Over the last five years, the private sector has invested over $150 billion in connected, autonomous and electric mobility. This growing investment comes in response to the nation’s largest vehicle manufacturers announcing plans for fully electric fleets, the realization that most new vehicles in 2025 will be “connected vehicles,” and the unacceptably high number of deadly crashes on our roads.
In 2020, the number of vehicle miles travelled in the U.S. significantly declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, fatalities due to car crashes increased to 42,050 American lives lost - the highest number of fatalities in 13 years.
Fortunately, with the introduction of V2X technology, we have the opportunity to improve the safety of our roads. Georgia DOT officials have stated that connected and autonomous vehicle technology may eliminate or avoid as many as 80 to 90 percent of traffic crashes - making U.S. roads safer and saving lives.
The Ray, GDOT and Panasonic have been leading on this highway safety technology in Georgia with the implementation of our “Connected” Highway project. The project began in 2019 to create and install a digital testing environment with critical interstate use cases, such as crash and weather warnings, for stakeholder engagement and education. The first phase focused on the 18 miles of The Ray Highway, and included six “roadside radios” to hear connected vehicle radio from the interstate, including from four GDOT trucks outfitted with compatible radios. In this second phase, the project nearly triples its breadth to 13 radios, creates new warnings for road work zones on The Ray Highway, and adds ten connected vehicles from the Kia Georgia 2021 passenger vehicle line up. In fact, GDOT, The Ray and Panasonic are now formally partnered with Kia Georgia and the Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc. (HATCI), making it the first OEM to engage in the state’s nationally-recognized connected vehicle project.
Importantly, the team announced that the Metro Atlanta V2X technology ecosystem will now utilize the CIRRUS by Panasonic data management platform, which expands the scope of Georgia’s V2X data management for safety and efficient movement from an interstate pilot to a program that is truly regional. Find out more about Georgia’s “Connected Highway” project here.
Comments