TrafficCast has signed a joint development agreement with Denso, one of the world’s largest automotive technology, systems and components suppliers, to collaborate on a hybrid roadside data connection and collection device for connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) initiatives.
The collaboration, which was announced at the ITS World Congress in Montreal, Canada, this week, will combine TrafficCast’s market leading Bluetooth signal detection system with Denso’s dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) device that is critical to the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications needed for CAV systems.
The innovation will enable complementary sensor functionality in a single roadside device by combining two wireless technologies, TrafficCast’s BlueTOAD Spectra RSU (roadside unit) system that operates at 2.4GHz, with Denso’s 5.9GHz DSRC technology. The device will guide safety and mobility applications for CAV initiatives, while also providing synchronization with transportation agency travel time and performance measures objectives.
Wisconsin-based TrafficCast’s BlueTOAD travel time system is the market leader in Bluetooth signal detection technologies, used in performance measures assessments to manage travel times, road speeds and route choice behaviors.
This technology will be combined with Denso’s DSRC system to create a new hybrid Bluetooth-DSRC roadside unit that can connect mobile devices and CAVs with IoT (Internet of Things) data collection and analysis systems. The hybrid device will have multiple applications for future road safety, smart mobility, and CAV initiatives.
The collaboration will extend to TrafficCast’s BlueARGUS traffic analytics software, which currently supports the BlueTOAD data collection system.
The BlueARGUS platform will be optimized for travel-time and CV data visualization using paired and unpaired Bluetooth detection, along with traffic signal phase and timing (SPaT) and Basic Safety Message (BSM) data.
By implementing this integrated safety and mobility traffic monitoring system, traffic agencies and planners can attain ROI (return on investment) from day one for their adoption of performance measures evaluations and connected vehicle initiatives.
“The collaboration between us and Denso specifically addresses current needs in the ITS industry, and adds value to the connected and autonomous vehicle initiatives of our customers and end users in the public and private sectors,” said Al McGowan, CEO of TrafficCast.
Roger Berg, vice president of North America research and development for Denso International America Inc., added, “This collaboration allows us to work together on the vehicle and data analytics side to innovate newer services, ones which we don’t even know exist yet, where the additional information gathered by a much richer data set from DSRC would enhance any number of transportation safety and efficiency measures.”
