Protection of Vulnerable Road Users by AI- and V2X-based infrastructure measures

Abstract:
Road safety is one of the key pillars for strengthening environmentally friendly forms of transportation. Vulnerable road users (VRU) in particular are worth protecting, as they are not surrounded by a protective body. Increasing automation and connectivity (Vehicle to everything communication – V2X) offer opportunities to increase the safety of VRU in road traffic. The particular challenge here is that VRU cannot participate directly in V2X due to a lack of the corresponding hardware/sensor technology. However, this offers the possibility of detecting VRU with vehicle or infrastructure based measures and allowing them to participate in connected driving via V2X. An increase in the safety of VRU has already been demonstrated in realized projects. There is also further potential for the future, e.g. through the direct integration of V2X in VRU and automated traffic control.