New smart city technology is being tested on connected cars in the Modena Automotive Smart Area (MASA), an urban laboratory in the Italian city of Modena.
The software architecture developed by the CLASS project is designed to provide a solution to the problems of managing extremely large amounts of complex data in real time, such as that of pedestrians, traffic and vehicles. Data-in-motion and data-at-rest analytics are integrated into a single development framework, which works with real-time guarantees.
“It’s thrilling to see our technology powering the smart city use cases which will make our urban areas safer and less congested,” commented Eduardo Quiñones, senior researcher at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and coordinator of the CLASS project. “Thanks to its capacity to process big data analytics under real-time constraints, the CLASS framework is a significant step towards making safe connected vehicles a reality.”
Active since March 2017, MASA is an ‘open-air’ urban test bed used for experimentation, research and testing of technology for autonomous driving and connectivity with urban infrastructure. Data is generated and collected from IoT devices and sensors located across the smart area and on connected Maserati cars.
Initial tests started generating a knowledge base with combined information of the city and the cars, upon which several advanced smart city applications are being implemented, including:
- A digital traffic sign application which allows for evaluating and improving real-time traffic conditions by advising on best routes available, for instance in the case of accidents or emergency vehicles.
- An air pollution simulation, estimating the pollution emissions of moving vehicles in real-time.
- Smart parking – gathering and providing real-time data on the available parking spaces within the area.
- Obstacle detection to warn drivers about pedestrians and objects that appear on their way, even if they are not visible to the car.
“With the MASA, the city of Modena is combining the proud Italian tradition of high-end cars with the needs of modern smart cities,” said Luca Chiantore from Modena City Council. “We are delighted to be testing out the most innovative smart-city technologies, paving the way towards a truly responsive urban area which will improve quality of life for all citizens.”
Tags: connected cars, Connected Vehicles
