Not only do car drivers waste an unnecessary amount of time in congestion, they often get delayed at red lights. One solution designed to reduce frustrating waiting times will be on show at CeBIT 2011, namely a driving simulator from the German Aerospace Center (DLR). This HMI (human-machine interface) lab centres on car2infrastructure communication. Here the traffic lights communicate with the car, providing the driver with speed recommendations via an assistance system so that he can pass through as many green lights as possible as he travels towards his destination. This system is by no means a utopian vision: “In cooperation with the State of Lower Saxony, the City of Braunschweig and other partners, our ‘Intelligent Mobility Application Platform‘ (AIM) will enable us to develop the region into an open platform for cutting-edge mobility applications,” reports Dr. Frank Köster from the DLR. The first sensors and communication stations will be installed locally during coming months. Anyone who wants to try out the technology now, however, can take a seat in the simulator at CeBIT.

For most car drivers, a navigation system is now a standard item of equipment in the cockpit. However, as can be seen in Hall 7, the Fraunhofer Institute of Computer Architecture and Software Technology (FIRST) will reveal that the technology has not yet reached its limits. TPEG (Transport Protocol Experts Group) is the name of the next-generation traffic information service that is set to replace the TMC standard, which is over 20 years old. TPEG can consolidate data from many different sources and communicate it almost in real time across all digital channels. The service will be available to watch in action for the very first time at CeBIT 2011 – on an Android smartphone. Another company, Bayerische Medien Technik (bmt), which specializes in digital radio projects, will also highlight TPEG at the show, where it will demonstrate the new service’s capabilities in the area of digital transmission media.