Poole, 2016-Oct-31
The units are being supplied and installed by Siemens on three main corridors into Coventry to measure journey times and help optimise traffic flow as part of the project.
Led by Coventry City Council, the Intelligent Variable Message Systems (iVMS) project will draw on cutting edge expertise from Coventry University’s Centre for Mobility and Transport in collaboration with project partners HORIBA MIRA and Serious Games International to develop a real world connected car to infrastructure demonstrator in the West Midlands. This project started in January 2016 and is planned to end in 2018.
Many of the signalised junctions on Binley Road, Walsgrave Road and A444 are also being upgraded by Siemens to be controlled via SCOOT and MOVA along the major corridors into Coventry to help minimise delays and further improve traffic flow. The Siemens hosted traffic management system – Stratos – will be used to manage the flow of data and send enhanced traffic data to the mobile application. Network operators will have more control of the routing information provided to commuters as the system will manage the expected traffic loads on the network.
The project will radically change the way in which commuters can travel into Coventry. Using a mobile phone application, commuters will be able to plan their daily commute and be incentivised to travel at the most sustainable times. The app will seek to provide advice on when commuters should start their journey in order to avoid congestion or increase journey time reliability, as well as providing live in-journey information to give advice on the most appropriate route.
This provides benefits for both the road user and network operator as peak traffic congestion can be reduced – therefore reducing delay, congestion and pollution in the city. However there are substantial benefits for commuters as they will receive reliable data from the transport network in order to plan their journeys accordingly.
In addition, Serious Games International Ltd (SGIL) will ‘gamify’ the app so that an online community can be created who can travel at the most suitable times. Users will be able to score virtual points for different sustainable driving traits such as driving styles, route choices and journey times. Leader boards could be created for people who saved the most fuel, adjusted their travel time the most to help the city or travelled the most suitable route and commuters could be offered a discounted coffee on route if they travel at less congested times.
Cllr David Welsh, lead for transport at Coventry City Council, said: “We are on the edge of making some great new technology available to drivers in the city and Coventry is once again leading some fantastic, cutting edge technological advances that will change how we use and think about transport.
“I’m really pleased that we are working with Siemens and other partners on this project which will help to cut journey times and reduce congestion and pollution. But this isn’t just about roads and how we travel – this will also have economic benefits for the city too.”
Other Intelligent Traffic Systems projects deploying Siemens technology include the UK’s first connected road test environment, also in Coventry, and the provision of energy-efficient intersection services in Newcastle.
The UK Connected Intelligent Transport Environment project aims to enable automotive, infrastructure and service companies to trial connected vehicle technologies in real-life conditions on 40 miles of roads within Coventry and Warwickshire, using combinations of dedicated short-range communications and long-term evolution talking car technologies to compare their performance.
Meanwhile, working with Newcastle City Council and Newcastle University to provide traffic signal priority to non-emergency ambulances and test vehicles, the aim of the project was to reduce unnecessary braking or accelerating by providing green light advisory timings to the driver and green priority at 20 junctions, thus reducing energy consumption levels of test vehicles.
Ends
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Notes to editors:
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of gas and steam turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2015, which ended on September 30, 2015, Siemens generated revenue of €75.6 billion and net income of €7.4 billion. At the end of September 2015, the company had around 348,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
