With a uniform operating system for their traffic control centers, the motorway company wants to ensure fewer traffic jams and more traffic safety.
“The focus is on the needs of the people,” said Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) at the presentation of the new AutobahnOS operating system in Frankfurt. “They should reach their destination safely and comfortably, reliably and in an environmentally friendly manner.” According to this, AutobahnOS should be in operation in the company’s nine traffic control centers by the end of 2026.
“In 2026 we will have all the information from all traffic centers on the Autobahn, which are currently only regionally oriented, in one system,” explained Anne Rethmann, Finance Director of Autobahn GmbH. “That means we can use this data to control traffic.” This should make better use of the available space. “When events happen on the road, we can indicate appropriate detours early on. We can also organize events that can be planned, such as roadworks, so that we always have an eye on the flow of traffic.”
Development of rules to help control traffic
For this purpose, artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in subsystems. It helps to evaluate the traffic and sensor data. “From this we can develop rules that help us to control the traffic,” said Rethmann.
Federal Transport Minister Wissing also emphasized the importance of the motorway for the increasing transport of goods. The problem of traffic congestion cannot be solved by shifting freight transport to rail. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t fit what our society intends to do,” said Wissing. “People order on the Internet and not everything can be brought home by train,” said the FDP politician. Accordingly, freight transport by rail will grow by 33 percent by 2051, but by 54 percent by road. The existing infrastructure must be optimized for this – including with AutobahnOS.
