Connected vehicles represent a fast-growing industry segment. As road automation evolves rapidly, the Physical and Digital Infrastructure (PDI) systems currently in place cannot effectively handle the emerging requirements of connected and automated vehicles. Novel challenges are arising in the sector, especially linked with connectivity, cooperation, data management, interoperability, and reliability.
PoDIUM (full name Physical and Digital Infrastructure (PDI) connectivity and cooperation enablers building trust and sustainability for CCAM) aims to address these challenges to reach higher levels of vehicle automation and foster the development of advanced Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) solutions. The project defines a series of demanding CCAM use cases to identify and assess connectivity and cooperation enablers and needs to advance key technologies both in the physical and digital part of the infrastructure. PoDIUM will conduct demonstrations of the use cases in real-life conditions in three Living Labs in Germany, Italy and Spain, in urban, highway and cross-border environments.
The final outcome of the project will be a flexible reference architecture that follows a multi-connectivity approach and that can be applied to various road environments and types of infrastructure equipment. In this way, PoDIUM will facilitate new business models and market services.
Dr. Angelos Amditis, PoDIUM Project Coordinator and Research and Development Director of ICCS, said:
“I-SENSE Group of ICCS is thrilled to coordinate PoDIUM, a European Project that accelerates the wider deployment of CCAM solutions to make higher levels of automation an everyday reality for all. With PoDIUM we aspire to advance technologies both in physical and digital infrastructures (PDI) and deliver a reference architecture, flexible and applicable in different road environments, facilitating seamless and efficient exchange of data.
We are excited to embark on this 3-year journey and we are looking forward to working together with an excellent consortium to identify connectivity enablers for CCAM and join our forces to build trust and guarantee safety in road automation.”
Coordinated by ICCS (Institute of Communication & Computer Systems), the PoDIUM consortium comprises 24 partners from 8 European countries. The project runs from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2025 and has a budget of €12.2M. The project kicked off in Athens on 20 and 21 October 2022.
