ITS JPO Newsletter October 2012

Dear Colleagues,

The USDOT has updated the 2010 ITS Strategic Research Plan. The updated report provides the progress, lessons learned, and next steps for each of the programs within the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Joint Program Office (JPO).

This issue of the newsletter highlights this release as well as other publications, such as a U.S. and European Union (EU) report on our joint accomplishments in connected vehicle research and a U.S. and Japan fact sheet describing our bilateral work in probe data research. This newsletter also describes the commercial vehicle driver clinics conducted this summer, as well as our upcoming showcase at the 2012 ITS World Congress and the Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis (AERIS) webinar series.

John Augustine
Acting Director

The USDOT Updates the ITS Strategic Research Plan, 2010–2014

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has released Transforming Transportation through Connectivity: ITS Strategic Research Plan, 2010–2014 (Progress Update, 2012). This report is an update to the 2010 ITS Strategic Research Plan, which established a research agenda to prepare the next generation of ITS technologies for widespread deployment throughout the nation.

In 2012, this plan approaches an important milestone—the USDOT and its partners are halfway through completion of this research agenda. Research and development efforts have advanced notably over the last two and a half years in areas such as connected vehicle research; short-term intermodal research; ITS exploratory research; and ITS cross-cutting support. Documenting this halfway point offers an important resource for broad stakeholder review of program results and research progress.

Thus, the update describes the status of the programs in continuing the research for achieving a connected vehicle environment; delivering the next generation of ITS technologies to the marketplace; and advancing transportation safety, mobility, and environmental performance. The report covers each research program funded by the ITS Joint Program Office (JPO). For each program, the report includes Snapshots of Progress, which provide research results, lessons learned, and next steps.

The report also offers an update on the promising Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Program.

Other highlights include a vision for improving transportation through the use of wireless connectivity and a list of some of the more prominent news stories about connected vehicle research.

Visit the ITS JPO web site to download the full report.

U.S. and EU Connected Vehicle Showcase at the ITS World Congress in Vienna

Cooperative vehicles are the future of transportation. Together, the United States and Europe are researching ways to make this future a more near-term reality, achieve consistent standards globally, and get these vehicles on your roads faster.

To demonstrate our collaborative effort in developing cooperative vehicles, the USDOT and the European Commission Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology (CONNECT) are hosting a showcase at the ITS World Congress in Vienna. The showcase provides a live demonstration of how a system of cooperative vehicles might work; using U.S. and European cars that exchange similar wireless safety messages that can be understood by the hardware platforms on both vehicles. U.S. and European researchers have been working to develop a basic safety message that can be understood by devices available in U.S. and European vehicles with only minor modifications. This harmonization means the technology will be developed faster and the vehicles will be in your showroom sooner.

USDOT Releases Fact Sheet on U.S. and Japan Collaboration

The USDOT has released a new fact sheet highlighting the joint accomplishments of the U.S. and Japan in probe data research.

The USDOT and the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT) have a long history of sharing information on ITS activities, including an annual U.S.-Japan ITS Workshop held in conjunction with the ITS World Congress. Building on this relationship, the USDOT and the MLIT signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in 2010 to promote bilateral collaboration in the field of ITS, especially cooperative systems, or as we call it, connected vehicles. This memorandum aims to enhance cooperation between both agencies and further the development and implementation of global ITS activities.

The new fact sheet describes this collaboration between the U.S. and Japan, particularly our bilateral efforts in probe data research. The result of this research effort will help identify the future direction of research, development, and deployment of cooperative systems in the United States and Japan.

View the ITS Fact Sheets.

AERIS Webinar Series Includes New Ideascale Component

ITS JPO’s newest webinar series features a new opportunity for stakeholders to provide feedback on the program by voting on the concepts outlined in the webinars. The webinars, which focus on the Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis (AERIS) program, will review the conclusions of an extensive benefits/cost analysis. In addition, the webinars will review three draft concepts of operations devised by the program to describe Transformative Concepts, and a summary of the results of an eco-approach field experiment.

Commercial Vehicle Driver Clinics

Three truck tractors have become the first commercial vehicles outfitted with connected vehicle technology. The commercial vehicle driver clinics held this summer used two of these truck tractors to test driver acceptance of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) safety applications. At two clinics held in Ohio and California, more than 100 truck drivers experienced V2V safety warnings firsthand. Each participant drove through four scenarios, which demonstrated the intersection movement-assist warning, forward-collision warning, emergency brake-light warning, and blind-spot and lane-change warning. The commercial vehicle driver clinics were patterned after the recently completed light vehicle clinics. [See the August issue of the newsletter for highlights of the results of the light vehicle clinics.]

Participants ranged in age from 20 to 60 and in experience from recent trainee to senior safety instructor. The clinics included a broad variety of routes—local, over the road, doubles, tank, truckload, and more.

The majority of drivers thought the technology was useful in preventing crashes and wanted it in their own cab. Drivers also provided suggestions for improvement. 

The three tractors are now ready to enter the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Model Deployment in Ann Arbor, Michigan—the world’s largest test of connected vehicle technology in a real-world, multimodal operating environment.

U.S. and EU Joint Report

The USDOT and CONNECT have also developed a report highlighting our joint accomplishments and future plans in the areas of connected vehicle safety, standards harmonization, sustainability applications, assessment tools, and driver distraction and human-machine interaction. The report is available for download from the ITS JPO international research web site.

The webinars are free and open to the public, but interested attendees need to register in advance for each webinar. Each webinar will begin at 1:00 pm Eastern Time and will last approximately 90 minutes.

To register for the webinars, please visit http://www.itsa.org/aeris-winterfall-2012-2013-webinars.

Participants can vote on ideascale at https://aeris.ideascale.com/a/panel.do

At the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, we are committed to providing information and engaging new and existing stakeholders throughout the research process. If you have questions about our programs, please contact Mike Pina at mike.pina@dot.gov. Thank you for your interest in the DOT’s ITS program.