The C-32 highway will be the Abertis group’s test bed to test new technology to prevent the risk of accidents and improve the reaction when they occur. Before next summer, they will send messages to drivers when any incident is detected on this high-capacity road. All connected vehicles that have Wi-Fi will receive the notices directly on the monitor. Those who do not will obtain them through an application nicknamed Awai, which is currently used to pay tolls. The objective is to report in real time about accidents, works, traffic jams or the presence of obstacles on the road such as animals, as explained by those responsible for the project yesterday in a meeting with journalists.
The objective of the project is to “become proactive to change behaviors” of drivers, defined Xavier Daura, head of Innovation at Highways, the group’s headquarters in Spain. If the initiative works, the intention is to replicate it later in other places. Currently, Abertis has a presence in a total of 15 countries.
Not all vehicles are connected to the internet nor do they have the Awai application installed. “We anticipate future scenarios,” said Daura with the expectation that more and more cars will have this technology. The new system will not replace the classic posters or panels, which will remain in force as before.
The initiative is carried out in C-32 because the company’s most advanced innovation laboratory has just been inaugurated there. It is located next to the Vallcarca toll, in the town of Sitges. Dubbed Future Road Lab, in the same building is the C-32 control center, which in fact has the capacity, if required in an emergency, to control the safety of the 370,000 drivers who travel through the roads daily. more than 500 km of high-capacity roads managed by Highways. The two services share space after a renovation of the enclave.
“We design innovative solutions, we test them in our testing laboratory and apply them on a daily basis with a clear objective: the road safety of our customers,” said the general director of Autopistas, Daniel Vilanova. “The new center marks a before and after in the way of managing high-capacity roads. Autopistas is at the forefront of the Abertis group in road safety issues and is the most ideal place to install the Futuro Road Lab,” he added. “The proximity to Barcelona and the airport have been key for the company’s most advanced center in the world to be installed here,” commented Marc Padrós, head of the control center.
Autopistas has invested more than seven million in innovation in the last three years, including the projects that are part of the Future Road Lab. Today, in the C-32 they already have the capacity to collect in real time all types of information about the state traffic. “Sensorizing the infrastructure is very important,” said Xavier Daura. Through cameras connected to an artificial intelligence system, they obtain a series of data to minimize the risk of accidents. They can even calculate the probability of an incident occurring on the highway.