The role of ICT in solving mobility challenges
When you're stuck in traffic on the Antwerp Ring, the saying that we're the crossroads of Europe can sound rather hollow. But it remains a fact; the ability to keep things moving in this country is absolutely pivotal to our prosperity. At a European level the message is clear: the current growth in transport is unsustainable; the environment and our infrastructure simply cannot cope. Hence there is an urgent need to develop safer, greener and smarter transport systems. For Flanders this couldn’t be more relevant, given the importance of logistics to our economy and the severity of our transport problems.
There are no simple solutions to the mobility challenges. They need to be tackled from various angles, including education, regulation, infrastructure and spatial planning. In these technological times, we should also look toward ICT as a means to keep this country moving. This is the task IBBT has set itself.
As an independent research institute founded by the Flemish government, IBBT applies ICT to a range of societal challenges, including healthcare, government, media and transport. The institute thrives on an interdisciplinary approach to tackle problems and has worked with over 600 partners from various sectors.
In line with EU thinking, IBBT is contributing to the mobility solution by making transport systems smarter. The NextGen-ITS project, for example, is exploring ways to push much ‘richer’ information to drivers. Many GPS systems in use today already integrate traffic reports (via radio signal) in their navigation functionality. But looking ahead, the potential exists to push much more information to vehicles, from a variety of different sources, via a range of different networks. The challenge however, will be to organise these processes (“(i.e. collecting data from various sources, analysing that data, and broadcasting customised messages back to vehicles) in an intelligent manner. This kind of technology also works the other way around; with IBBT’s e-call initiative, if a driver is immobilized (from an accident for example) an automated signal can be sent to emergency services.
Road safety is in fact particularly amenable to ICT solutions. IBBT is currently working with the Flemish traffic centre to develop advanced traffic management systems and has been instrumental to the system currently installed on the Antwerp Ring and being set up around Ghent. This will allow automatic detection of an incident (or potential incident) on the Antwerp Ring. Furthermore, it will trigger the system to slow down traffic further upstream (via dynamic signalling equipment) and therefore reduce the risk of tail-gating. The system can also be controlled manually, with operators able to close lanes, forcibly divert traffic to certain routes, open up lanes for emergency vehicles, and indeed completely manipulate the traffic flow.
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About
IBBT is an independent research institute founded by the Flemish government to stimulate ICT innovation. It unites more than 600 researchers from diverse Flemish universities and knowledge centres.
www.ibbt.be
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