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NXP Semiconductors N.V. has joined the U.S. Department of Transportationโ€™s Smart City Challenge as a provider of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) technology. With this partnership, NXP, together with its partner Cohda Wireless, will provide the contestโ€™s winning community with wireless technology that allows cars to securely exchange data, such as hazard warnings, over distances of more than a mile to prevent accidents and improve traffic flow.

The winning city will receive intelligent traffic management technology from NXP, enabling real-time vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication

The Smart City Challenge is a nationwide competition set to award the winning U.S. city a prize of $50 million through the Department of Transportation and its partners, for that cityโ€™s ideas to develop the connected city of the future and address the challenges that growing populations present to transportation infrastructure. As part of NXPโ€™s partnership with the Department of Transportation, the winning city will also receive advanced NXP technologies, including V2X systems engineered to dramatically enhance the future of transportation.

โ€œOur partnership with NXP will help push the boundaries of what is possible in cities across America,โ€ said U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. โ€œV2X technology holds the potential to deliver truly profound benefits for the Smart City Challenge winner, its transportation systems, and most importantly, for its citizens.โ€

Schermafbeelding 2016-03-13 om 21.31.02Marking a key milestone of the competition, NXP CEO and President Rick Clemmer tomorrow has outlined his companyโ€™s partnership with the Department of Transportation last Saturday, prior to introducing Secretary Foxx at a SXSW Interactive ceremony in Austin, Texas, where the contestsโ€™ top seven finalist cities were disclosed. 78 cities joined the race last year, the seven finalists are:

  • Austin, Texas
  • Columbus, Ohio
  • Denver, Colorado
  • Kansas City, Missouri
  • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Francisco, California

โ€œThe Smart City Challenge is a bold and visionary program that shortens the path towards the development of safer, cleaner and more sustainable communities,โ€ said Clemmer. โ€œWe are pleased to participate in this program by providing secure, intelligent traffic management solutions that can potentially help avoid countless road accidents and fatalities each year on U.S. roads and alleviate traffic jams in U.S. cities.โ€

NXPโ€™s V2X RoadLINK chipsets are among the technologies to be provided to the contestโ€™s winning community. RoadLINK allows drivers to โ€œseeโ€ around corners, and through traffic obstacles such as big trucks ahead. The technology also allows cars to โ€˜talkโ€™ to traffic lights and give priority to emergency vehicles, truck platoons, buses or other priority means of transport. RoadLINK additionally protects against illegal attacks with NXPโ€™s V2X hardware security technology.

NXP is a worldwide company, that has its origins in Eindhoven. It is located at the High Tech Campus.