This V2X technology can prevent accidents by having cars communicate with each other, independent of car brands and without the support of cellular infrastructure. Its use within the recently released 8th generation Golf is the first volume European car model equipped with V2X, offering a boost to the deployment of the technology on European roads and beyond.
“Road safety forms the core of VW’s commitment to its customers. As a high-volume manufacturer we aim to be a pioneer in this space,” said Dr Johannes Neft, head of vehicle body development for the Volkswagen brand. “The introduction of V2X, together with traffic infrastructure providers and other vehicle manufacturers, is a major milestone in this direction. Volkswagen includes this technology, which doesn’t involve any user fees, as a standard feature to accelerate V2X penetration in Europe.”
“Volkswagen has taken a bold step to seize the road safety initiative through the implementation of V2X,” added Torsten Lehman, senior vice president and general manager of Driver Assistance and Infotainment at NXP. “After proving our technology in more than one million test days globally, we are pleased that our RoadLINK technology, developed in cooperation with Cohda Wireless, was chosen to enable new levels of safety in Europe’s most popular car model, the new Golf.”
Wi-Fi based V2X has been tested for more than 10 years. 1000 km of European roads are equipped with V2X technology based on Wi-Fi with 5000 km planned through the end of 2019. Its research and development, testing and standardisation has occurred within a strong global ecosystem of suppliers and car manufacturers to ensure reliability in diverse road and traffic conditions.
Wi-Fi forms the basis of the European standard that has been chosen for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. An additional benefit is its availability independent of paid cellular services. Other developing cellular based technologies can be added to Wi-Fi-based V2X.