RampCast Phase II: Connected Vehicles Traffic Management Application on Indiana Highways
TL;DR
The AI framework was successfully shown to reorder and present messages based on real-time context, improving the clarity and usefulness of information provided to the driver, and support a hybrid C-V2X architecture as a robust model for future smart highway deployments.
Abstract
This project advances connected vehicle applications by developing and testing an enhanced RampCast system, a comprehensive traffic management system using C-V2X technology for Indiana highways. The system features a dual-mode architecture integrating both short-range (PC5) and long-range cellular (Uu) Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communication pathways, utilizing commercial-grade Cohda MK6 hardware and adhering to SAE J2735 standards to ensure interoperability. A key innovation is the integration of an AI-based prioritization framework, which leverages a large language model to enhance the contextual relevance of traffic messages. This AI system introduces two intelligent agents: one to dynamically estimate the appropriate display distance for an event based on its severity, and another to prioritize the order of messages based on urgency and potential driver impact. Field tests conducted on I-65 and I-70 in Indianapolis validated the system’s hybrid design. Results confirmed that the PC5 link provides very low latency (around 25 ms), ideal for time-critical alerts, while the Uu link ensures highly reliable coverage in complex environments, albeit with higher latency (around 45 ms). The AI framework was successfully shown to reorder and present messages based on real-time context, improving the clarity and usefulness of information provided to the driver. These findings support a hybrid C-V2X architecture as a robust model for future smart highway deployments.