Panasonic Corporation of North America, Colorado Department of Transportation, Ford Motor Company and Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated unveiled the first real-world application of C-V2X technology connecting the vehicle, the roadways and a regional traffic management center yesterday in Denver, demonstrating a new level of data-driven situational awareness that will achieve a dramatic improvement of safety on the road.

V2X technology represents a paradigm shift for transportation agencies by listening and receiving contextual data about traffic and roadway conditions from connected vehicles and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. The real-time actions and events consumed by the roadside sensors are transferred to the cloud-based Panasonic data platform, which can deliver geo-located, customized, just-in-time messages directly into vehicles.

Panasonic's connected vehicle ecosystem collects travel data from cars and other sources and communicates that information to vehicles and external systems. The system comes out of a collaboration between Panasonic and the Colorado Department of transportation to create one of the first production-grade, U.S. connected vehicle system in which real-time data would be shared across vehicles, infrastructure and people with a goal to improve safety, lower fuel consumption and reduce congestion.

It is a part of the smart cities initiative called SmartCOS from the city of Colorado Springs and Colorado Springs Utilities. The main objective of SmartCOS is to use technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) to address challenges facing Colorado Springs and to improve the quality of life of its citizens.  The results will shape a Panasonic-led SmartCOS implementation strategy.