New vehicles in the UK are increasingly being fitted with an emergency alerting system called eCall.
This can either be manually invoked when a car breaks down or automatically invoked when a vehicle is involved in an accident and in both cases the location of the vehicle and many details are automatically transmitted to the emergency services.
An eCall represents a potential Hazard both for other drivers and for the vehicle that has generated the Alert.
On Motorways and other roads that Hazard can be extremely serious with a potential risk to life.
The potential exists for an eCall alert to automatically and rapidly generate a Virtual VMS delivered warning to drivers approaching the Hazard.
Virtual VMS can be used create a comprehensive information cordon around a town or city.
There are no limitations on where information is delivered so the provision of information can be complete and all approaches can be covered
A dynamic algorithm can establish the best parking options for vehicles approaching on specific routes and deliver clear customised options to drivers.
This can take into account parking capacity and traffic conditions to optimise traffic flow in a city.
Virtual VMS can be used to dynamically incentivise route or modal travel choice.
Two Examples
Virtual VMS are positioned at critical points in the network where there is the potential for traffic Ingress in the wrong direction.
If a Vehicle travels the wrong way down the link the a VVMS warning is delivered .
The message only activates for traffic travelling the wrong way
Dynamically showing the distance to a Smart Motorway ERA within an immersive connected car enabled head unit integrated navigation solution
Travelling to make Ferry connections can sometimes involve long journeys and sometimes weather conditions in result in services being abruptly cancelled or postponed.
Virtual VMS can be used to actively inform drivers on route to they can cancel or replan their travel as conditions change, avoiding long and costly abortive journeys when services are cancelled.
Virtual VMS can quickly and easily be updated by ferry companies to keep drivers informed.
Some estuarian bridge crossings in the UK are subject to sudden closure when weather conditions deteriorate.
A closure can mean a very long detour with associated significant inconvenience and economic cost
Virtual VMS can be used by the Bridge authority to actively inform drivers on all approaches of the up to date status of the crossing so they can make an early decision to take an alternative route.
Weather conditions, Ice, Snow, Wind can create significant hazards for driving.
Monitoring systems can detect in real time significant Hazards, these detections can be transformed into Virtual VMS, alerting drivers to Hazards.
Weather forecast models can be used to dynamically predict hazardous conditions on susceptible roads and the information from these models can be used to automatically create virtual VMS alerting drivers to potential hazards.
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