The ‘Internet of the Road’: CDOT to implement new technology along I-25

A new type of technology might just help you when you’re out driving. and Colorado roads are getting a jump start on the future of transportation.

It’s called V2X, or Vehicle to Everything, and it’s essentially a new cellular network. Colorado Department of Transportation is calling it the “Internet of the Roads,” and it’ll let cars communicate with signs and traffic signals to help with safety and alerting drivers.

Amy Ford, Chief of Advanced Mobility at CDOT said, “Imagine Waze on super steroids, do something very fast and very instantaneous.”

Colorado Springs residents will see V2X in the Interstate 25 gap between Monument and Castle Rock, the 18-mile stretch of road which is currently under construction to be widened. The gap will now also feature this safety technology upon completion by 2021.

It has some immediately clear benefits, according to Ford.

“An ability to listen to and allow us to talk to those vehicles. for instance, being able to tell someone, ‘Hey you are coming up into a work zone you need to slow down now;’ or for that matter, for them saying ‘My airbag went off’ and it sends that information to CDOT, and we are able to deploy emergency service personnel,” said Ford.

And the gap is only the beginning.

Ford said it’ll stretch 500 miles throughout the state of Colorado. “So that’s I-25 really border to border. Wyoming all the way down to Pueblo, I-70 from Utah down to the Kansas border l-76 up near Nebraska.”

Ford says that the ultimate goal is saving lives, and this new technology could prevent accidents by up to 80 percent.

The future for V2X may also play a vital role in the proliferation of autonomous vehicles.
The technology could provide a big boost to traffic efficiency through platooning, which is organizing all traveling vehicles to move in a steady block.

CDOT hopes to have this implemented by late 2021 or early 2022.

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