AUTOPILOT seeks to leverage the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) to develop new automated driving services. The TransformingTransport project works to demonstrate the benefits of Big Data for automated driving. Recognising AUTOPILOT’s essential link with IoT, the TransformingTransport consortium invited AUTOPILOT to participate in its Plenary Assembly, held on 29th January.
IoT is closely linked to Big Data. By connecting “things” with “things” and with the Internet, IoT will generate huge amounts of data. In the transport sector, Big Data is expected to lead to time and fuel savings worldwide of up to EUR 400 billion. However, at the moment only approximately 20% of EU mobility and logistics companies employ Big Data solutions. This contradiction is the backbone of the TransformingTransport project, which will focus on seven domains of major importance for the mobility and logistics sector (including smart highways, sustainable vehicle fleets, and multi-modal urban mobility).
Francois Fischer (ERTICO – ITS Europe), when presenting the AUTOPILOT project, emphasized the project’s ambition to take advantage of devices connected to the Internet in order to collect information about the driving environment, instead of relying on V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure) or V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication channels. He then went on to say that AUTOPILOT will gather data from sensors, such as cameras, intelligent traffic lights, smartphones, and environment sensing devices, which in turn, will help enhance driving perception and allow for the development of the AUTOPILOT driving services. Mr Fischer also explained the plentiful benefits that IoT brings to automated driving. By gathering data from numerous sources in one place, IoT will improve the collection and analysis of data, as well as data sharing. And, as AUTOPILOT will also show, IoT will provide opportunities for the creation of new services and business models.
