CDOT and Panasonic take first steps to turn I-70 into connected roadway

Denver — The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and its partner Panasonic Corporation of North America are building on a successful pilot program to begin deployment of the most advanced vehicle-to-everything (V2X) environment in the country. This partnership represents the largest shared investment in V2X technology in the U.S. During the pilot deployment that was recently completed, CDOT and Panasonic successfully installed and tested five V2X roadside units and six V2X vehicle onboard units and established a Network Operations Center to manage the overall system. These efforts set the stage for deploying the V2X system in a real-world environment along a major Colorado highway. By the end of the year, 100 roadside units will be in place along the I-70 Mountain Corridor from Golden to Vail.

By creating this connected system — an “internet of roads” — drivers and traffic managers will receive real-time information about road conditions such as traffic delays, icy conditions and crashes through continuous and automatic communications between individual vehicles and roadside infrastructure. Once deployed, this system is projected to result in an 81 percent decrease in unimpaired multi-vehicle crashes, as well as more reliable travel times and, eventually, the ability to communicate with self-driving cars.

In addition to installing roadside units, more than 100 CDOT vehicles that regularly drive the I-70 Mountain Corridor will be equipped with technology that allows them to communicate information to and from the Traffic Management Center. This is all part of Phase 1 of the program with Panasonic; the next phase will allow traffic managers to begin sending messages to connected vehicles via the roadside units, alerting drivers to upcoming roadway hazards — such as a crash or closure ahead — on in-vehicle screens.