NTU launches S$22m test bed for smart cars, traffic systems

NANYANG Technological University (NTU) and NXP Semiconductors on Friday launched a four-year, S$22 million test bed for smart cars and traffic systems on the NTU Campus.

The NTU-NXP Smart Mobility Test Bed will use V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) technology to test and develop new technologies for vehicles to communicate with one another and with designated roadside infrastructure.

V2X allows cars to "talk'' to other cars and to infrastructure such as roadside cameras, thus giving a vehicle an awareness of its surroundings beyond what its own onboard sensors and radar can detect. This will increase road safety for all users, for example, at road junctions.

By the end of 2016, the test bed will include 100 vehicles and 50 roadside units to research V2X technologies.

"This is a perfect combination to introduce a test bed for technology that is ultimately about saving lives and making traffic flow more efficient,'' said Drue Freeman, NXP's senior vice-president for global automotive sales and marketing.