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The Brenner Autobahn, which connects Italy, Austria, and Germany, is experimenting with future mobility by investing in digitalization, safety, and technical innovation. One of the most recent projects is 5GBEAM (Developing 5G Infrastructure along the Brenner Corridor for European Automated Mobility), which intends to connect "smart roads" and "smart vehicles." It provides solutions for the real-time exchange of information between infrastructure and vehicles. The systems that have been developed, for instance, enable vehicles to be informed of accidents, construction sites, critical weather conditions, or parking availability, and to remotely monitor the activity of vehicles that are engaged in winter maintenance. One of the most significant trials is the Truck Platooning project, which has tested convoys of heavy goods vehicles digitally connected to one another. More than 300,000 kilometres of road testing have been completed using truck convoys in which only the lead vehicle is driven by a human, while the others follow. The prospects are really appealing. The concept involves the management of all vehicles, similar to the management of thousands of carriages on a single, constantly changing train. This would, first and foremost, drastically reduce accidents and make the goal of zero road fatalities a realistic possibility. It would also mean faster journey times and, above all, reliable arrival schedules. Finally, but no less importantly, it would require less land while accommodating the same traffic volumes. The progression of intelligent mobility necessitates an increasing degree of integration between infrastructure and vehicles. Although the most recent models already have advanced technologies, complete adoption of autonomous driving necessitates a road network capable of maintaining constant connection with the vehicles that use it.
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