Communication requirements of emerging cooperative driving systems

Traffic safety applications relying on cooperative systems are currently being considered by several research projects worldwide. An important question is if existing wireless technologies can meet the communication requirements from this emerging field of applications? Part of the answer to this question is that the communication requirements depend on what is actually communicated and how this information is used by and presented to the driver. The data traffic from realizations based on “cooperative awareness” or on “hazard warnings” are very different. This article discusses the communication requirements of some typical traffic safety applications and how these requirements are affected by different realizations.