban environments, interoperable across countries, and involving large groups of end users.
• An open platform provided for C-ITS sources to support deployment of service concepts on commodity devices, validated by developer communities.
• Operational procedures validated for large-scale deployment of sustainable C-ITS services in Europe.
• Testing methodologies to evaluate the proven impact of C-ITS architectures and services released.
• Demonstration of the added value and economic viability by means of a comprehensive Cost-Benefit Analysis and impact assessment

The C-MobILE consortium comprises 37 partners from nine European countries and 8 deployment locations, between them the metropolitan area of Barcelona. It has a budget of more than 15 million euro, and has received funding from the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme.

The consortium partners met recently in Bordeaux to celebrate the 3^rd General Assembly, hosted by Bordeaux Métropole. At the meeting, the partners tracked the discussed about the progress of the project, paying special attention for the next steps in the coming months.

In addition to project coordination, the Applus+ IDIADA team has relevant contribution in several areas, among others, Applus+ IDIADA has lead the elicitation of services requirements and specification of a common reference architecture for the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems sites. At the moment, the efforts are concentrated in the implementation of supporting modules of the C-MobILE architecture as well as on the development and integration of the services that are going to be demonstrated in Barcelona.

The first C-MobILE services were demonstrated during the ITS World Congress in Copenhagen this September. Several vehicles were equipped with short-range radio (ITS-G5) and cellular (3G/4G) communication showcasing the interoperability of the Green Light Optimal Speed Advice (GLOSA) service between the deployment sites in Bordeaux and Copenhagen. Apart from the equipped vehicles, the innovative architecture of C-MobILE allowed end users to receive data seamlessly via cellular communication with their phones in a standardized way. The C-MobILE project disseminated results in 4 technical sessions and has organised a special interest session to discuss about the challenges and ways forward to enable large-scale deployment of C-ITS in Europe. Members of the panel included high level representatives from the European Commission, road authorities, public authorities and industry.

The project has started in June 2017 and will run till November 2020, stay tuned to hear about the results this interesting project will provide.

By Alex Vallejo