Between Saugnac-et-Muret and Labouheyre in France, Atlandes, the motorway concessionaire, is preparing a High Level Service Testing Area in Europe for automated and connected vehicles. Egis is preparing to use the data collected.
The A63 will be equipped with new equipments for the communication between the vehicles and the infrastructure.
The A63 in France is preparing to host a High Level Service Testing Area (HLSTA) for communicating, cooperative and automated vehicles. The experimental area aims to set up an experimental field on the motorway, under real operating conditions and within the European technical framework C-Roads/C-Mobile, in order to understand and quantify the impacts of these new mobilities.
The project is led by the concessionaire of the A63 Atlandes as well as local companies specializing in cooperative intelligent transport systems (NeoGLS, GEOSAT and Gustave Eiffel University).
With an overall cost of €1.5 million, funded 50% by the Nouvelle Aquitaine Region, the project is part of the European research and innovation dynamic. It responds to strategic challenges in terms of innovative and sustainable mobilities.
The project involves the installation of equipment for connectivity, the creation of a high-definition map of the experimental site, the development of devices for analysing and monitoring traffic, the definition of the methodological and organisational framework and tools and methodologies for evaluation.
A testing area for understanding the management of tomorrow's infrastructures.
As a true research and innovation tool for the more connected and autonomous mobility of tomorrow, the HLSTA will make it possible to offer entities wishing to conduct experiments on connected, cooperative and automated mobility (autonomous vehicle manufacturers, academics, third parties, etc.) high-level service environments (connected/cooperative, mapped with high definition, radio transmission, etc.) and evaluation methodologies. It will support them in carrying out experiments and facilitate the development of new use cases on demand.
Thanks to the technology deployed, data collection will enable the Egis operator to provide better services in terms of traffic and safety, road maintenance and toll collection.
We can imagine that, one day, infrastructure operators will manage autonomous vehicles on motorways in the same way as air traffic controllers do for airplanes. The A63 project appears as a major challenge for understanding the management of tomorrow's infrastructures.