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As cities have changed over recent years, the demand for micro mobility has grown dramatically. In particular, the number of electric bicycles and scooters for personal use and consumer fleets has increased on the roads. Despite the challenges these vehicles introduce, cities have encouraged their use as an opportunity to meet their mobility, equity and climate protection goals. With increased usage, changing travel patterns necessitate increased attention to road safety. Micro mobility users, who are relatively unprotected, are among the most vulnerable road users (VRUs).
Commsignia believes that Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) solutions can benefit these VRUs. V2X provides a secure communication channel and a direct connection between road users to share alerts and other information. This also brings awareness of traffic that can significantly improve safety.
Saving Lives on the Road
Micro mobility conveyances are special players in the V2X ecosystem due to unique movements and dynamics. Bicycles and scooters, for example, can safely lean into corners and comfortably ride next to a car in the same lane. However, some situations remain dangerous for them. For example, a car door that unexpectedly opens can cause serious injury to cyclists. Therefore, Cellular-Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) applications that rely on vehicle characteristics need to be fine-tuned for micro mobility.
Understanding these challenges of micro mobility, Commsignia collaborated with Spoke using Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.'s Snapdragon 2150 Platform and C-V2X 9150 software to build a C-V2X solution for bicycle and scooter riders to travel confidently and safely. The C-V2X solution identifies the most common crash situations, including blind-spot warning, lane change assist, and left turn assist, and offers several road safety applications to help drivers detect VRUs. Cyclists are also alerted if a vehicle approaches from behind or is about to cross its path at an intersection or around a blind corner.
Hardware for Bikes
The hardware device for bicycles, developed by Spoke, comes with Commsignia’s proven C-V2X software package and applications for a complete road safety solution. The device can be mounted on a bike or placed in portable pouches like bento boxes, typically carried by cyclists. The C-V2X warnings can be shown on an accompanying smartphone app or dedicated console for the bike (also provided by Spoke). The C-V2X device and the console communicate over Bluetooth Low Energy.
The device was built on the Snapdragon 2150 Platform and Qualcomm C-V2X 9150, providing a high-performance, low-power solution to meet the needs of C-V2X applications. The Snapdragon 2150 with high-performance compute includes an ECDSA block to aid intelligent traffic system (ITS) message verification. The Qualcomm C-V2X 9150 provides a PC5-based interface, that is, direct V2X connectivity, and an integrated global navigation satellite system (GNSS). The Snapdragon Telematics SDK provides robust APIs that make it easy to develop V2X solutions based on our chipset. The development matured from concept to a working, field-tested prototype within nine months.
C-V2X Management for Cities
C-V2X connections offer benefits for cities as well. Road operators can use the Commsignia Central software to oversee micro mobility traffic and provide cities with a variety of services. By connecting Commsignia's C-V2X roadside units (RSU) to the traffic light infrastructure, road operators can set up schemes to prioritize scooters and cycles at intersections.
Spoke’s onboard unit achieves a range of over 200 meters1 with C-V2X communication, with just half-inch surface mount device (SMD) antennas on the PCB. This is impressive and should be more than enough for vulnerable road users to be recognized by a C-V2X-supported vehicle. The Commsignia C-V2X stack runs on the Snapdragon 2150 with excellent performance, ensuring a quick boot process and smooth user experience.
Commsignia expects that C-V2X products will become an essential tool for road safety, and this game-changing technology will be used in a growing number of vehicle types.
Additional Reading
Interested in learning more? Check out the following resources:
And since the Snapdragon 2150 is a member of the Snapdragon family of mobile platforms, be sure to check out the various Snapdragon tools and SDKs available on QDN, such as the Snapdragon Power Optimization SDK, Snapdragon Profiler, Qualcomm Hexagon DSP SDK, and more.
- Less range than with a fully integrated onboard unit
Snapdragon, Qualcomm Hexagon, and Qualcomm C-V2X 9150 are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.
