Naples’ ring road has become the first road in Italy to receive official Smart Road certification from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
The certification for Tangenziale di Napoli recognises the use of advanced technology for infrastructure monitoring, intelligent traffic management and real-time communication between the road and connected vehicles, including self-driving ones.
The project was developed by Tangenziale di Napoli, part of the Autostrade per l’Italia Group, with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the National Centre for Sustainable Mobility, MOST, and Movyon, the technology hub of the Aspi Group.
The stated aim was to make the road able to collect, process and share real-time information to improve the safety, efficiency and sustainability of traffic flows.
To qualify as a Smart Road, Tangenziale di Napoli had to meet three requirements set out in regulations.
The first was intelligent traffic monitoring. Sensors have been installed across the network to collect continuous traffic data, which is processed by advanced traffic models to support control centre operators in managing traffic.
The second was real-time weather and hydrogeological monitoring. Weather stations and sensors collect data on rainfall, road surface conditions, water levels and the surrounding area, with the system set up to identify risks including floods and landslides and alert operators when safety thresholds are exceeded.
The third was communication between infrastructure and vehicles. Using Vehicle-to-Infrastructure, or V2I, technology, connected vehicles can receive information on accidents, roadworks, obstacles, weather, road surface conditions and recommended speed. Vehicles also send data back to the infrastructure, giving operators a more immediate picture of traffic conditions.
Along the 22 kilometre ring road, 217 smart cameras, 15 traffic detection gantries, 8 weather stations and 40 communication antennas with ITS-G5 and Cellular V2X technology are being installed.
The data is fed into the Movyon C-ITS central platform, which combines information from the infrastructure with other external sources for continuous traffic monitoring.
According to the project description, the systems can detect vehicle position, speed and direction and provide drivers with updated information.
The project has also included testing of self-driving vehicles. On the stretch between Vomero and Fuorigrotta, a self-driving vehicle changed its speed in real time based on instructions received directly from the road infrastructure.
At present, 30 connected vehicles are operating on Tangenziale di Napoli and communicating constantly with the network. The system can already warn drivers about dangers including roadworks, broken-down vehicles, adverse weather events and other critical issues, and can also suggest the best speed to limit queues.
“The goal achieved today by the Autostrade per l’Italia Group is a very important result,” said Arrigo Giana, chief executive of Autostrade per l’Italia.
“One of the pillars of this process is technology. From this point of view, Giana concluded, thanks to the synergies developed within our Group we have shown that we can be a trailblazer and a testing ground for the mobility of the future.”
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