The project ‘Teststrecke Automatisiertes und Vernetztes Fahren’ in Hamburg’s inner city is picking up speed. By late 2018, four out of a projected 37 traffic lights on Edmund-Siemers-Allee have been equipped with WIFI systems designed to send data to smart vehicles in their environment. So-called ‘road side units’ (RSUs) modernise the traffic lights, better facilitating traffic flow. By 2020, the test track will be finalised.
As part of the strategy for intelligent traffic systems, Hamburg is building a test track. The route will span a total of nine kilometres between Dammtor station, Landungsbrücken piers, the Messehallen convention centre and the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. The traffic lights on this route will be able to communicate with smart vehicles, improving the safety and efficiency of urban traffic.
Everyone will benefit from automated and interconnected driving as noise and pollution levels will be reduced. To make all this possible, real life experience with automated vehicles in the urban sphere is indispensable.
In Hamburg, the degree of automation is increasing constantly in hopes of reaching the highest degree of fully-autonomous driving possible on the city’s streets.
In no stage of the development will people be subjected to greater danger. For the time being, users must still steer their vehicles, not to mention the fact that a number of qualifications must be met for a user to even participate in the programme. In the near future, however, properly equipped cars will be able to drive themselves.
Until now, EUR 4.8 million have been allotted to the project by the Federal Agency of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. The test route is scheduled for use during the ITS World Congress in 2021 to highlight the newest technological developments.
