Communication architecture for cooperative systems in Europe

Wireless communications for intelligent transportation systems promise to be a key technology for avoiding the traffic nightmares of today - accidents and traffic jams. But there is one major challenge to be overcome before such a cooperative system can be put into place: standardization. This article provides an overview of the technical developments in Europe and their convergence toward a set of European standards. We address the current state of the standardization activities and the potential scenarios and use cases, and we describe the fundamental concepts of a European communication architecture for cooperative systems.