In this episode Kosta Karagiannopoulos, 3M’s Application Engineering Specialist for the Transportation Safety Division in Australia and New Zealand joins us to discuss connected roads.

The connected roads program is about building the safer roads of tomorrow, starting today, to accommodate automated vehicles. Connected roads help improve roadway safety and efficiency through enhanced transportation infrastructure, for both human drivers and connected automated vehicles as the space age car of the future draws closer to becoming a reality.

Kosta Karagiannopoulos, (pictured left with host Mark Reggers) has been a 3M employee since 2010. Over the years he has worked for the Library Systems, Electronic Monitoring, Automatic License Plate Recognition and most recently the Transportation Safety Division. In his most recent role, he is looking after Traffic Signage, Digital Printing and has a leading technical role in the 3M Connected Roads program that revolves around Connected Automated Vehicles and ITS infrastructure.

He is an Electronic Engineer by training, graduated from The University of Birmingham (UK) and obtained his MSc degree from the University of Dundee (Scotland) in Electronic & Computer Engineering and Electronic Circuit Design & Manufacture respectively. He has the mindset and natural curiosity of an engineer, trying to figure out how things work and how to improve them.

In his free time, he enjoys building small electronic projects, travelling the world, photography, amateur astronomy, computer gaming and some software programming.

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In this episode, Mark & Kosta discuss the following:

• When connected roads are referred to, what does it mean?
• Autonomous cars seem a long way off, when can I get into my autonomous car to get to work and take a nap?
• With the infrastructure improvements required, what are some of the technologies that will need to develop and the challenges they face?
• What are some of the projected safety benefits to the technology?
• What needs to happen from this point in time to have this ideal future as a future reality?
• Where can listeners go to get more information on connected roads and the autonomous vehicle future?

With autonomous vehicles becoming a reality, the goal of connected roads is to make life easier for them with special lane markings and road signs with hidden functionality that make these vehicles safer and more reliable on our roads. Change is just around the corner, and the anticipated benefits are expected to be huge. Not only from the freedom from the stress and loss of productivity associated with driving, but also the reduction in road fatalities and injuries related to human driver error, along with the corresponding health care burden. Tune in as we explore this exciting technology and look at what the future holds as the self-driving car develops, and most importantly its role in working towards zero deaths and injuries on our roads

Additional Resources:

• Podcast Transcript
• 3M Road Safety
• 3M Connected Roads
• 3M Connected Roads FAQ

Contact a 3M Safety Specialist at scienceofsafetyanz@mmm.com for more information.