Overview
The Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, the Free State of Bavaria, the automobile industry and the IT industry jointly operate the Digital Motorway Test Bed on the A9 motorway in Bavaria. On this route, Mobility 4.0 innovations are tested, evaluated and further developed.The infrastructure of the route is fully digitalized, equipped with sensor technology and connected to innovative projects along the A9 motorway. The Digital Motorway Test Bed is a technology neutral offer to industry and the research community and can be used by all stakeholders from the automotive industry, the digital economy and academia from home and abroad who are interested in testing their innovations.
The measures and projects on the Digital Motorway Test Bed are carried out in the two thematic areas of "automated and connected driving" and "intelligent infrastructure".
Automated and connected driving
In general, automated driving functions can be trialled anywhere in Germany. The Digital Motorway Test Bed is characterized by its unique infrastructure equipment, which offers test opportunities in particular with regard to connected driving (vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication) and its interaction with automated driving functions. Seamless high-speed LTE communications coverage is available on the Test Bed, so that evolutions towards a more efficient 5G mobile network can be trialled. A high-speed LAN connection is also available at selected locations which, for example, enables players from the automotive industry to transmit large data volumes rapidly when carrying out activities on the ground. Also, data can be prepared in a standardized format and made available to all users of the test bed via the MDM (Mobility Data Marketplace). This makes it possible for users to access up-to-the-minute and high-precision traffic information. Special road furniture such as crash barriers with reflectors and special signs, which serve to trial different sensor models (radar, laser, Lidar, cameras etc.), support the vehicles in adjusting to the environment.
Responsibility for the conduct of the trials lies with the users. All the measures are based on the applicable legal framework. The Digital Motorway Test Bed is open for use to all interested companies and research establishments. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure has established the Communication and Coordination Platform for Automated Driving (KOAF) which is to serve as a focal point for questions and concrete measures (and their implementation). It can be contacted at koaf@bmvi.bund.de.
Intelligent infrastructure
The digitalization of the infrastructure opens up new ways to improve road safety, to develop a sustainable infrastructure and finally to enhance mobility. In order to fully exhaust the potential inherent in the digitalized road, various intelligent infrastructure innovations are being trialled and evolved on the Digital Motorway Test Bed. Completely new possibilities will be opened up by new sensors, linked together to form an intelligent system, such as the intelligent bridge, where a network of sensors continuously records and analyses information on the condition of the structure, the telematics systems to warn of wrong-way drivers, which automatically and reliably identify wrong-way drivers at three selected motorway junctions and directly alert such drivers, or the telematics-based HGV parking guidance and information system. Furthermore, with the "service station and rest area of the future", a comprehensive and forward-looking concept for rest areas is being trialled which places special importance on a sustainable management of energy resources.