Vodafone is launching a warning system designed for all road users in Germany. In future, current safety and traffic information will be shared in real time with cars, smartphones and navigation systems – regardless of manufacturer – via a new V2X platform.

The provider-open STEP (Safer Transport for Europe Platform) is aimed at authorities and companies that transmit safety and traffic information directly to map apps on smartphones and to in-vehicle navigation systems. In future, STEP could also be used to analyse road usage based on anonymised and aggregated position data in order to enable data exchange between vehicles,

With Vodafone’s V2X solution STEP, traffic authorities, vehicle manufacturers, mobility service providers and other mobile network operators can use 5G to transmit important traffic information about lane closures, speed limits or traffic disruptions once the platform is launched in Germany regardless of which app or system drivers use.

On a test track in Aldenhoven and in the future innovation centre in Dresden, Vodafone will work together with the automotive industry on other traffic-related real-time applications in 5G and 6G networks.

Vodafone’s V2X platform STEP is a cloud-based platform built on open industry standards. It is based on the open network protocol Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) for machine-to-machine communication (M2M). This protocol enables the transmission of telemetry data between different devices. For the exchange of security-related information, Vodafone uses the “Vodafone V2X Message Broker ” on its own “Multi-access Edge Computing platform”.

To use the platform registration is required. For developers and manufacturers of third-party apps, Vodafone offers a detailed interface specification (API) and software Development Kits (SDK) for Android and iOS.

Michael Reinartz, Head of Innovation at Vodafone Germany said: “Improving road safety is a major challenge. Open platforms for faster and more efficient data exchange can make an important contribution to preventing the unnecessary deaths and injuries that we record on our roads every year. STEP enables the provision of important safety information for all road users and promotes the necessary cooperation between traffic authorities, app developers and the automotive industry to make Germany’s roads safer.”