en.Wedoany.com Reported - Italy's first smart road has received national certification, as the Tangenziale di Napoli (Naples Ring Road) was officially granted Smart Road status by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti, MIT). This major artery, managed by a company under the Gruppo Autostrade per l’Italia, complies with the requirements of Ministerial Decree No. 70/2018, marking the completion of its digital transformation and enabling real-time communication with connected vehicles and future autonomous vehicles.
The project was jointly carried out by the Tangenziale di Napoli, the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the National Center for Sustainable Mobility (Centro Nazionale per la Mobilità Sostenibile, MOST), and Movyon, the technological innovation center under the Gruppo Autostrade per l’Italia. Movyon developed the platform and digital solutions supporting the system. The project aims to transform this major urban artery into a laboratory for smart mobility, providing a pilot for a model that can be replicated across the national road network.
Arrigo Giana, CEO of Gruppo Autostrade per l’Italia, stated that this milestone proves the Group can become a pioneer and laboratory for future mobility through internal synergies. He emphasized that infrastructure must continuously evolve, leveraging technology to enhance safety levels.
According to Italian regulations, a smart road must possess three fundamental characteristics: real-time traffic monitoring, continuous monitoring of meteorological and hydrological conditions, and direct communication with vehicles through cooperative mobility systems. The Tangenziale di Napoli meets all requirements by deploying digital infrastructure along its route. Sensors along the road continuously collect traffic flow information, which is processed by advanced mobility management models, enabling the control center to shift from reactive to predictive and proactive traffic management. The environmental monitoring system detects meteorological data, road surface conditions, water levels, and terrain information, automatically triggering alerts when preset thresholds are exceeded.
The true innovation lies in the two-way communication between infrastructure and vehicles, known as Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) mode. Information collected by the road network can be directly transmitted to connected cars, providing alerts on recommended speeds, accidents, construction, adverse weather, and more; vehicles also send data to the infrastructure, offering a more accurate snapshot of traffic conditions than traditional systems. Along the 22-kilometer stretch of the Tangenziale di Napoli, 217 smart cameras, 15 detection gantries, 8 weather stations, and 40 antennas equipped with dual ITS-G5 and cellular V2X technology are being installed. These devices feed data to the C-ITS central platform developed by Movyon, which processes it in real-time to ensure continuous traffic control.
The system can detect the position, direction, and speed of vehicles, generating information flows that are returned to users in the form of alerts and operational suggestions. Currently, 30 connected vehicles are able to communicate directly with the infrastructure. On the section of the road network between Vomero and Fuorigrotta, Italy has achieved its first trial where autonomous vehicles adjust their speed in real-time based on instructions from the infrastructure.
The certification of the Tangenziale di Napoli marks Italy's entry into the era of smart road infrastructure. The combination of technology, sensors, data intelligence, and vehicle-infrastructure communication lays the foundation for the nationwide rollout of connected and cooperative mobility. This model will become a reference for Italy's mobility system in the future.
This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com
