The future of the automobile and road safety looks promising, to say the least. Hence, the General Directorate of Traffic is already talking about the great advances that await us and even define the keys of a DGT 3.0 and the date on which all our cars will have to be connected.
Technology has brought with it the use of more accurate and effective surveillance systems, and even automated devices. The roads are now also monitored with drones, which are capable of identifying traffic violations, and even with camera systems that are capable of detecting if you are not wearing your seat belt, or if you are talking on a mobile phone while driving.
But the future of the DGT goes beyond fines and surveillance and it necessarily goes through the connected car and an adapted infrastructure to contribute to the improvement of road safety.
DGT 3.0: the future goes beyond fines
Let us imagine that our cars could know instantly, with precision, the position of a damaged car, or the proximity of an ambulance, and transmit this information to us so that we can anticipate a possible dangerous situation. More and more cars are permanently connected to the internet and the real challenge now is managing the information they collect and ensuring that the cars are able to communicate with each other, and with the infrastructure, to take advantage of the information in order to of road safety.
The DGT is taking the first steps to create a connected infrastructure that is capable of sharing as much information as possible on road incidents to automobiles. And we have the best example in the introduction of the V-16 luminous device.
The V-16 emergency light that the DGT is introducing already glimpses a first application of this technology. And the fact of introducing a connected signaling element is precisely the reason why its implementation has been postponed and will not be mandatory until 2026. The V-16 emergency light will not only signal vehicles in an accident or broken down on the road without the need for the driver gets out of his vehicle, but will also communicate his activation and his position to the connected services of the DGT.
In this way, Traffic intends to know immediately the position of any damaged and injured vehicle, speed up the process of attention and emergency services, and even that they communicate in real time how the rescue has progressed, the moment in which the vehicle has been serviced, repaired, or mounted on a crane. This information will be managed in the Traffic computer services which, in turn, will transmit it to drivers, to their vehicle, applications on their mobile phone, etc.
And this brings us to a new element that the DGT also regulated last year, the V-27 virtual triangle. The DGT presented the virtual triangle V-27which is nothing more than a signal that will be used in the systems integrated in the car to notify us of the position of a damaged or damaged vehicle.
But this is only the beginning. The DGT assures that it is already working, within the framework of the European Union, and in collaboration with the manufacturers, to integrate these technologies in the car.
Traffic hopes that new functionalities will be progressively introduced and new use cases will be worked on. For example, that drivers receive a notification from the DGT when an ambulance approachesto facilitate as much as possible their movements in emergency service.
Currently, the DGT tells us about some pilot projects, like the one in Vigo, of a system of infrastructure and connected vehicles, which will be integrated into taxis, police, firefighters, buses and ambulances, and also in delivery fleets. This system will allow, for example, to automatically open a traffic light so that vehicles in emergency service are not interrupted.
The first connected motorways will also be tested, beginning with a pilot project between the Fornells and Vilademuls tolls (Girona). In this 34-kilometre section, autonomous driving tests will be carried out, with mobile data and 5G technology.
