How Vodafone collaborated with Unity to effectively demonstrate the impact of Safer Transport for Europe Platform (STEP)
About Vodafone
Vodafone Germany is the largest operating company of the Vodafone Group, and one of Germany’s leading telecommunications companies. With approximately 30 million mobile customers, 10 million broadband customers, and 9 million TV customers, it stands as a digital transformer across industries. Beyond connecting millions of people and devices, Vodafone contributes significantly to technological advancement—from gigabit infrastructure to smart mobility solutions. Because technology paves the way for a more digital and sustainable tomorrow for people and businesses, the company is committed to reducing its environmental impact to reach net zero emissions by 2040.
Safety on the roads isn’t just about better vehicles; it’s about smarter connectivity. Vodafone has taken a groundbreaking step in revolutionizing road safety across Europe with its Safer Transport for Europe Platform (STEP). To demonstrate the platform’s capabilities dynamically and innovatively, Vodafone collaborated with Unity to develop a real-time simulator of STEP for use at the Mobile World Congress 2024 (MWC24) and future tradeshows.
Since launching at MWC24, the STEP Simulator has shown tangible results:
- Scaled STEP simulations to over 100 traffic variables, including vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians, to mimic real-world interactions.
- Simulator coverage of 3.8 km² for highways and 0.4 km² for city roads in Düsseldorf.
- Featured at 3+ industry events and tradeshows, capturing the attention of countless visitors.
Read on to learn how:
- Vodafone addressed the challenges of testing the STEP application in a realistic setting.
- Unity was used to develop the real-time simulator.
- The simulator is transforming trade show demonstrations.
- Vodafone is approaching future opportunities to use the simulator in other settings.
What is STEP?
The Safer Transport for Europe Platform (STEP) is Vodafone’s digital shield for enhanced road safety and innovation. STEP is a cooperative mobility solution that enables real-time exchange of traffic data through V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) technology. By connecting vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles, and various other infrastructure elements, STEP provides essential safety alerts to help road users and operators make mobility safer, more secure, and accessible. STEP acts as a secure and reliable communication channel for V2X services leveraging 5G, Edge Cloud, and public Cloud.
The challenges of demonstrating STEP
The road traffic environment is one of the most unpredictable and dynamic systems. Testing and showcasing solutions such as STEP in a safe, realistic, and controlled environment is a challenge without taking risks on real-world roads. Before the creation of the simulator, Vodafone would use the STEP developer app to show events and messages, but weren’t able to simulate real traffic and test applications in a realistic environment.
Vodafone required a way to bring its innovative road safety technology to life in an impactful manner at the quickly upcoming Mobile World Congress 2024 (MWC24)— needing a solution with just two months to spare. This demand drove the development of the STEP Simulator, which could replicate traffic scenarios dynamically while making the experience both immersive and educational on the show floor.
How Unity’s technology powers the STEP Simulator
Vodafone turned to Unity Industry to develop the STEP Simulator. Here’s how Unity’s technology helped overcome the challenges and bolstered the simulators development:
Flexible and intuitive development
Unity’s cutting-edge real-time 3D rendering technology supported the creation of digital twins of the city and highways in Düsseldorf, Germany to simulate traffic scenarios such as car accidents or traffic jams. Unity’s High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) enabled Vodafone’s developers to create more realistic assets with better motion and post-processing settings. By using HDRP the STEP simulator is able to use ray tracing for car mirrors, and visualize different weather conditions like fog, direct sunlight, and clear night skies to better showcase STEP’s safety features.
Improved 3D asset performance
With the Unity Asset Transformer plugin for the Unity Editor (previously known as Pixyz Plugin), Vodafone was able to prepare and optimize 3D assets and meshes to reduce the complexity for improved performance and better handling of pivot points. This enabled the team to transform a variety of assets for cars, pedestrians, and bicycles into intelligent assets for the simulator.
Collaboration with Unity experts
The Vodafone team worked closely with Unity Essential Success, a dedicated support team of experienced Unity Solution Engineers and Account Management to develop the first iteration of the STEP Simulator. Leveraging Unity’s technology and expertise allowed them to implement a highly scalable and immersive solution in just two months, meeting the tight timeline for MWC24.
Transforming trade show demonstrations
By creating an immersive and interactive experience, Vodafone’s STEP Simulator stands out at trade shows and events like Mobile World Congress. Attendees can experience real-world challenges, such as traffic jams or roadwork, and see how STEP technology addresses them in real-time. Since its launch at MWC24, the STEP Simulator has already shown impressive results, including:
- Scale of simulation: Over 100 traffic participants, including vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians, simulating real-world interactions to demonstrate what it is like to have a V2X-enabled vehicle.
- Coverage Area: Digital twins covering 3.8 km² for highways and 0.4 km² for city area in Düsseldorf.
- Event reach: Featured at 3+ industry events, capturing the attention of countless visitors.
- Stakeholder impact: Thanks to the simulator, Vodafone has demonstrated how STEP is increasing traffic safety to internal teams, customers, and event attendees with ease.
This hands-on experience helps users better understand the value of enhanced road safety STEP provides through direct interaction with the simulated environment.
What’s next for the STEP Simulator?
Using the STEP Simulator for trade shows is just the beginning of Vodafone’s vision for the technology. Looking ahead, the team plans to:
- Continue to improve and expand the experience with integration of new STEP scenarios like ambulance and police as well as additional road locations.
- Introduce the platform for developers of the mobility sector. For example, car developers could implement STEP and the simulator with their internal testing to improve integrations.
- Introduce VR capabilities to further increase immersion for users.
These advancements will make the STEP Simulator an even more powerful tool for showcasing, testing, and developing safer transportation solutions.
"The STEP Simulator provides an impressive real-time showcase of how V2X technology can make roads safer by enabling faster hazard detection and proactive accident prevention. It demonstrates the powerful capabilities of the STEP Platform, allowing users to test and optimize mobility solutions in a realistic, virtual environment—accelerating innovation and paving the way for safer, smarter transportation." - Cornelius Boylan, Global Product Manager STEP
Discover more
The creation of the STEP simulator using Unity technology made it possible for Vodafone to demonstrate to visitors of their showroom and trade shows how STEP is making the roads safer. Visitors can see the possibilities of V2X through the simulator and understand how they will react faster to potential hazards through real-time STEP alerts.
The collaboration between Vodafone and Unity highlights the power of using real-time 3D technology to improve transportation safety. If you’re interested in learning more about Vodafone’s STEP cooperative mobility solution, and the Unity tools they used to develop the simulator, check out these resources:
