The Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) in Arizona has selected connected vehicle technology specialist Cohda Wireless to support delivery of the Connected Vehicle Acceleration Zone (CVAZ), a USDOT-backed deployment designed to accelerate interoperable vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology across key corridors in the county.
CVAZ forms part of the Federal Highway Administration’s Saving Lives with Connectivity: Accelerating V2X Deployment program, which is supporting national models for connected vehicle deployment in Arizona, Texas and Utah.
The Maricopa County project will rely primarily on 5.9 GHz communications and is expected to connect up to 750 physical and virtual roadside units with approximately 400 onboard units across transit, emergency response and freight fleets.
The deployment will support Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption, Vulnerable Road User alerts, Transit Signal Priority and Freight Signal Priority in Phoenix, Tolleson, Avondale and unincorporated Maricopa County, as well as along ADOT’s US 60.
Together, these applications are intended to help emergency vehicles move more efficiently through intersections, improve transit reliability, reduce freight delays and provide earlier warnings around pedestrians and cyclists. Following its selection as a vendor, Cohda is contributing technical expertise in testing and deployment planning to support delivery of the CVAZ application zones.
Under the project, Cohda will supply MK6 Road-Side Unit (RSU) kits and MK6 On-Board Unit (OBU) kits across the CVAZ application zones. The program is designed as a multi-vendor deployment. Cohda’s RSU and OBU platforms are positioned to integrate with the county’s selected roadside processing environment, helping reduce integration risk and support faster deployment.
Cohda CEO Dr. Paul Gray commented:
“Maricopa County is one of the largest counties in the United States, and CVAZ reflects the scale and seriousness of the country’s commitment to connected transport,” Dr Gray said. “We are proud that Cohda’s technology will help support a deployment designed to demonstrate practical, interoperable V2X applications across emergency response, transit, freight and vulnerable road-user safety.”
(Picture: Cohda Wireless)
