NordicWay 2 and NordicWay 3 are C-ITS pilot projects that enable vehicles, infrastructure and network operators to communicate safety hazards and other information from roads in the Nordic countries between different stakeholders. The projects are a collaboration between public and private partners in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark and build on the achievements from the previous NordicWay project. In NordicWay 3 CarmentaAutomotive has the lead for the Flaggship Pilot Emergency Vehicle Warnings.

Partners

Carmenta, EVAM, Scania, SOS Alarm, Volvo Cars, VTI

Objective

Quick and accurate information and warnings about hazardous events on the roads prevents incidents and accidents and informing road users about approaching emergency vehicles can shorten the response time for the emergency services.The European Commission has classified Emergency Vehicle Approaching as a highly beneficial C-ITS Service that should be deployed quickly so that end-users and society at large can benefit from it as soon as possible.

The main objectives of the pilot is to:

• provide an Emergency Vehicle Approaching (EVA) warning message to vehicles before a driver can detect the emergency vehicle, visually or upon hearing the siren. The EVA warnings will lead to a smoother and safer traffic flow when an emergency vehicle is approaching with a better experience for drivers by not being surprised by the sudden appearance of emergency vehicles.
• shortern response times for emergency vehicles.

The focus of NordicWay 3 is to prepare C-ITS services for both increased market coverage and commercial launch. ‍TrafficWatch™ is selected to digest EVA Warning data and produce and distribute the EVA Warning messages.

Pilot trials

‍Recently a major milestone was reached by the Swedish EVA warning project team when the full data flow went live, and the EVA service was scaled up to a national level. The C-ITS EVA service now has the potential to cover the ambulance and rescue services for most of Sweden! The EVA service is implemented without any need for specific equipment in the emergency vehicles. Instead, the C-ITS digital infrastructure is connected to the Swedish national PSAP (Public Safety Access Point) operated by SOS Alarm. During the first half of 2023 the focus will be on the evaluation and continued study of the benefits of EVA for both the emergency services and traffic safety. Studies made so far in the project show positive effects of early in-vehicle EVA warnings, with emergency vehicles arriving faster to the accident areas, whilst car drivers are less stressed by the approaching emergency vehicle. The Swedish national EVA C-ITS service are planned to be online for a period of 2-4 month during 2023 when data will be collected for final evaluation purposes of the NordicWay 3 project.