Cooperative Systems Partnerships
SWARCO cooperates with automotive industry – for a more comfortable journey
Traffic Light Assistance (TLA) is SWARCO's new collaboration in ITS (C-ITS) development with Volvo and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. TLA aims to give drivers information about "time to green - time to red" to improve traffic flow and the travel experience. Trondheim is one of the first Nordic cities to have tested the new TLA feature, where the application was integrated into 48 traffic lights.
The trend of "Internet of Things" means that vehicles and infrastructure communicate more. This opens up new opportunities. With the help of good technical solutions, we can utilize this to make travelling safer and more environmentally friendly in the future.
The TLA system informs the driver when the car approaches a traffic light and displays the recommended speed for the vehicle to get a green wave. If the driver is waiting at a red light, the application displays information about when the light will turn green. The information is displayed on the instrument panel of the vehicle. It can also be displayed on a smartphone using a special app.
The purpose of the system is to positively influence traffic flow by avoiding unnecessary starts and stops. This can help reduce emissions from the cars while making the trip safer and more comfortable.
Volvo tests in 2017
In 2017, TLA was tested by SWARCO, along with Volvo, with a specially developed app.
To get the intended results, the TLA system had to receive updated information from the traffic lights fast enough. Despite the challenges, both Volvo and SWARCO were very pleased with the test results. This is also a significant step towards the driverless cars, and for improved safety and a better experience for drivers, "says Morten Søndergaard in SWARCO.
This was made possible with great support from Ørjan Tveit of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. SWARCO and the automotive industry are cooperating and we will soon see more vehicles equipped with the TLA service, which is now ready for market launch.
"SWARCO's mission is to improve people's quality of life by making travel safer, faster, more comfortable and more environmentally friendly. The development of new solutions reflects our mission. We wish to have a leading role in research and development of TLA systems and similar ITS solutions."
Thomas Rønslund
SWARCO Sales Manager
Similar tests in other European cities
The TLA system is already installed and being tested in other European cities, including Berlin, Hamburg and Verona, where SWARCO and Audi cooperate on a similar solution: Audi Connect.
What is unique about the project in Trondheim is the desire to make traffic signal data available as open data. Now that the tests have proved successful, it will be easy for developers to create new and innovative solutions.