STRONG PARTNERS
In KoMoDnext 16 partners work together in establishing and operating the test field. Besides the participating construction companies, partners from the fields of telecommunications and transport technology, as well as automobile manufacturers, system manufacturers of vehicle components and research institutes are involved.
With the research project KoMoDnext, the state capital Düsseldorf is following up on the results of the predecessor project KoMoD.
In addition to the challenges that networked and automated driving poses for municipal authorities, new potentials for urban traffic management also arise. The progressive automation of driving functions is accompanied by a more and more available and precise detection of vehicles and their behavior in the traffic flow. These newly acquired data will be used to optimize the traffic flow.
Based on the linking of stationary sensors with mobile vehicle sensor networks, the aim is to implement new infrastructure-based control procedures and thus prepare the urban network for the requirements of level-4 driving.
At the same time, the vehicles are to be provided with infrastructure-side information, on the basis of which the automated driving functions can decide whether the network section can be passed through by automated means.
The strategic goal of ave in the test field is to provide additional, essential information to support automated driving functions for safety-critical infrastructures. These are tunnels, bridges and the transition area between out-of-town and inner-city traffic. For each of these areas, a separate measurement and information system will be developed, based on data collected from the infrastructure and the vehicle. The information will be made available to automated and conventional vehicles in various ways.
In addition to supporting the automated driving functions, a superordinate visualization layer will be created that bundles the information into an overall traffic situation display. It enables the operators to adapt the influencing strategies promptly and thus supports regulatory traffic control tasks.
Linking the two sources to enable highly automated driving maneuvers.
The DLR-FASCarE includes the following technology modules:
- Laser, radar and camera sensors which, together with the series sensor technology, provide a real-time image, especially of the front of the vehicle.
- A D-GPS-based positioning platform for high-precision localization of the vehicle. For exact localization, the D-GPS system is supported by an inertial system and a Simultaneous Calibration And Mapping (SCAM) method.
- A communication platform that receives ad-hoc data (infrastructure-based environment detection, status and prognosis of the light signal systems) via the ITS G5 standard, LTE as well as via the direct communication mode of the 5G mobile phone standard.
- Various data fusion, rail planning and control algorithms are used in the vehicle. An interface to the driver is used for the event-oriented display of the current vehicle situation and routing information.
The Technische Universität Berlin is one of the largest and internationally renowned technical universities in Germany. The Department of Traffic System Planning and Traffic Telematics under the direction of Prof. Dr. Kai Nagel is located at the Institute of Land and Sea Transport Systems and has been working on large-scale, microscopic and dynamic simulation of traffic for many years. The focus here is on the modelling of complex user reactions, the investigation of innovative mobility concepts and the analysis of environmental impacts.
Within the framework of KoMoDnext, the digital test field Düsseldorf is transferred to an agent-based simulation model of the city of Düsseldorf. The model will be used to investigate the system-wide effects of automated and networked vehicle concepts and to evaluate different introduction strategies.
Ford-Werke GmbH is a German automotive company based in Cologne. The company employs more than 24,000 people at its Cologne and Saarlouis locations. Since the company was founded in 1925, more than 40 million vehicles have been produced.
Ford is involved in the Düsseldorf test field as an associated partner. As a vehicle manufacturer in the immediate vicinity of the state capital, Ford makes various contributions to networked and automated driving.
The provision of data for infrastructure control (e.g. traffic lights) and the receipt of data for processing in automated and semi-automated driving functions are tested via different communication channels.
The traffic management software VTmanager by GEVAS software has been guiding the traffic in the traffic system management center in Düsseldorf for years. Within KoMoDnext, it is extended by a new open V2I platform (Vehicle to Infrastructure Platform). This platform will allow to register cyclists and vehicles at traffic lights via smartphones or navigation backends of vehicle manufacturers. In this way, the traffic light control is informed about the individual traffic participants and can react in the best possible way.
In turn, the V2I platform will provide information to the vehicles, which will particularly support highly automated driving in the city.
Already in the predecessor project KoMoD, GEVAS software developed the smartphone app trafficpilot, which offers a green-wave assistant and a red-light indicator. Now, cyclists will be registered at traffic lights using the V2I platform to get an individual Green Wave. Exemplary test vehicles from Audi, Ford, DLR and RWTH Aachen University are also connected to the V2I platform.
Heusch/Boesefeldt develops technical innovations in the KoMoDnext project as a subcontractor of Straßen.NRW and the state capital Düsseldorf.
Heusch/Boesefeldt continues the digitization of the central infrastructure from the predecessor project KoMoD in the Düsseldorf test field. For the route control system A57 Heusch/Boesefeldt develops a new sub-center (SC). In this sub-center stationary data and vehicle-generated data will be merged and on this basis a high-resolution traffic situation will be determined. The control model of the TCS will be extended in such a way that independent of physical displays, high-resolution congestion warnings, permissible maximum speeds and other warnings will be generated and provided to the vehicles in digital form.
In addition, the consortium commissioned Heusch/Boesefeldt with the project management and the direction of the project office.
Audi is the first manufacturer in the world to network its production models with traffic lights in cities. Audi traffic light information is intended to improve driver comfort, enhance traffic safety and promote a forward-looking, economical driving style. In the future, cities will also receive useful information on traffic light infrastructure. The data will show, for example, when cars make an unusually large number of stops at a particular intersection or the average waiting time is comparatively high. Audi will aggregate the measured values in reports that will help cities to switch traffic lights more efficiently and optimize traffic flow. In the future, V2I technologies such as traffic light information will promote automated driving. The city is one of the most complex environments for an autonomous car. Data exchange with the traffic infrastructure will be highly relevant here.
https://www.audi-mediacenter.com/de/pressemappen/audi-vernetzt-sich-mit-ampeln-11629
The Rheinbahn is the local transport company of the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital Düsseldorf. It also provides local transport services for the districts of Mettmann and Neuss and also drives to six other municipalities in the surrounding area. With around 3,340 stops, it is the largest transport company in the Rhine-Ruhr Transport Association and stands for flexibility and climate-friendly mobility.
With a total of 769 vehicles on 135 lines, the Rheinbahn brings about 745,000 people to their destination every working day. It thus makes an active contribution to climate and environmental protection. Retrofitting and early renewal of the bus fleet as well as intelligent technology for accelerating bus and train services are particularly important contributions to better air and a clean future.
For more than 30 years our engineers have been planning and advising on intelligent system solutions for road traffic. We not only contribute this long-standing expertise to our customers, but also to committees, research projects and above all to the development of our software products. Our traffic engineer workstation LISA supports traffic engineers worldwide in planning traffic signal systems with efficient control algorithms and already today with user-friendly functions for MAP export.
With our sights firmly set on the future, we are working in the KoMoDnext project specifically on interpreting the extensive V2X messages from the vehicles in LISA, processing them with new supporting functions and algorithms and making them available to traffic engineers – for sustainable and emission-reduced urban mobility concepts.
For almost 120 years, the Institute of Automotive Engineering at RWTH Aachen University (ika) has been doing intensive research in the relevant fields of automotive engineering. Among other things, a holistic approach to the development of automated and networked driving functions from the idea to its use in real traffic is pursued. This is done by using a consistently structured process, which ultimately requires the testing of function prototypes in a controlled field.
The aim of the ika’s development work in the KoMoDnext project is to design a highly automated driving function that ensures safe, comfortable and efficient vehicle guidance at all times. The analysis of requirements for the traffic environment and for the networking of vehicle and infrastructure plays a central role as a way of extending the detection horizon. The developments are carried out and tested in our own test vehicle.
With its diverse traffic domains and the well-developed communication infrastructure, the digital test field Düsseldorf represents an ideal environment for the research work planned at the ika in the field of highly automated driving. It thus ideally complements the test facilities in Aachen, Aldenhoven and Düsseldorf.
The integration of public transport into a future cooperative ecosystem is one of the essential tasks for a holistic approach to urban networked driving. In the previous project, Siemens Mobility GmbH had already started to test the first development stages with two use cases.
KoMoDnext is intended to take the findings to the next level of development. The activities planned in this project should enable significant further developments. The main goals can be summarized as follows:
- A key component and innovation will be the development of an on-board unit prototype, which combines two technologies tested separately in the previous project on one platform.
- Further development of the central public transport prioritization server with the focus on a directly integrated map function, expansion of the database and optimization of the tools for impact analyses
- Development of a tool to improve the serviceability of the components used
- Development of extensions in the functional scope RSU for local V2X public transport prioritization
Straßen.NRW is responsible for the A57 motorway section between the Meerbusch and Kaarst junctions in the KoMoDnext test field. This section is equipped with dynamic signage for route and network control. After the control contents have been digitally mapped in KoMoD and published by the traffic control center in the standardized DATEX II format via the mobility data marketplace (MDM) (output), a comprehensive RSU network (Road Side Unit) for standardized CAM and DENM is now being set up, which will enable two-way communication directly with road users. The use of standardized data formats will ensure connectivity beyond the project consortium. A new sub-center will be developed to process the incoming vehicle data in order to optimize traffic control.
In the Düsseldorf test field, the service offer to OEMs is to be expanded in line with the extended requirements of (highly) automated driving. An N-HAV service layer already developed in KoMoD will establish centralized information generation to support the vehicle’s internal ODD (Operational Design Domain). This information will be used to decide on the use of an automated driving system.
In addition, the service layer in the traffic hub area should enable a feedback of vehicles to the traffic light control system via the service layer. By means of virtual registration of vehicles already during the access to the traffic light, a most efficient traffic light control can be realized. With its extension, the service layer represents a plausibility check and filter layer on the private side of the V2I.
Vodafone Deutschland is one of the leading integrated telecommunications companies and also the largest TV provider in Germany. With its 14,000 employees, the Group provides Internet, mobile telephony, fixed line networks and television from a single source. As a gigabit company, Vodafone is leading the way in the expansion of infrastructure in Germany: With ever faster networks, the Düsseldorf-based company is paving the way for the gigabit society – whether in the fixed network or in mobile communications. Vodafone networks people and machines, secures company networks and communications and stores data for companies in the German cloud.
Within the framework of KoMoDNext, Vodafone is expanding its high-performance mobile network, in which cars, infrastructure and other road users exchange information with each other.
Düsseldorf is considered one of the ZF development locations for automated driving functions. The test field thus enables an efficient further development of the cooperative driving functions. With regard to the test field, vehicle communication with the infrastructure offers a supplement to the perception of the surroundings which, within the scope of automated driving, allows for an extended reaction to the current traffic situation.
ZF uses vehicles which can display partially automated functions with on-board sensors. Within the scope of this project, the systems of these two vehicles will be extended so that communication with the infrastructure of the test field is possible. The automated driving functions will then react to the information provided by the infrastructure during automated driving.
For more than 30 years our engineers have been planning and advising on intelligent system solutions for road traffic. We not only contribute this long-standing expertise to our customers, but also to committees, research projects and above all to the development of our software products. Our traffic engineer workstation LISA supports traffic engineers worldwide in planning traffic signal systems with efficient control algorithms and already today with user-friendly functions for MAP export.
With our sights firmly set on the future, we are working in the KoMoDnext project specifically on interpreting the extensive V2X messages from the vehicles in LISA, processing them with new supporting functions and algorithms and making them available to traffic engineers – for sustainable and emission-reduced urban mobility concepts.
