HE Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, Minister of Municipality and Urban Planning gets ready for the field demo of Connected Vehicles as Dr Adnan Abu-Dayya opens the door of the car. PICTURE: Jayaram
By Joseph Varghese
Staff Reporter
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Giving a fillip to research and innovations in the country and enabling the next generation of road safety technology, applications and services, a Doha centre yesterday conducted the first field demonstration of “Connected Vehicles” in the Mena region at the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP).
Connected Vehicles (V2X) refers to the concept where vehicles can communicate with each other and with the road infrastructure through standard-based wireless technologies and specifications.
According to studies, Connected Vehicles can prevent up to 80% of traffic accidents when fully implemented.
The demonstration was held by Qatar Mobility Innovations Centre (QMIC).
QMIC is the only research and development centre in the Mena region which is globally involved in the Connected Vehicles standards, according to Dr Adnan Abu-Dayya, its executive director.
“It is an example of how Qatar can transform its research and development to marketable technology applications and services. It is also an opportunity to create a knowledge-based economy in Qatar and realise the Qatar National Vision 2030,” Abu-Dayya said.
Abu-Dayya stated that QMIC would work closely with key stakeholders in Qatar to implement a large-scale pilot system which can lead to early national deployment well before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. This is fully in-line with the country ITS strategy and road safety action plan.
“QMIC has a clear road map in the deployment of this technology. The first demo in the Mena region is the first phase of the project. The second phase will be the pilot programme of integrated system, large field and pilot tests which will take place between 2014 and 2017. This will be followed by complete systems ready for deployment and commercialisation between 2017 and 2020.”
QMIC has so far worked out on various aspects of the technology by participating in three plugtests for interoperability testing and compliance with global standards. It has also developed the only Connected Vehicles hardware communication units in the region compliant with global standards. QMIC has 2 filed patents and 8 publications in international conferences.
Connected Vehicles technology provides car-to-car as well as car-to-road communication. Its users get the exact travel time to the destination using real-time traffic information. They also can get on-time alerts before approaching any emergency vehicles. The technology provides dynamic speed limit at any location and receive over-speeding alerts.
Further, the users can get information about road works ahead. They receive alerts in time to avoid collision if distracted while driving. They can get a 360 degree visibility of nearby car parks and real time capacity. It will also help the users to drive at the optimal speed to avoid stopping at the signal. The system also provides alerts about broken-down vehicles hundreds of metres ahead.
QMIC focuses on using emerging mobility technologies and lifestyle in developing and deploying intelligent solutions and smart applications in many market segments such as transportation, road safety environment and smart city platforms and services.
