Continental reveals role in V2X project

Continental has revealed its part in the four-year simTD (Safe Intelligent Mobility - Testfield Deutschland) research project, which just started the real-world testing of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication systems on European roads. The project’s 17 partners are working on systems integration and information sharing technology, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the potential for V2V and V2I communication technologies to improve traffic safety and personal mobility.

As part of the simTD project, Continental has developed the Communication Control Unit (CCU), which enables information to be shared over different channels, such as UMTS or automotive WLAN. Positioning and time synchronization data can also be accessed via GPS. The CCU works in conjunction with a Vehicle Application Unit (VAU), which was developed by project partner Bosch, to form the ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) vehicle station that is installed in all simTD test vehicles. The main challenge during development was to standardize the communication processes outside the vehicle, in order to create a common basis for sharing cross-vehicle information.

For the VAU, the company collaborated on the definition, specification, development and trialing of the cooperative ITS applications and supplied the software components for the Road Works Information System, the Congestion Warning, Advanced Route Guidance and the use of Internet-Based Services. The applications enable real-time traffic information to be displayed to the driver, such as warnings about congestion, roadworks and dynamic routing.

As a result of its simTD work, Continental is developing the M2XPro sensor and the Intelligent Antenna Module, two components that it hopes will create an inexpensive production-ready V2X system. The M2XPro sensor (Motion information 2 X Provider) can determine precisely which traffic lane a vehicle is located in, by using a fusion of driving dynamics sensors with GPS data. The sensor uses an intelligent fusion algorithm to provide other control units with a vehicle’s motion information, together with a precise time base. The M2XPro can also calculate the actual V2X functions so no additional control unit is needed. Combined with the Intelligent Antenna Module, precise vehicle data can be made available to all the vehicle’s own systems and is also transmitted to the surrounding infrastructure. Dr Bernhard Klumpp, executive vice president of Continental’s Passive Safety & Sensorics unit, said, “Using simTD, we are able to develop and implement a V2X system under real conditions for the first time. The further development of this V2X system means that we will be able to go into full production in a few years’ time.”

8 August 2012