Cooperative infrastructure

Generally, vehicles arriving at a controlled intersection all get the same treatment, and often that means they have to stop, wait and accelerate again. When a heavy loaded truck arrives and stops this means loss of green time, extra delay for the vehicles behind the truck and additional emissions, noise and damage to the road surface. Authorities are not only challenged by ever increasing traffic volumes, but also by more stringent environmental targets. One of the aims of the European commission sponsored research project CVIS (cooperative vehicle infrastructure systems) is to improve traffic efficiency by means of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. This paper presents the CVIS technology and a real-life example of its application: the Priority Application. This application can grant priority to specific vehicle types and inform drivers about the expected green intervals. In comparison to the state-of-the-art technology, especially heavy trucks benefit as the Priority Application allows the driver to anticipate an upcoming green light without the need to stop. At the same time this will lower emissions and noise at the intersection.