Panasonic has updated its Cirrus platform for managing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) ecosystems. The announcement was made at last week’s ITS America conference in Arizona.

Cirrus 2.0 is said to provide an expanded, seamlessly integrated approach, offering a cloud toolkit for US departments of transport (DoTs) and commercial fleet operators who seek V2X technologies to improve roadway mobility and provide information that can help save lives.

Select US state DoTs and fleet operators are using Cirrus to manage V2X operations across hundreds of infrastructure devices on highways and intersections that can support their essential vehicles including snowploughs, emergency response vehicles, transit buses and maintenance fleets.

“With the launch of Cirrus 2.0, Panasonic applies learnings drawn from over seven years of statewide V2X technology installations, deployment and platform engagements to bring technical and practical improvements directly to our entire user base,” said Rob Zimmer, director at Panasonic. “Our new platform features align with the US DoT and Federal Highway Administration primary V2X deployment goals, and customers know that Cirrus 2.0 can help them achieve the same goals on their roadways.”

Key features of Cirrus 2.0 include interoperability between capabilities of V2X systems and traditional transportation information. The management platform using intelligent data collection to enable artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) insights. A redesigned user interface (UX) incorporates requests and suggestions from the Cirrus user base to streamline the way V2X systems are accessed by fleet and roadway infrastructure operations staff.

Operating as a data broker between various connected systems and core Cirrus applications, it seamlessly manages the variations in data elements produced by connected systems such as different units of measurement and naming conventions, as well as variations in the contextual factors of IoT platforms operating in different domains, such as how traffic signal data might differ dramatically from utility work order systems.

By handling these domain specific data translations independently, Cirrus 2.0 allows different tools to talk to connected vehicles in a consistent way. It also uses automation to reduce the cognitive load of users and expand the range of source data available for connected vehicle safety and mobility.

Cirrus 2.0 simplifies the platform’s data architecture for scalability and implements patent-pending V2X data processing capabilities at ingestion points to eliminate data waste and noise, and improve redundancy. It implements on-demand load balancing across the platform to manage the variability of data ingestion from different IoT systems, each with its own data flow characteristics; for example, some data volumes follow traffic demand with morning and evening peak times while others are incident or weather dependent and can spike suddenly.

The Cirrus 2.0 platform offers a patent-pending technique for reducing duplication in raw data without giving up any detail from the data, allowing up to 50% reduction in post-ingestion pipeline volumes for some data sources, which can reduce costs and improve platform performance.

V2X deployments require flexible and customisable user interfaces to meet workflow needs, and the Cirrus 2.0 UX focuses on data ecosystem access. Distributed dashboard and reporting tools with mobile device support, combined with SQL-based research functionality, provide unrestricted access to the data and clear visual workflows. In addition, insights are designed to be integrated directly into existing applications. By providing easy to attach APIs, Cirrus 2.0 delivers insights, warnings and configuration options directly into the existing workflows. This reduces re-training of users, embeds V2X capabilities into existing incident response formulas, and brings collected V2X data to roadway operators seamlessly.

The platform also includes enhanced incident detection, with tools for leveraging connected vehicle data in different operating environments. It uses a data architecture with insights that can be shared across information systems. Additionally, its health monitoring capabilities have been refined and enhanced to improve system uptime and the efficacy of a deployment from a cost management perspective. User device recovery operations can be completed remotely and automatically by Cirrus 2.0 (na.panasonic.com/us/smart-mobility/cirrus), reducing the potential for costly field repairs.