Siemens and Cohda Wireless collaborate on smart infrastructure
Siemens and South Australian driverless car technology company, Cohda Wireless, are collaborating in the area of Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) technology. As per the agreement, Cohda Wireless will develop and produce V2I roadside units (RSUs) for Siemens.
V2I devices are part of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), which share information between vehicles and roadside infrastructure such as traffic lights. This increases the quality and reliability of information available to drivers about their immediate environment, other vehicles and road users.
Cohda’s partnership with Siemens follows the announcement of South Australia introducing legislation to permit the testing of driverless vehicles on state roads, as well as hosting the southern hemisphere’s first on-road driverless car test in November.
Under the agreement, Cohda Wireless will enable this smart infrastructure to communicate with connected vehicles. It will also see Siemens base its Sitraffic ESCoS RSU on Cohda’s MK5 V2X family, using NXP’s Roadlink chip sets.
Siemens will deploy Cohda’s technology for various ITS field tests and pilot projects, including the A58 motorway in the Netherlands, A9 motorway in Germany, and the Living Lab in Austria.
Cohda Wireless CEO, Dr. Paul Gray, said Cohda’s agreement with Siemens creates greater certainty for organisations planning to adopt connected vehicle technology. He added that the successful adoption of Vehicle to Infrastructure technologies is expected to significantly reduce traffic congestion, reduce vehicle accidents and lower auto-related pollution.
“Cohda is very pleased to be supplying Siemens with our V2X products. The collaboration of two leaders in their respective markets is good news,” he said.
Dr. Gray also said the company’s hardware and software products are being used in more than 60 per cent of all V2X field trials worldwide today, with its customers made of carmakers, tier one suppliers, automotive chipmakers, road authorities and new market entrants.
