Minister Van Nieuwenhuizen (Infrastructure and Water Management): ‘Working together with innovative companies, like we do within the Partnership Talking Traffic, is already resulting in apps and services that are truly beneficial to people in everyday traffic. The new, real-time information for traffic participants contributes to an improved flow of traffic and increased road safety. Our infrastructure is becoming smarter and smarter and information services are becoming more user-friendly everyday.’
More new information will become available shortly, such as the current availability of rush-hour and add-on lanes, and other providers will soon follow with similar services. The strength of the new services is found particularly in the speed with which road users are being informed, as new information is available within just one second. This speed turns ‘navigation’ into ‘tactical driving task support’. This enhances road users’ ability to anticipate dangerous situations, speed advice to get to the green light in time, information on available parking spots and regular variable message signs. The real-time information thus contributes to an improved flow of traffic and traffic safety.
Expansion of smart infrastructure
Intelligent traffic lights are also being installed in an increasing number of locations in the Netherlands. These systems consist of traffic lights that communicate with each other and with vehicles, and thus help to improve the flow of traffic. Some of them are already operational and approximately 800 intelligent traffic lights will be put into use before the summer. Within five years, 2,000 to 3,000 traffic lights will be converted, enabling them to directly communicate with connected vehicles.
These days, non-adjusted traffic lights result in losses of some 90 million euros caused by additional travel time, unnecessary emissions and unsafety. As the Talking Traffic Partnership mainly focuses on connectivity and data exchange, it is an important pioneer for self-driving cars and new infrastructure for connected and automated transport.
