Advances in technology and telecommunications are enabling Cintra and Ferrovial to pave the way for a new form of mobility and a new traveler experience. The smart highways project being implemented by the AIVIA consortium will lead to safer and more convenient interconnected corridors through the use of technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence, which will drive the infrastructure blueprint for the future.
Cintra and Ferrovial have always been at the forefront when creating and implementing innovative infrastructure projects. It’s one of their core competencies: efficacy and efficiency. Highway 407 in Toronto, the first free-flow toll road in North America, and the managed lanes projects in Texas, Virginia and North Carolina are good examples. Technology and the expectations for infrastructure and mobility are evolving rapidly, and Cintra and Ferrovial continue to push the limits with their vision of the future of highways. This is the case with AIVIA Smart Roads, a global initiative for advanced monitoring, sensing and simulation technology.
As new types of connected and autonomous vehicles (with different levels of capabilities) emerge, a new generation of connected digital highways driven by 5G and the Internet of Things will be needed to enable both to co-exist safely with conventional vehicles. The consortium will enable new roads to leverage these cutting-edge technologies and the latest developments in communications to provide a safer experience for all road users and for road operations teams, while optimizing available capacity. Whether intercity highways or high-density city corridors, these new roads will be more adaptive to the possibilities of mobility in the 21st century, using this know-how to successfully address a critical and strategic challenge.
For example, new lidar sensors, such as AI-based lidar cameras, can immediately identify any incident, obstacle or object so that it can be mapped and located by the roadway operator. All this information will then be processed using state-of-the-art “edge” or “cloud” computing and pertinent information will be relayed in real time to all users using 5G/C-V2X (Cellular-Vehicle-to-Everything) communication technology in a specific authenticated format that vehicles and drivers can trust to make split-second driving decisions.
These technologies will enable faster communications with drivers and their vehicles in a number of ways: connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) will automatically receive information on their dashboards while other vehicles and their drivers will benefit from messages via additional dynamic signage along the highway or from their smartphones. In addition to digital signage, high visibility roadway markings will complement the program analogically by guiding vehicles of both types at all times, particularly in situations of low visibility and during adverse weather conditions.
