VERONICA (completed)

In the VERONIKA project, the networking of vehicles and traffic signal systems is intended to contribute both to a network-wide energy-saving driving style and to emission-reducing traffic signal control. In the Kassel test area, streetcars, buses and emergency vehicles will be equipped with on-board units that can exchange operational data with roadside units at traffic-dependent traffic signals via an air interface in accordance with the IEEE 802.11p automotive communication standard. This local networking is flanked by mobile radio-based communication with a metadata server that provides strategic data for prioritizing public transport vehicles at signalized intersections as appropriate to the situation. Avoiding the respective disadvantages of centralized and local communication and data processing, a hybrid approach is developed and tested in which the public transport system possesses the system knowledge of, for example, the route network, the timetable situation and interchange relationships, and uses this knowledge for a second-by-second release at downstream LSAs. The short latency times of a local communication facilitate a switching time and arrival time forecast and thus both the selection of a suitable driving strategy and the release for streetcars and buses to the second. In the sense of networked warning, streetcar and bus drivers are alerted to approaching emergency vehicles with special signals on the basis of direct vehicle-to-vehicle communication before they are audible and visible. The development and testing of the prediction procedures and driving strategies, as well as the creation of the signal programs tailored to them, is supported by a development and test environment in which devices and procedures are included in an "in-the-loop" microscopic traffic simulation. The final evaluation is based on simulation tests as well as on the pilot test under real operating conditions of public road traffic.