The Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies of the STU in Bratislava will test the readiness of Slovak roads for the deployment of intelligent and connected transport as part of a pilot project for the Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic. In this sense, the faculty signed a contract with the Department of Transport.
FIIT STU researchers will test the sensory readability of horizontal and vertical traffic signs on selected sections of roads in the territory of the Slovak capital, highways, roads I., II. and III. classes. The measurements will be taken repeatedly on the agreed road sections to cover different light and weather conditions. All measured data will be assigned a location marker from satellite navigation with information on the accuracy of the measurement, information on the speed at which the measuring vehicle passed the marker, and the signal strength of the data line of the selected 4G or 5G access technology (depending on availability).
The output of the project will be an analysis of the facts, focused on the reliability of detection of various types of traffic signs on Slovak roads by sensors and methods that are standardly used in modern cars as a basis for advanced assistance systems, or autonomous driving at one of the required levels. According to the contract, in addition to the analysis, the state will also receive a complete set of data for further possible research or a differently conceived analysis.
“In recent years, new cars capable of reading some road signs have been increasing on our roads. For now, however, it is only additional information for the driver, who is subsequently responsible for adjusting the vehicle’s steering. Soon, however, adaptive cruise controls and cars that promise third-level autonomous driving capabilities will be more and more driven by automated sign reading. If we are to rely 100% on machine reading of signs for autonomous cars, we must first of all be able to clearly state the state of this traffic sign on our roads today and how modern cars are able or unable to read and understand it”, says the expert project guarantor for FIIT STU Ing. Marek Galinski, PhD., who works within the Automotive Innovation Lab research group.
“The quality of tags and their compatibility with sensors is something that the state has not yet mapped in detail. Therefore, I welcome this project and expect that it will bring us very interesting data. Transport will move towards greater automation in the future, so we should not be idle, but work to adapt our infrastructure to the trends as much as possible and at the same time increase safety in road transport in this way,” said Minister of Transport Andrej Doležal about the project.
“Since its inception, FIIT STU has been very strongly oriented towards the practical application of the latest technologies. Customers of the achieved innovations are private companies as well as public and state institutions. Cooperation with public and state institutions, which includes this project, makes our research beneficial almost immediately for the whole society. Developing projects in the field of autonomous transport is essential if we want to move as a country towards deploying intelligent means of transport on our roads in a big way. I am very happy that such projects are implemented in cooperation with our faculty,” concludes prof. Ivan Kotuliak, dean of FIIT STU.
Original article in slovak language: https://www.stuba.sk/sk/diani-na-stu/prehlad-aktualit/fiit-stu-otestuje-pre-ministerstvo-dopravy-pripravenost-ciest-na-inteligentnu-dopravu.html?page_id=14891