Flanders, Belgium selects HERE C-ITS solution

Brussels – HERE, the Open Location Platform company, today announced that it has been selected by the Flemish Ministry of Mobility and Public Works to deploy a Cooperative Intelligent Transportation System (C-ITS) aimed at improving road safety and transport efficiency.

The solution from HERE will utilise location platform technology to deliver safety critical alert information to drivers, warning against slow or stationary vehicles, sudden traffic build-up, road works or adverse weather.

The planned deployment will cover major motorways in Flanders, including the E34 highway skirting Antwerp – a major corridor for heavy goods vehicles and one of Europe’s busiest roadways – as well as the R001, E312, E17/E19, and E40.

C-Roads Belgium/Flanders coordinator Eric Kenis from the Flemish Ministry of Mobility & Public Works said: “The Flemish Department of Mobility and Public Works is proud to team up with HERE for setting up and operating a nine-month C-ITS pilot as part of the C-Roads initiative. The pilot, building on existing cellular communication networks, will foster a user-centric evaluation of dedicated cooperative ITS services, and will clarify the organisational and business-related aspects of a potential ‘multi service, multiple provider’ virtual digital architecture.”

The investment is a part of, and funded by, the European Commission’s C-ROADS Deployment Platform, which serves as a cooperative framework for Member States to develop C-ITS projects that ensure cross-border interoperability for all road users. This deployment reinforces the collaboration between the public and private sectors to leverage technology that can help to immediately increase road safety and efficiency.

In this deployment, HERE’s location platform technology will enable the ingestion, analysis and distribution of highly accurate and localised safety information to impacted drivers on the road, as well as the Regional Traffic Management Center via a smartphone application. While the solution will utilise smartphones, the same architecture could also one day harness real-time information generated automatically by the on-board sensors of connected cars.

“The HERE cloud-based C-ITS solution combined with cellular connectivity has the potential to dramatically increase road safety and efficiency,” said Leen Balcaen, Head of Smart Cities at HERE. “By creating the mechanisms to get the right road information, to the right drivers, at the right time, the Flemish Ministry of Mobility and Public Works is taking an important step toward mass C-ITS deployments and the commercial advancement of automated vehicles.”

For road users and tax payers, the HERE solution provides both a cost-efficient way of aiding drivers, which requires neither new investment in road infrastructure nor an additional link between the HERE Open Location Platform and the Antwerp Traffic Management Center. This solution stands in contrast to more expensive ITS designs based on DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) technology.

The HERE solution is easily scalable across large areas; interoperable across borders; compatible with future cellular network standards, such as 5G; and easy for people to use and benefit from. The Finnish Transportation Authority is currently utilising HERE location technology and the existing cellular network to deploy C-ITS use cases across three major highways in southern Finland.