Cooperative Traffic Light for VRUs (CTLVRUs)
The objective of Cooperative Traffic Light for VRUs is to decrease travel time and increasing comfort and safety of Vulnerable Road Users in traffic, decrease car usage in urban environment, and reduce the need for parking spaces for cars.
Taking into account various stakeholders’ views, a list of business model blueprints that address current or future challenges of urban areas, together with their operating and value-capture scenarios depicting the inner-workings of the business models, and the exchange of costs-benefits among stakeholders, have been created for the Cooperative Traffic Light for VRUs service.
Detailed information about Cooperative Traffic Light for VRUs architecture can be found here.
Within the C-MobILE project the Cooperative Traffic Light for VRUs service is implemented in three Deployment Sites: Copenhagen, North Brabant, and Thessaloniki.
CTLVRUs, as deployed in the City of Copenhagen, is identical to the GLOSA service deployed for motorized vehicles, as it gives cyclists a speed advice for catching the green light at intersections. Contrary to cars, where the speed of one car, in situations of congestion, is dependent on the preceeding vehicles, cyclists are more free to adjust their speeds independently from each other and to catch the green light. Therefore, CTLVRUs (that is GLOSA for cyclists) is even more beneficial for the individual cyclist than for the individual motorist, reducing number of stops and accelerations that consume actual physical energy.
In North Brabant the CTLVRUs service is implemented in the city of Eindhoven based on cellular communication technology.
Macq’s camera system is installed at an intersection with traffic lights in the city of Eindhoven. The camera detects the number of cyclists that are waiting at the traffic light and, when a large group is detected, priority is provided, so resulting in a shorter waiting time for cyclists. Apart from the camera system there is no additional equipment or smartphone App required for this service.
In Thessaloniki the CTLVRUs service is implemented as proof of concept at few intersections. Information on the phases of the traffic lights is provided by the local technical partner Traffic Technique (responsible for the operation of the specific signalized intersections) to the GeoMessaging platform of the the service provider, the Hellenic Institute of Transport (CERTH-HIT). Such information is then provided to drivers through the CERTH-HIT App (cmobile.imet.gr) .