The telematic system COMPANION consists of a warning system parallel to the road developed by BMW AG. It consists of guidance posts, which are structured similar to the conventional road post directly on the road at a maximum distance of 50 m. By an integrated lighting field, the possibility exists of lighting up the posts and hence influencing passing by drivers. The posts are almost a third larger than conventional posts for reasons of better visibility.
Every post is individually controllable and can light up in different colours and with different frequencies. Besides the lighting field is divided into two sections, which can light up separately or together. The driver can be influenced by the variation of the light signals in different ways. Advantages of the system consist in high local resolution and the self-explanatory effect on driver behaviour.
In the development of COMPANION the simulator routine PELOPS was used, in order to be able to measure the effects on the traffic flow in the emergence phase. COMPANION was implemented on a nine kilometre stretch of highway A 92 north of Munich. This distance was put into operation at the beginning of 1996. Further stretches equipped with COMPANION are in Verona and Edinburgh.
Over the colour combination and the lighting up frequency different effects can be obtained. By flashing in a signal colour (yellow, orange) the driver can be warned about a dangerous place or a bottleneck. Investigations carried out at the three stretches equipped with COMPANION show that the speed behaviour and the distance behaviour was positively influenced in view of road safety. A clear increase in the attention of the individual driver was noticed.