A new mobility cloud platform to improve the safety of road users developed by Vodafone, Nokia and Chordant is being tested on public roads in the UK. The platform will connect vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians and infrastructure.

Supported by the UK Government Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles (CCAV) and the Midlands Future Mobility (MFM) consortium, the platform is providing digitally connected road users in the English West Midlands with live, localised and targeted updates from road operators on lane closures, speed restrictions and traffic incidents.

Road authorities are also trialling the platform to control and ease traffic jams and make informed planning decisions using secure, anonymised and aggregated vehicle position data sent up to ten times every second from users who have opted into the service. This capability could be extended for emergency services when responding to an incident such as someone driving the wrong way on a motorway, or for breakdown recovery organisations to assist vulnerable road users.

With the open platform at its centre, Vodafone is creating an ecosystem of connected vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians across Europe and Africa, with each one acting as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the road. Vodafone is working with private and public sector organisations to extend the advantages of integrating in-vehicle connected systems within the wider connected transport ecosystem.

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, is a leader within the UK with the adoption of ‘vehicle-to-everything’ technology, starting with the region’s city centres and transport hubs including Birmingham, Coventry, and Wolverhampton.

Using Vodafone’s 4G and 5G network and multi-access edge computing (MEC) technology built into the platform, it allows real time road information from Highways England to be displayed initially on users’ smartphones, and in the future, on in-car infotainment systems.

The platform works with Convex, Chordant’s Mobility Data Exchange facility, to enable dynamic data to be exchanged with road operators and their traffic systems and is the UK’s first live implementation of Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology. C-V2X combines the latest mobile technologies with in-vehicle computer systems to create new mobility services for improved safety and reliability as well as allowing road operators to build ‘greener’ and more sustainable transport networks.

Mike Waters, Director of Policy, Strategy and Innovation at TfWM, said: “We are now reaching the point where connected vehicle technology is genuinely able to start making a meaningful and very powerful difference to the big issues in transport like safety and energy efficiency. The work we have done with Convex and Vodafone is moving solutions forward not just for the West Midlands, but for the whole country and really exemplifies the UK’s position of global excellence in this space.”

Luke Ibbetson, Head of Group R&D at Vodafone, commented: “It’s fantastic to see vehicle to everything mobile technology being deployed on the open road for the first time in the UK. While the system is delivered via smartphone, drivers will need to use handsfree equipment. Meanwhile we are working with the automotive industry and road operators to have the technology integrated within vehicles and transport infrastructure to make our roads safer.”

“Safety is of paramount importance to the development of systems that connect road users across mobile platforms. Running on Vodafone’s edge, Nokia analytics software will apply data insights to make roads safer, provide a better experience for users, and enhance road infrastructure management efficiency in a way that can easily be deployed across multiple geographies,” said Chris Johnson, Head of Nokia’s Global Enterprise Business.

“Road Operators are seeking to digitally interact and exchange information with vehicles and road users”, said Ash Wheeler, Senior Vice President at Chordant, “We’re delighted that, through this partnership and the services we are creating, transport authorities and vehicle manufacturers around the world will be able to test, validate and rapidly deploy standardised C-ITS services over existing cellular networks, improving road safety, reducing congestion and unlocking new driver experiences. This is also another important demonstration of how UK Government investment in the Future of Transport, through CCAV, is enabling innovation, international partnerships and solutions that will generate long term value for the UK in this space.”