Network monitoring carried out thanks to complex algorithms and cutting-edge technologies: from controlling dangerous overtaking by heavy vehicles and wrong-way vehicles to dynamic monitoring of compliance with permitted mass limits.
Rome, 6 December 2024 – Autostrade per l’Italia and the Italian State Police are focusing on safety and strategies aimed at guaranteeing freedom of movement and protection enhanced by advanced and integrated technologies. ASPI is implementing its strategy, set out in the company’s Transformation Plan aimed at producing economic and social value by investing in state-of-the-art infrastructure.
Presented today by the Director of the Central Directorate of Specialities of the State Police, Prefect Renato Cortese, and by the Chief Executive Officer of Autostrade per l’Italia, Roberto Tomasi, the Navigard platform developed by Movyon, the Group’s hub for technological innovation, offers solutions dedicated to road safety that collect, process and make available data for advanced monitoring of road behaviour and events, in compliance with privacy regulations. Thanks to a complex system of algorithms, the platform manages and integrates data from the most advanced road safety technologies: from the control of overtaking by heavy vehicles to the monitoring of compliance with the permitted mass limits, from the assessment of transit speed to the control of wrong-way vehicles. This innovation is the result of Autostrade per l’Italia‘s commitment to contribute to the State Police‘s work to ensure road safety and to discourage improper behaviour, enabling targeted and increasingly timely interventions. The aim is to develop and combine technological solutions and to raise user awareness in order to create an integrated management of the many variables that interact in the context of motorway traffic.
The main technological systems of the platform consist of radar, cameras, peripheral servers and a central system: this combination of technologies can detect the average speed of the vehicle, reporting it, for appropriate checks, in the event of speeding, in the event of driving on non-permitted lanes and in the event of verification of compliance with the heavy vehicles’ obligation to drive on the right lane. This is an effective tool for contrasting accidents caused by a dangerous driving style with little regard for traffic safety. Another key component of the platform is dedicated to tunnel safety: using state-of-the-art sensors and cameras combined with an artificial intelligence algorithm, it will be possible to detect the presence of wrong-way vehicles and other types of obstacles in tunnels longer than 500 metres by 2026. Furthermore, through the use of digital optical sensors and cameras, it will be possible to dynamically verify compliance with the permitted mass of vehicles in transit, reporting any discrepancies to the Traffic Police for verification. In addition, it will be possible to monitor the route of vehicles carrying dangerous goods, signalling their transit along stretches of motorway that are prohibited to them. Coverage of the entire network will be achieved by 2027. Finally, technology using DSRC antennas, peripheral servers and a central system to systematically record tachograph data on transiting trucks will indicate any irregularities. Measures that will give additional protection to compliant workers. Another innovation in the new platform is the tool to assist the State Police in detecting repeated toll evasion.
The Director of the Central Directorate of Specialities Prefect Renato Cortese points out that: ‘The Navigard technological platform is a project that proves the virtuous synergy between Autostrade per l’Italia and the State Police and how it has helped to take a further step towards a goal that unites all those involved in the protection of mobility: guaranteeing road safety through technological innovation’.
‘The safety of workers and travellers is a core part of our Group’s strategy, a pivotal element of every single action in ASPI’s industrial plan’, says Autostrade per l’Italia’s Chief Executive Officer Roberto Tomasi. ‘Technology is a valuable asset for us, and Navigard is a unique innovation in the field of road safety, integrating and systemising the cutting-edge solutions developed by our Group. We are proud to provide these tools to the State Police, reinforcing a decade-long collaboration that daily translates into concrete actions to support travellers. We will continue our commitment towards an increasingly safe and sustainable future of mobility’.
For many years, the State Police and the ASPI Group have been promoting initiatives aimed at road education and raising motorists’ awareness to tackle the phenomenon of road accidents, involving young people and adults with the aim of transforming the vision of road safety from obligation to conscious choice. These initiatives are on top of others already implemented in cooperation with the State Police, including the provision of 153 routes (1,600 km) covered by the SICVE system (46 new routes 2024-25); more than 3,500 inspections on heavy vehicles (2021-22 period); 96.4% coverage index 2023 by Traffic Police patrols, 4 Safety Points in Service Areas and communication campaigns on Safety.
With the Mercury Programme and Smart Sustainable Mobility, Autostrade per l’Italia group is working to build a large integrated and coordinated hub for technological innovation to ensure safer infrastructures and play a key role in the revolution that decarbonisation, digitisation and new transport services are bringing to all mobility systems.