DRIVE-IN: Content delivered to your car.

Project DRIVE-IN (Distributed Routing and Infotainment through VEhicular Inter-Networking) is a research project approved within the 2008 Call for Proposals for the Information and Communication Technologies Institute (ICTI) and the Carnegie Mellon University - Portugal Program (Carnegie Mellon|PORTUGAL) by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). DRIVE-IN is included in the research program on New Generation Dependable Trusted Networks and Telecommunications Policy (NGN), addressed by the 2008 Call.

The goal of DRIVE-IN project is to investigate how vehicle-to-vehicle communication can improve the user experience and the overall efficiency of vehicle and road utilization.

DRIVE-IN addresses both foundations and applications of inter-vehicle communication. Concepts, methodologies and technologies will be developed in the three main research thrusts: Geo-optimized VANET protocols, intelligent and collaborative car routing, and VANET applications and services. These research thrusts shall fertilize horizontal activities covering realistic large-scale simulation and massive real-life experiments in urban environments.

The large majority of existing projects in this area are driven mainly by the car manufacturing industry and focus on enhanced safety standards by means of inter-vehicle com- munication with stringent demands in terms of quality of service. Realizing that increased safety, although important, is only one of a myriad of opportunities offered by VANET technologies, the DRIVE-IN focuses on traffic flow optimization and infotainment applications, which so far have received much less attention both from the scientific community and major industrial players. This approach allows us to relax the somewhat restrictive networking requirements imposed by safety mandates, and explore a much larger range of trade-offs between mobility, navigation, cooperation, throughput, delay, and bandwidth, with wide implications for both driver and passenger experiences.