Dynamic Road Sign Casting

Project Information

RoadCast

Grant agreement ID: 662899

DOI

10.3030/662899

Project closed

EC signature date 22 January 2015

Start date 1 February 2015

End date 31 July 2015

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

AITEK BV
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RoadCast (Dynamic Road Sign Casting)

Reporting period: 2015-02-01 to 2015-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The RoadCast project goal is to build an innovative dynamic road sign that exploits available and affordable high technologies to be competitive with the static and variable road signs widely used in expressways and motorways. Available and affordable are the two fundamental keywords of the feasibility project. Available means that the project has considered state of the art solutions to solve problems like high conspicuity, retro reflectivity, intelligent control, wireless interconnection and low power consumptions. Affordable means that the project has looked at cost-effective ways to build the required features and to minimize the total cost of ownership to constitute a valid alternative to the actual road sign infrastructure.

The project has started with the forecast that traffic, vehicles and motorways are going to change significantly over the next few years. Information technology has been present in automotive industry since long time with the advent of cars’ computers, in-vehicle navigators, smart devices. But most of the road infrastructure remains basically asphalt and static road signs. Variable message signs are the way to provide dynamic information but they come at a high cost of management and cannot be deployed in a capillary way. The future will see autonomous vehicles and people share the same infrastructures. Still traffic signs will be the principal means to convey information to drivers either humans or automatic (self-driving) systems. Safety problems can arise when the infrastructure fail to communicate proper information. There is a need to adequate motorways to provide more accurate and uniformly distributed information.

The challenge of the RoadCast Project is therefore to imagine how the motorway industry will evolve to provide solutions that allow Road Authorities to guarantee safety and proper driving information for the next coming era of intelligent highways.
In order to verify the objectives stated for the project, the feasibility study has verified numerous conditions from technical to business passing through regulations and standards. Regulatory and initial phase of testing and roll-out are considered critical as they will pose a severe condition on the feasibility as they impact on actual traffic and drivers. These conditions cannot be verified in a feasibility project and therefore the feasibility has aimed to a second phase of project possibly involving end users (i.e. road authorities).

All these aspects have been considered ahead of any technical or economical constraint in order to conceive a product that can have the best probability of adoption among traffic management authorities. Which is feasibility at its core.

The feasibility project have been addressed from the point of view of road traffic management in order to be discussed with road traffic experts and responsible for motorways and expressways. The result of this approach have produced:
• A detailed System Requirement and Specification Technical Design Document
• A Preliminary Business Plan for investors and partners of the initiative
• A working prototype which will serve as a proof of concept system for demonstration and testing
• A concept for a follow-up to engage technological partners, end users and stakeholders to start the production and marketing/sales phase

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The feasibility study have been conducted following a methodology that can be summarized as follows:
- Preliminary check of project objectives
- Interviews with technological partners, stakeholders, end-users
- Reference Design Technical Document for Technical feasibility
- Proof of concept prototypes based on Reference Design
- Presentation of Feasibility results with partners and potential end users
- Market Analysis for local scenario
- Market Analysis for global scenario
- Preliminary Business Plan
- Concept Note for a Phase-2 project to lead to industrialization and roll-out

Preliminary Check. The RoadCast feasibility general concept and objectives were presented to potential partners and end-users during conversation and e-mail exchanges. The preliminary checks were positive with some reserve from some road authorities. The Consortium spent a great effort in the technical feasibility which should be considered a fundamental part and put solid basis on the business plan.

Interviews. Informal and formal meeting Interviews were conducted with potential end users and partners of the project. This was done during all the phase of the project.

Reference Design. The project has produced an extended Reference Design Feasibility Document (80+ pages) grouping system requirements emerged from the interviews and contacts and knowledge of the problem.

The Reference Design is also the basis for the Preliminary business plan as it constitute a reference for calculating the industrial and production costs of the system and to imagine a reference price to the market. But it also constitutes the basis for the next phase of project were the industrialization and roll-out will take actually place.

Prototype and Proof of concept. A working prototype have been realized based on the assumptions of the Technical Feasibility and Reference Design. A complete working system has been realized that has been used to demonstrate the feasibility to partners and end-users.

Visit to international exhibition and dissemination of concept. The concept and idea has been discussed with many professionals and technological partners during international fairs and conventions. In particular during the ISE exhibition in January at RAI Convention Center in Amsterdam and Intertraffic where LED and electronic display manufacturer were contacted to verify interest and at Intertraffic Istanbul 2015 in May contacting other technological partners and interested stakeholders and end users.

Discussion with potential users. The reference design document has been disclosed to potential partners and end-users of the project to verify the assumptions of the RoadCast System. During the discussion several amendments from partners were suggested and taken into account in the reference design and for further business and technical developments.

Market Analysis for local scenario. Local market analysis were conducted mainly on the results of interviews with road operators and stakeholders. The analysis shows an interesting niche of market with growing figures for the adoption of intelligent variable message road signs.

Market Analysis for global scenario. An extrapolation to a global scenario has been conducted based mainly on the in literature (Internet and specialized reviews). The results show a more than promising market which can be considered very appealing to the initiative. The conclusion of the analysis is that to approach global market the strategy to consolidate in local markets.

Preliminary Business Plan. A Phase-1 business plan was produced comprising the market analysis for both local and global scenarios. The Business plans outlines the cost of initial starting phase and roll-out with forecast for CAGR grow on market. A version for investors and stakeholder has been produced.

Concept Note. A concept note for a Phase-2 project detailing the objectives and the work plan was produced to verify the actual interests of companies to undertake an industrialization and roll-out phase.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The feasibility phase has confirmed the maturity level of some key technologies and the business potential.
The RoadCast Sign is conceived as a System and not as a single component as it will require to being part of a more complex infrastructure that comprise a control management system an intelligent controller and, of course, a network to interconnect the parts.
The overall conclusion of the technical feasibility is that an optimal way to realize the RoadCast System will be with a consortium project with a triple-helix of partners that will involve:
End Users / Customers / Stakeholders: belonging to this category are Traffic Authorities and Road Maintainers but also builders and technological companies closely related (participated companies and strategic advisors).
Technological Partners: belonging to this category are manufacturers in the Signage / ICT sectors but also system integrators, installers and maintainers of complex technological infrastructures.
Institutions: National Authorities (Ministry of Transportation, Infrastructures) or Associations of Road Authorities and super-national institution like the European Union.
The Consortium will look very carefully at the next phase of project development being fully aware that in order to be successful the initiative must involve key operators and technological partners. This will be the next phase of project beyond feasibility

Working Prototype - Proof of concept / back side

Working Prototype - Proof of concept / front side

Working Prototype - Pole