Audi is developing new C-V2X technology to increase safety for emergency vehicles and school buses, in collaboration with VW Group affiliate, Illinois based commercial truck maker Navistar. Both companies are working together as members of the Volkswagen Group to develop use cases. First deployments are expected to begin this summer.

While the transportation sector as a whole has made great safety improvements over the years, C-V2X technology is one major step toward safer mobility for drivers, students, paramedics, patients and more.

Audi and Navistar, working with Applied Information and Traffic Control Corporation, are aiming to improve safety and driver information in school zones, school bus stops and emergency vehicle situations. Both companies believe that connected vehicle technology can prevent some of the roughly 25,000 school zone injuries and 100 fatalities reported annually in the United States.

Audi and Applied Information have already demonstrated the potential uses of school zone technologies. The partnership with Navistar will allow IC Bus school bus drivers to receive a visual and audible warning signal of a vehicle approaching a school bus stop – in a situation that the vehicle may not be able to stop. The warning is designed to enable the school bus driver to intervene and advise the passengers exiting the bus to not enter the roadway, or get on or off the bus only when it is safe to do so.

According to studies reported by the National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR), stop-arm violations — when a car drives past a stopped school bus illegally — continue to be one of the most significant dangers to children and other vulnerable road users around school buses with an estimated 17 million stop-arm violations reported in the US in 2019.

In one Sacramento school district, over 300 vehicles drove past school bus stops while in the process of dropping off or picking up children. The additional warning provided via C-V2X technology would warn bus drivers. The driver in the approaching car would also receive a warning signalling that a school bus is stopped ahead. These benefits demonstrate the strength of C-V2X communications and foreshadow the level of connectivity required for automated driving in the future.

In order to help improve safety for emergency vehicle operators and drivers as a whole, Audi and International Truck, a subsidiary of Navistar, together with Applied Information and Commsignia, will demonstrate a whole new C-V2X application. When an emergency vehicle is on call, Audi vehicles equipped with the new software can receive an audible and visual warning from the direction from which an ambulance or other emergency vehicle is approaching. When every second counts, this warning is expected to allow ambulances and other emergency vehicles to navigate their way to a patient in need or a hospital for treatment faster. The directional warning is designed to help direct drivers to get out of the way sooner than in usual scenarios where the emergency vehicle is only visible when the emergency vehicle is in their direct line of sight.