Vehicular communication systems

Vehicular communication systems are computer networks in which vehicles and roadside units are the communicating nodes, providing each other with information, such as safety warnings and traffic information. They can be effective in avoiding accidents and traffic congestion. Both types of nodes are dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) devices. DSRC works in 5.9 GHz band with bandwidth of 75 MHz and approximate range of 300 metres (980 ft).

History

The beginnings of vehicular communications go back to the 1970s. Work began on projects such as Electronic Route Guidance System (ERGS) and CACS in the United States and Japan respectively.

The PATH project in the United States between 1986 and 1997 was an important breakthrough in vehicular communications projects.

In the early 2000s, the term Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) was introduced as an application of the principles of Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks (MANETs) to the vehicular field. The terms VANET and IVC do not differ and are used interchangeably to refer to communications between vehicles with or without reliance on roadside infrastructure, although some have argued that IVC refers to direct V2V connections only.

Several terms have been used to refer to vehicular communications. These acronyms differ from each other either in historical context, technology used, standard, or country (vehicle telematics, DSRC, WAVE,

Many organizations and governmental agencies are concerned with issuing standards and regulation for vehicular communication (ASTM, IEEE, ETSI, SAE, 3GPP, ARIB, TTC, TTA,

Safety benefits

The main motivation for vehicular communication systems is safety and eliminating the excessive cost of traffic collisions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), road accidents annually cause approximately 1.2 million deaths worldwide; one fourth of all deaths caused by injury. Also about 50 million persons are injured in traffic accidents. If preventive measures are not taken road death is likely to become the third-leading cause of death in 2020 from ninth place in 1990.

However the deaths caused by car crashes are in principle avoidable. The U.S. Department of Transportation states that 21,000 of the annual 43,000 road accident deaths in the US are caused by roadway departures and intersection-related incidents.

Vehicle-to-vehicle

Over the years, there have been considerable research and projects in this area, applying VANETs for a variety of applications, ranging from safety to navigation and law enforcement. In December 2016, the US Department of Transportation proposed draft rules that would gradually make V2V communication capabilities to be mandatory for light-duty vehicles.

Conflict over spectrum

V2V is under threat from cable television and other tech firms that want to take away a big chunk of the radio spectrum currently reserved for it and use those frequencies for high-speed internet service. In the USA, V2V's current share of the radio spectrum was set aside by the government in 1999, but has gone unused. The automotive industry is trying to retain all it can, saying that it desperately needs the spectrum for V2V. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken the side of the tech companies, with the National Transportation Safety Board supporting the position of the automotive industry. Internet service providers (who want to use the spectrum) claim that autonomous cars will render V2V communication unnecessary. The US automotive industry has said that it is willing to share the spectrum if V2V service is not slowed or disrupted; and the FCC plans to test several sharing schemes.

With governments in different locales supporting incompatible spectra for V2V communication, vehicle manufacturers may be discouraged from adopting the technology for some markets. In Australia for instance, there is no spectrum reserved for V2V communication, so vehicles would suffer interference from non-vehicle communications.

Vehicle-to-infrastructure

In 2012, computer scientists at the University of Texas in Austin began developing smart intersections designed for automated cars. The intersections will have no traffic lights and no stop signs, instead of using computer programs that will communicate directly with each car on the road.

In 2017, Researchers from Arizona State University developed a 1/10 scale intersection and proposed an intersection management technique called Crossroads. It was shown that Crossroads is very resilient to network delay of both V2I communication and Worst-case Execution time of the intersection manager.

Vehicle-to-everything

In November 2019, an applications of Cellular V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything) based on 5G were demonstrated on open city streets and a test track in Turin.

Key players

Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA) aims to improve cooperation among public and private sector organizations. ITSA summarizes its mission statement as "vision zero" meaning its goal is to reduce the fatal accidents and delays as much as possible.