This summer marks a turning point in mobility management in Spain. August’s Operación Salida will be the first in which connected V16 beacons play a leading role, adding thousands of new real-time incident reports to the information ecosystem of the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT).
Beyond replacing traditional warning triangles, V16 beacons represent a new source of connected data that improves the ability to understand what is happening across the road network almost in real time. Their deployment makes this Operación Salida one of the largest annual scenarios for observing how data can contribute to safer, more efficient and better-coordinated mobility.
A summer with more mobility… and much more data
The DGT expects more than 106 million long-distance journeys during July and August 2026, with 54.5 million taking place in August. These will be accompanied by special traffic operations, tourist travel, the Operación Paso del Estrecho and extraordinary events such as the total solar eclipse on 12 August.
Managing this volume of traffic requires the integration of information from cameras, sensors, variable-message signs, weather conditions, infrastructure, connected vehicles and, starting this summer, V16 beacons.
From 8,600 to more than 69,000 incidents per month
One of the most significant changes comes from the automatic connection of V16 beacons to the DGT 3.0 platform. According to the DGT, the number of incidents recorded on interurban roads has increased from a monthly average of 8,600 to more than 69,000.
This does not necessarily mean that more incidents are occurring. Rather, there is now a far greater capacity to detect them, share their location and make this information available to other services and road users almost in real time.
From connected data to a mobility model
The true value lies not only in generating more data, but in being able to use it collectively. Information from V16 beacons can be combined with other sources to better understand mobility patterns, anticipate congestion and improve the planning of infrastructure and services.
In this context, data spaces allow each organisation to retain control over its data while facilitating its discovery and use through common rules, without creating new information silos.
At DS4MM, we are working precisely to connect these types of information sources and place them at the service of more comprehensive mobility models. Incorporating data such as that generated by V16 beacons helps enrich predictive models and improve decision-making by public authorities, operators and infrastructure managers.
This first Operación Salida with connected beacons demonstrates that the mobility of the future will increasingly depend on our ability to transform distributed data into useful, shared knowledge.
