Location technology company TomTom has collaborated with the European Commission-backed Data for Road Safety initiative to develop a ready-to-deploy system to warn drivers about dangerous driving conditions.

The Dutch firm says by using connected car technologies, vehicles can detect and warn occupants about dangerous road conditions – for example, when roads are slippery and that these warnings can also be beneficial to other drivers, automated-driving vehicles and road operators.

Vehicle makers, Tier 1 suppliers, road traffic authorities, EU member states and location technology providers, partnered on a proof of concept between June and October and have now signed a multi-party agreement committing to the long-term, reciprocal exchange of data in order to make roads safer.

In the proof of concept, vehicle-generated data, along with infrastructure information, was shared using a decentralised data collaboration architecture. TomTom took these datasets, processed them, and delivered them back to other vehicles via its live Traffic services, and to road authorities.

Ralf-Peter Schäfer, VP Traffic and Travel, TomTom, said, “Accidents and other safety-critical events happen fast, making it a real challenge to warn drivers in time. With this safety-focused collaboration, we’ve been able to prove that a reciprocal exchange of data can power services that help solve this issue – delivering comprehensive hazard notifications to drivers, faster than ever before.”

TomTom says it will now integrate this data in its consumer and in-vehicle applications to make sure it benefits as many drivers possible. In addition, the available data will be one of the sources used to power the newly developed Hazard Warnings service which will be in the first road vehicles in 2021.

(Picture – TomTom)