27. Vehicle-2-X

Connectivity among vehicles and with infrastructure is becoming increasingly important. It is the technological basis for future “cooperative intelligent transport systems.” The ability of a vehicle to communicate with its immediate surroundings (other vehicles, the road transport infrastructure, or traffic control centers) – commonly referred to as vehicle-to-X communication – enables a great number of new or improved functions for driver information and assistance. Such functions can lead to increased road safety, improved traffic efficiency, and greater personal comfort and convenience for the driver. After a short introduction, the aspects of the underlying data communication are explained. This comprises especially the radio channel and transmission system, the frequency allocation, as well as the required standardization activities. Next, a system overview is presented explaining the different subsystems, their structure and functionality, as well as the interaction with one another. Then, the important issues of data security and privacy protection are addressed, explaining the protection objectives and challenges followed by the description of potential solutions and their mechanisms. After that, the vehicle-to-X applications are described. The explanation of the basic principle and the message types is then illustrated by two practical examples, followed by some results on performance and user acceptance from the German field trial sim^TD. Finally, an economic assessment and possible introduction scenarios are discussed.