With the Urban C-ITS Contest, the C-ITS implementations of European cities and regions with the respective characterisation of their systems and architectures were presented and honoured in Porto (Portugal) in autumn 2023. 21 cities from ten member states submitted their applications – proof of the growing interest of European municipalities in the introduction of C-ITS. The jury honoured eleven European cities. Salzburg received the award as a forerunner in the integration of city and surrounding area. Karl Rehrl from Salzburg Research accepted the award in Porto on behalf of the province of Salzburg.

The award ceremony was a significant milestone for urban and regional development and intelligent transport, as it recognised the efforts of the cities in implementing a remarkable level of development. The representatives of the winning cities and regions also had the opportunity to present their C-ITS visions and thus contribute to the further progress of EU-wide urban C-ITS.

C-ITS: Improving road safety with cooperative transport services

C-ITS stands for co-operative intelligent transport systems. These systems make a significant contribution to making the entire transport system safer, more efficient and more sustainable. The infrastructure is networked with the vehicles and safety-critical standardised messages are exchanged precisely and reliably between the infrastructure and vehicles. In addition to a wide range of possible applications on motorways, C-ITS services also transmit information about traffic disruptions or hazardous situations in real time to affected road users in rural and urban areas, for example. Emergency vehicles can warn other road users or navigate more efficiently and safely through the city by prioritising traffic lights.

C-ROADS Austria research project

Since 2016, the European C-Roads platform has been coordinating the harmonised implementation throughout Europe. Salzburg Research is coordinating the Salzburg C-ITS pilot operation on behalf of the province of Salzburg. The main objective of the Salzburg C-ITS pilot project is to transmit traffic information, such as traffic incidents, strategic routes, traffic light conditions and parking information to C-ITS-enabled vehicles. In addition, the prioritisation of public transport and emergency vehicles at traffic lights and the communication of emergency vehicles with other road users is being tested. A special feature of the Salzburg C-ITS pilot project is that the C-ITS functionality is used as an independent system that is connected to the existing traffic management centre and ITS via standardised protocols. Salzburg Research supports the procurement of the road and vehicle infrastructure, develops and operates the C-ITS centre for the province of Salzburg and tests and evaluates the use cases.

The C-Roads Austria projects are funded by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme of the European Commission.

More information:

• Press release (in German): Mit C-ITS-Technologie mehr Sicherheit für Einsatzfahrzeuge

Picture: Karl Rehrl, Salzburg Research und Verkehrslandesrat Stefan Schnöll. © Rotes Kreuz Salzburg