C-ITS communication: an insight on the current research activities in the European Union BOTTE MARILISA, PARIOTA LUIGI, D’ACIERNO LUCA, BIFULCO GENNARO NICOLA Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering University of Naples Federico II via Claudio 21, 80125 Naples ITALY marilisa.botte@unina.it Abstract: - Cooperative-Intelligent Transportation Systems aim at connecting vehicles, among them and/with road infrastructures, so as to increase traffic safety and efficiency. The paper focuses on the European framework for supporting the development of Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility, in order to provide an overview about the current status of testing and deployment activities in the field, in view of the milestone of 2019 which has been identified as the start time for the actual deployment of mature services. Therefore, firstly, the European strategy is described and communication (collectively known as vehicle-to-everything) services, as well as related technologies, are discussed. Then, funded research projects across the Union are recalled and, finally, a critical discussion on the resulting picture is provided. Key-Words: - C-ITS services, vehicular communication, V2X technologies, cooperative driving, EU C-ITS framework, European projects. 1 Introduction Cooperative-Intelligent Transportation Systems (C-ITS) represent the set of technological and functional elements allowing specific communication tasks identified as V2X (i.e. vehicle to everything) communication services. Specifically, the ‘X’ can identify another Vehicle (i.e. V2V communication) or the Infrastructure (i.e. V2I communication). The primary goal is the improvement of road safety, by helping the driver to take the right decision and adapt to traffic conditions avoiding potential harm. For example, vehicles connected among them and with infrastructure, by sharing their position and speed, could improve driver awareness of approaching potential dangers and strongly increase collision avoidance. This implies abating road fatalities and injury severity. Other potential benefits of the use of C-ITS include enhanced traffic efficiency and improved comfort driving. Indeed, by means of V2X technologies, it is possible to reduce congestion (by providing warnings for approaching traffic queues and suggesting alternative routes) and make driving tasks less reliant on human action. Finally, they can ensure environment-friendly driving through in- vehicle technologies (e.g. eco-driving), and smarter transportation management at the network level. Within this framework, both the vehicle and the infrastructure have to be smart elements and a reliable communication channel between them needs to be built. Therefore, on one side, it is worth analysing the main C-ITS services and, on the other, the communication technologies adopted for implementing them. Obviously, according to the features of each C-ITS service (e.g. safety-critical vs. no safety-critical), a suitable communication technology needs to be adopted. It is worth noting that communication and cooperation between vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure are crucial for the safe integration and operation of Automated Vehicles (AVs) in the future transport system. The paper aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the current status of C-ITS testing and deployment activities, with particular attention to the European Union (EU) case. The goal consists in identifying which services are already mature and, therefore, ready to be deployed, against those requiring additional research and experimental phases. Moreover, a critical analysis is provided about the possible reasons why some tasks are still needed to be developed and tested with respect to those already consolidated. The remainder of the paper is organised as follows: section 2 presents a wide description of the EU C-ITS strategy; section 3 and section 4 illustrate the investments EU is putting in action, respectively through the establishment of European consortia and the funding of research projects; finally, section 5 outlines the concluding remarks. Botte Marilisa, Pariota Luigi, D’Acierno Luca, Bifulco Gennaro Nicola International Journal of Transportation Systems http://www.iaras.org/iaras/journals/ijts ISSN: 2534-8876 52 Volume 3, 2018