ERTICO partner EFKON AG won a contract with the Austrian motorway operator ASFINAG and the Italian motorway operator Autostrada del Brennero to install Infrared components for vehicle-to-infrastructure communication on two test tracks at the very busy Brenner corridor between Germany and Italy.

The cooperation between ASFINAG, Autostrade del Brennero, and EFKON began during the European COOPERS IP (Cooperative Systems for Intelligent Road Safety). The focus of this FP6 project is on the development of innovative ITS applications on the road infrastructure with the long term goal of "Cooperative Traffic Management" between vehicle and infrastructure. The Brenner Corridor is one of four test and demonstration sites within COOPERS and the only site for short-range communication (up to 50m). Around 30 gantries will be equipped with Infrared communication components.

The installation of the test site will be completed in the second quarter of 2009, with test runs starting immediately afterwards. The partners involved and the COOPERS consortium expect interesting results from the tests, with additional relevance for other ITS projects.

Please visit the COOPERS website at http://www.coopers-ip.eu for the latest project news.