The basics:

• Rutgers CAIT deploys Verizon’s Edge Transportation Exchange
• Platform uses 5G, V2X tech to enable connected vehicle safety
• Reduces infrastructure costs with virtual cellular messaging
• Testing includes school zone alerts, intersection safety and more

The Rutgers University Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation will deploy an innovative platform developed and launched by Verizon Business. The tech is aimed at powering the future of road safety.

The Edge Transportation Exchange is an integrated mobile-network vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication platform. It allows a vehicle to communicate with other connected vehicles, road users and infrastructure around it.

Rutgers University CAIT signed on as an early commercial user of the platform. Other adopters include Volkswagen Group of America, The Arizona Commerce Authority and Delaware Department of Transportation.

“Cars are evolving from mechanical vehicles to software-defined mobile devices with the ability to leverage incredible connected technology,” said Shamik Basu, vice president, Strategic Connectivity & IoT, Verizon Business. “Edge Transportation Exchange leverages that technology to give automakers, governments, and tech developers a robust platform for building out the cellular-connected future of transportation – with visibility and reliability for all road users top of mind.”

Key things to know:

• Leverages Verizon’s 5G and LTE networks, low-latency mobile edge computing and geolocation technology to send alerts, messages and data between connected vehicles as well as infrastructure in real time
• Offers users the foundation for the development of intelligent transportation use cases. Current use cases include vulnerable road user awareness, roadway and weather condition alerts, and intersection traffic-signal information to help improve traffic efficiency in addition to enabling safer road use
• Uses a virtual architecture, reducing need for costly physical roadside units — and eliminating financial burden for governments and agencies
• Rutgers University CAIT will deploy the platform at the DataCity Smart Mobility Testing Ground
  • • The 2.5-mile living laboratory is a collaborative program with Middlesex County and in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Transportation. The testing ground is equipped with self-driving sensing, computing and V2X communication technologies to facilitate the testing of Connected and Automated Vehicle as well as Smart City technologies
    • Will use the platform to further develop virtualized cellular messaging architecture for cost-effective support of multiple CAV applications, such as:
      • • Intersection safety
        • Congestion mitigation
        • Queue warning
        • Incident and work zone management
• Rutgers University CAIT also uses Edge Transportation Exchange to research school-zone safety applications to deliver real-time alerts to pedestrians and incoming vehicles at intersections with heavy school crossings

The power to innovate

Dr. Peter Jin is an associate professor at Rutgers and the principal investigator of the DataCity Smart Mobility Testing Ground. He described Edge Transportation Exchange as a platform with wide applicability to the auto-tech R&D process.

“The solution puts tremendous power in our hands for innovating, testing, and refining solutions with the potential for national scale, which is a thrilling proposition,” said Jin. “We’re excited for the opportunity to use Edge Transportation Exchange to help keep road users safe and traffic flowing optimally.”