Vision Zero: A World Free From Road-Accident Fatalities

A future free from road accidents is in the works, with Europe, the USA, and Asian countries like Japan and China spearheading development in this area. 

If you’re yet to hear of vehicle to everything or car2car communication, you’re probably wondering how an accident-free future is possible. According to a study released by the US Department of Transportation in 2017, at least 94% of road accidents can be attributed to human error. 

As such, if we can collectively find a way to eliminate human error on roads, we can all but eliminate road accidents. 

In some parts of the world, the term “vision zero” is used to refer to a future free from road accidents. At the very least, the vision represents a future where there are no fatalities from road accidents. 

The world has been working towards vision zero from as early as 1999. More than two decades later, we’re yet to achieve it. However, tremendous progress has been made and this article will show you why we are closer than ever to achieving a world with no traffic-related deaths. 

The Evolution of Vision Zero

Vision Zero Before Ubiquitous Connectivity 

In 1999, Sweden started working on vision zero. Under the conviction that no cost was too much for human safety, they implemented a range of road safety measures that sought to dramatically reduce the seriousness and frequency of road accidents. 

The road-safety measures were mostly infrastructural. 

Human tolerance to impact in accidents was the basis of the infrastructural modifications that were part of vision zero. 

The main tool used to promote road safety was speed limits. On a pedestrian crossing, where there was a chance of pedestrians getting hit by vehicles, the speed limit was set to a low figure. 

On the other hand, vehicles could travel at much higher speeds when there were no pedestrians crossing roads, and when there was no chance of a front or side collision, like in dual-carriage highways. 

Vision Zero After Connectivity 

We have come a long way since the days when the only tools we could use in the fight for accident-free roads were infrastructural. 

Modern connectivity has had a significant impact across the board, revolutionizing communication, healthcare, security, and so on. 

And thanks to modern connectivity solutions like cellular networks and Wi-Fi, we can take a whole new approach to road safety. This approach is embodied by the term vehicle to everything communication. It involves giving vehicles the ability to communicate with everything around them in multiple modes of connectivity. 

Modes of vehicle to everything communication include car2car, car to infrastructure, vehicle to network, and vehicle to person. 

Vehicle to Everything Communication 

Technologies Used

Ever since the turn of the century, when the US Federal Communications Commission set apart a dedicated band for vehicular communication, the dominant v2x technology has been Wi-Fi based. 

It is only recently, when advanced cellular communication technology like LTE and 5G emerged, that lte-v2x was considered. 

Wi-Fi based v2x technologies go by multiple names, depending on the region. In Europe, the technology is referred to as the Cooperative Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS). Elsewhere, the technology is referred to as Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC). 

C-ITS technology that relies on the Wi-Fi standard 802.11p has its advantages. To start with, it’s a great tool for the implementation of functional security communication. It relies on self-organizing ad-hoc networks that implement low-latency exchange of messages. It is independent of weather conditions and can perform anywhere at any time. 

Technology based on lte-v2x enables both cooperative vehicle communication and vehicle to network applications such as infotainment. With features such as high penetration, wide coverage, and high capacity, lte v2x overcomes the shortcomings of DSRC and C-ITS. 

Current Progress

Europe has made significant progress towards vision zero. According to the Car2car Communication Consortium (C2C-CC), by the end of 2019, more than 500,000 European vehicles had been fitted with v2x communication capability. 

According to the 5GAA, as of 2019, out of 350,000 intersections in the US, 2,000 had DSRC units installed. These installations were running on pilot schemes. 

In the US, progress appears to be slow because of uncertainty about which technology will become the industry standard. Vehicle manufacturers had already started fitting their vehicles with DSRC units. However, lte v2x seems set to take over, hence the confusion. 

According to Berg Insight, there were 700,000 vehicles equipped with v2x capabilities by the end of 2020. The firm also projects that by 2025, the number will have grown to around 35 million. 

The TakeAway

Vision zero is within reach, at least in the first-world. Thanks to advances in connectivity technology, vehicles can communicate not only with other vehicles but also with infrastructure, pedestrians, and cyclists. 

The confusion on whether to adopt cellular or Wi-Fi based v2x may be resolved by using both in conjunction with each other. Whatever the case, interoperability and backwards compatibility among v2x devices will be crucial to the success of v2x.