Naples' Ring Road Becomes Italy's First Smart Road

Naples' Tangenziale di Napoli has achieved a significant milestone by becoming Italy's first road infrastructure to receive official Smart Road certification from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. This recognition highlights the integration of advanced technologies for infrastructure monitoring, intelligent traffic management, and real-time communication with connected and autonomous vehicles.

The transformation project involved collaboration between Tangenziale di Napoli, the Ministry, the National Centre for Sustainable Mobility (MOST), and Movyon. The goal was to create an environment capable of collecting and sharing real-time information to boost traffic safety, efficiency, and sustainability, establishing Naples as a national model for innovation.

To earn its certification, the road meets three core requirements. It features intelligent traffic monitoring with sensors and advanced models to proactively manage congestion. Environmental conditions are monitored in real-time through weather stations and sensors, alerting operators to potential risks like floods or landslides.

The most groundbreaking aspect is the vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. Connected vehicles receive real-time data on accidents, roadworks, and weather, while also transmitting their own data to enhance traffic visibility. This allows for proactive rather than reactive traffic management.

Over 22 kilometers of the road are equipped with 217 smart cameras, 15 detection gantries, 8 weather stations, and 40 communication antennas. Data is processed on Movyon's C-ITS platform, providing continuous monitoring. A key test involved a self-driving vehicle adjusting its speed based on infrastructure-provided instructions between Vomero and Fuorigrotta.