Milan, Italie - 26 juil. 2010: Aujourd’hui, le VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge (VIAC) est lancé depuis Parme, en Italie : une épopée de 13 000 km jusqu’à Shanghai avec des véhicules télécommandés fonctionnant à l'énergie solaire. Ce projet ne présente pas seulement les avantages du transport vert. Les véhicules automatisés utiliseront également les solutions IBM Human Centric afin de recueillir les niveaux de taux de CO2 présents dans les régions traversées.

Ces données seront utilisées pour évaluer l'impact sanitaire et environnemental local des émissions de CO2. Le projet VIAC traverse l'Italie, la Slovénie, la Croatie, la Serbie, la Hongrie, l'Ukraine, la Russie, le Kazakhstan, avant d'arriver symboliquement le 10/10/10 à l'Exposition Mondiale 2010 à Shanghai, en Chine.

Pendant le trajet, les solutions IBM Human Centric illustreront le potentiel de collecte de données des Smartphones. Les véhicules du projet VIAC seront équipés avec des Smartphones spécialement conçus pour surveiller les niveaux de CO2 et transmettront en temps réel pendant tout le voyage des flux de données sur le web via Twitter, @ greenhaviour.

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IBM Provides Smartphone Data Services for Solar-Powered Robot Car Journey from Italy to China

Smartphones to Collect and 'Tweet' CO2 Levels as part of Environmental Research Project

Milan, Italy, July 26th 2010 – Today in Italy, the VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge (VIAC) set out from Parma in Italy to make an epic 13,000km journey to Shanghai using unmanned, solar energy powered vehicles.  The project will not only showcase the benefits of green transport, but the automated vehicles will also use IBM Human Centric solutions to collect CO2 pollutants in regions through which the vehicles will pass.

This data will be used to assess the health and environmental impact of CO2 in these locations. The VIAC project is taking a route that passes through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan before arriving symbolically on 10.10.10 at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.

During the course of this drive, IBM Human Centric Solutions will illustrate the data collecting potential of Smartphones. VIAC vehicles will be installed with specially-designed Smartphones that monitor CO2 levels, providing a live stream of data to the web via twitter, @greenhaviourthroughout the journey.

“Visualising the data will enable us to identify quickly how pollution levels vary across continents. We will  use IBM analytical tools to discover trends such as a correlation between certain illnesses and the quality of the air," said Ed Jellard, consultant from IBM Hursley Development Lab.

“The strategy is to connect devices to the Internet and apply intelligence and services on top of that. This way we empower million of citizens to communicate information through the devices they already own, helping decision makers to react in a quicker and smarter way,” said Nicola Palmarini, IBM Human Centric Solutions Centre. "We can put computational power into objects that include cars, appliances, roadways, power grids, clothes or in natural systems, such as agriculture and waterways. The initiative will demonstrate the value we can derive from the network of sensors embedded in devices, such as smart phones which are already in place.”

The technology used in this initiative is developed by IBM with the hardware support of SenSaris for the CO2 Bluetooth sensors. It is based on IBM Message Broker, WebSphere Application Server software and Tivoli Storage Manager and runs on the Android 2.1 mobile platform.

The project runs from July 20, 2010 to 20 October 20, 2010. Once the pilot is completed, IBM will use the project results to evaluate the solution for further applications.

For more information about IBM, www.ibm.com

For more information on the initiative:

www.twitter.com/greenhaviour 
www.greenhaviour.org
http://www.vislab.it 
http://www.IntercontinentalChallenge.eu 

For visuals:

http://viac.vislab.it/?page_id=8