Trialing of the COMPANION roadside incident warning system in TABASCO

The BMW COMPANION roadside incident warning and management system is designed for use on inter-urban roads, with its main objective being to reduce the number of shunt style accidents by warning drivers of stationary vehicles or other hazards. This is done through roadside electronic guide markers, which emit yellow or red signals to indicate that there are incidents ahead. The electronic guide markers which are inter-connected and controlled from a central control incorporate red and yellow diodes as light units. The guide markers consist of a ground base cone containing the transmission module, a computing unit and a wire connection to the control centre. Each guide marker has an electronic identification address and is able to be triggered separately. Different parameters like the length of warning section, colour of warning lights and flashing frequency can be changed, depending on the location and type of incident, via the MMI. Within the DRIVE II project TABASCO,the functionality of the COMPANION system is analyzed at the existing test site in Munich, along with the installation, and trialing, of the system at a new test site in Scotland