SENER Foundation has selected an applied research project proposed by Prof. Antonio Pérez Yuste, member of GRC-UPM, to be funded during the next three years. The main objective of this project is to contribute to making our roads smarter by introducing ultra-reliable, long-range, and energy-efficient wireless traffic signs, specifically designed to share the relevant traffic information either to the cruise control on board any vehicle or to the driver assistance systems, without a human intervention.
Nowadays, we are witnessing how vehicles are getting more and more sophisticated, integrating new technologies able to transform a classic “thermal motor driven carriage” into a highly autonomous, multi-sensor data fusion, an non-polluting “intelligent transport system”. However, it is observed that such an evolution is not well correlated with a similar progress in our present roads, so making extremely important to match both in a more balanced habitat.
One essential component required to make roads smarter should be based on the deployment of digital road traffic signs. That means, traffic signs where the information to drivers is not provide by means of visual elements specifically designed to catch their eyes, but by means of a wireless communication channel to make smart vehicles to be aware of that information.
It is expected this project, thanks to the support of SENER Foundation, will contribute to achieve a better and more sustainable cities for all, as well as foster not a few of valuable social advantages like cost and time savings, pollution and noise reductions, less accidents, and a more sustainable and efficient mobility.
SENER Foundation is a non-profit private organization, registered in Spain, which is oriented to promote initiatives that encourage the pursuit of knowledge, as well as to contribute to the moral and material progress of our society.