Telstra, an Australia telecommunications company, in partnership with the Cohda Wireless, a manufacturer of wireless devices, have successfully tested Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technology over Telstra’s 4G network in South Australia.

The trial has provided a platform for the development of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology.

This technology will feature vehicles talking to road infrastructure such as traffic lights, as well as vehicles talking to other vehicles, and vehicles talking to other road users such as cyclists and pedestrians.

"The technology would further improve the safety of road users, as well as reduce human error as vehicles communicate with each other and react to their surroundings."

Telstra Technology director Andrew Scott said: “While there has been a lot of focus around future transport technology, there has not been much work done to date in Australia on supporting intelligent transport systems via existing 4G mobile networks.

“The trial we just completed in South Australia confirms that 4G can support V2I applications.

"These applications included alerting a driver to roadwork’s ahead, giving green light priority to high-priority vehicles, and testing optimal green light timing where the vehicle is informed of the optimal speed to approach a traffic light so that that they get a green light when they arrive, therefore allowing a more continuous flow of traffic.

“However this is only the first phase of our project with additional trial phases lined up for testing Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Vulnerable (bicycles and pedestrians).

“We are particularly excited about the upcoming Vehicle-to-Vulnerable testing as we will be able to showcase the Australian-first sending of standardised intelligent transport systems messages over the 4G network to enable interaction of vehicles with smartphone-equipped bicycles.”

Development of V2X technologies will help in creation of intelligent transport systems, which will enable better and efficient use of road infrastructure and better traffic management.

The technology would further improve the safety of road users, as well as reduce human error as vehicles communicate with each other and react to their surroundings.

Both companies believe that their 4G and future 5G networks can play a major role in supporting the intelligent transport systems and V2X applications.