Connected/Automated Vehicles: Issues for Transportation Research

Daniel S. Turner TRB Technical Activities Council Chair

INTRO• TRB workshops and symposia increased

understanding of connected/automated (C/A) vehicle issues

• Clear that C/As have huge potential to transform transportation

• Intrigues the public, press, and politicians (rarely happens in our profession!)

• Can private sector wait for public sector?

• What do these trends mean for our profession?

IMPACTS ON TRB• TRB Excom adopted a new strategic plan• Bob Skinner will address it in the next session

o Action Plan, 5 year strategies/action items• Foremost strategy is “Identify and address

emerging and critical transportation issues in a more strategic and proactive manner”o Supplements bottom-up committee approach,

coupled with a separate research program

C/A is moving faster and addressing

larger issues than the traditional

research process. Can we move to

a faster, more responsive, and more

efficient process?

• TRB designated C/As to demonstrate the new “more strategic and proactive approach to emerging issues”

• Previous TRB workshops helped identify the most needed researcho Summarized in the July-Aug issue of TRB’s

bi-monthly magazine TR News

TR News July-August 20142013 Autonomous Vehicles Conference

• TRB Excom/standing committee leader actions:o C/A forum with research directors of federal

agency sponsorso Presentations by Expertso Policy discussion on C/As

• Excom established “next steps” for TRB:o Go from developing questions to prioritizing

issues and prioritizing research o Identify C/A gaps, set priorities, and pursue as

appropriateo Coordinate TRB activities with fed sponsors

A change in work philosophy

• One bullet

• One bullet

• One bullet

• One bullet

• One bullet

oTRB will communicate updates to transportation community

o 200 standing committees asked to discuss C/A: interest/impact for each committee, Engage experts to discuss these issues Follow-up activities as appropriate Find innovated ways to move cross-

cutting nature of C/A into standing committees

• Consider a SHRP2 type research program

Does this sound like an easy

change to the research process?

When volunteers are involved, we must move carefully and

continually communicate the reason and expected results

STATE DOT & FED RESEARCH AGENCIES

Individual TRB Excom members and invited guests explored a wide range of issues, including the following observations:

FEDERAL ROLE (opinions on appropriate role continue to vary)

• In today’s environment, is a major federal program (i.e., interstate system) possible?

• Play a leading role in creating an environment to enable innovation and deployment?

• Leading or junior partner to states and private sector?

• Is it possible to develop and facilitate deployment of V2I systems fast enough for private sector?

• If not, will private sector move more forward with “Google car” (mostly in-vehicle technology) or another new technology?

• What federal legislation, regulations, policies will be needed?

STATE GOVERNMENTS (includes DOTs)• Need centralized highway control systems, like

air or other modes?• Can DOTs deploy/operate V2I systems, given

current workloads and resources?• By the time DOTs select infrastructure to deploy,

technology may have moved to the next phase• Safety will improve, but will DOTs accrue new

liabilities?

• States must likely adopt new laws, regulations, and certifications. How can we assure some degree of uniformity among the states?

• Will conventional traffic control devices (signs, signals, markings) support automation? Can they be uniformly maintained at a high level to support C/A data needs?

• Will C/A vehicles affect geometric design?

CONVENTIONAL RESEARCH PROCESSES• Changes needed to effectively address C/A

vehicles• May require different approaches to rapidly

move from research to deployment• May need research based on actual

deployment to create rapid learning cycles• May need to develop one or more “research

roadmaps”

TRB ACTIVITIES UNDERWAY• Major C/A activities include:

o Sessions at 2015 Annual Meeting (spotlight theme “Corridors to the Future – Transportation and Technology”)

o EU-US C/A Symposium on Research Collaboration in April 2015 in DC

o UTC Symposium on C/A in late 2015 in DC

CRP projects currently underway:• A Look at the Legal Environment for Driverless

Vehicles• Costs and Benefits of Public-Sector Deployment

of V2I Technologies• Automated Vehicle Research Roadmap for

State DOTs• Impacts of Automated Vehicles on State and

Local Transportation Agencies ($1M)

CONCLUSIONS• C/A has exciting possibilities

• It has awakened interest at all levels, maybe akin to the Interstate System

• It can radically change transportation

• There are still a lot of questions… and more questions after that!

• But where there are questions…

• We turn to research to find answers and identify priorities

• I look forward to the future, especially

the day that my C/A drives me to the TRB Annual Meeting!

Of This Presentation

The beginning of an exciting period of transportation research, Implementation, and Progress

Why are you still sitting there?

Let’s get started?