Econolite Group has entered into talks with Savari with the aim of forming a partnership to speed up the deployment of connected and automated vehicle technologies and solutions, with a focus on vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) safety applications.

The two firms will continue to develop earlier connected vehicle collaborations and cooperate in the sales, marketing, and manufacturing of Savari’s StreetWAVE Road-Side-Units (RSUs) and Econolite’s Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) solutions.

These solutions leverage Savari’s latest V2I safety applications such as Curve Speed Warning (CSW), Work Zone Warning (WZW) and In-Vehicle Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT).

"With the rapid development of connected, and automated vehicle and Smart City initiatives, the importance of V2I capabilities will continue to grow."

As per the USDOT figures, 35,092 people died on US roadways in 2015.

It is estimated that 94% of all crashes can be linked to a human choice or error.

V2I safety applications can help reduce the number of accidents and fatalities by offering important information about the roadway environment to drivers and automated driver systems.

Further, V2I communications can help unclog busy roadways by intelligently and efficiently routing traffic through connected cities and highways.

Econolite Group chief technology officer Gary Duncan said:  “We are living in transformative times in the ITS industry.

“With the rapid development of connected, and automated vehicle and Smart City initiatives, the importance of V2I capabilities will continue to grow.

"Through the combined expertise and technologies of Econolite Group and Savari, we can quickly help cities and transportation agencies successfully navigate and deploy the V2I systems that will help improve safety and enhance transportation efficiencies on our nation’s highways.”

Savari CEO Ravi Puvvala said: “We are excited about taking our relationship with Econolite Group to the next level.

“Our previous successful collaboration on connected vehicle projects provided great insight into our collective capabilities.

"V2X safety communication technology, which includes V2V, V2I and V2P hardware and applications, forms the foundation of every smart city’s automated urban transportation system.”

Econolite Group and Savari have teamed up on a number of connected vehicle research projects and proof of concept demonstrations.

This cooperation most recently occurred during the Multi-Modal Intelligent Traffic Signal System (MMITSS) project which takes advantage of connected vehicles to optimise intersection operation and offer improved response to priority requests for emergency, transit, and freight vehicles.

MMITSS leveraged ITS systems from Econolite and V2X communication solutions from Savari along with advanced control and priority concepts developed by the University of Arizona.