Uncrewed Systems Technology 046

12 A European project is set to demonstrate secure data comms across multiple national borders for driverless cars (writes Nick Flaherty). The moveID project, led by Bosch, is developing standards and technologies to allow driverless cars to communicate independently without having to rely on particular cellular networks. This is particularly difficult when moving between different countries, and the demonstration will take place across France, Germany and Luxembourg. Current satellite networks used for cross-border trials have a latency of 600-700 ms, which is too long for autonomous vehicles. Instead the project will use a technique called a distributed ledger that is used in blockchain for distributed data without the need for an intermediary. Rather than a cellular network, the ‘infrastructure partners’ for vehicles would be charging points, barriers, traffic lights and parking lots. That would allow driverless cars to provide information about levels of traffic, available charging points or parking spaces, for example. The data exchange required would also enable traffic control based on the volume of traffic at any given moment. That would allow cities to regulate incoming traffic to particular areas in real time, thus preventing congestion. However, this method, known as zoning, requires that vehicles can immediately recognise changing conditions and change route accordingly. This zoning is being demonstrated with test vehicles for the first time across the three countries in the Merzig/ Saarbrucken area. The cars receive dynamic information about their approach to defined zones. The project will use internationally recognised hardware and software to develop management and administrative services. “An integrated and transparent system architecture for the exchange of data on the road that incorporates different products and technology providers simply isn’t available at the moment,” said Peter Busch, project manager at Bosch. “While it’s true that some companies already offer services, they are tailored for specific applications, vehicles, or customer groups. That means open standards are needed so that users for example can find all the available charging stations or pay for charging processes.” The project aims to make use of the European GAIA-X system, which defines the technological, economic and legal framework for a secure and trustworthy data infrastructure. GAIA-X relies on decentralisation and the interaction of different cloud providers under common guidelines. The project also includes equipment makers Denso Automotive, Continental and Airbus, as well as blockchain technology developers Peaq Technology, ecsec, 51nodes, Bigchain, WOBCOM, Chainstep and Datarella as well as data centre operator Atos Information Technology. Cross-border data comms Driverless cars October/November 2022 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Drivers using the system will be able to communicate independently of different cellular networks Platform one