Connected Vehicle Infrastructure University Transportation Center
Federal and state officials received hands-on experience with “hands-off” automated and connected driving as they traveled a 10-mile stretch of an interstate highway in Northern Virginia in cars sporting the latest automated- and connected-vehicle technology.
The demonstration was part of the Virginia Connected Corridors and the Virginia Automated Corridors initiatives, which represent partnerships between the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Transurban, and HERE (a high-definition mapping business), respectively. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and Transurban, which operates the express lanes, conducted the demonstration.
Officials boarded sedans outfitted with connected vehicle and automated technologies developed by researchers from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, with funding in-part by the CVI-UTC. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, U.S. Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology Greg Winfree, Virginia Tech President Timothy D. Sands, Virginia Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson, Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner Charles Kilpatrick, and Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Richard Holcomb were among officials who participated in the demonstration.
Follow this link for the full VT News article.
The final report for Innovative “Intelligent” Awareness System for Roadway Workers Using Dedicated Short-Range Communications, submitted by Darrell S. Bowman and Dr. Tom L. Martin, has been released.
Report Abstract:
Roadside workers and emergency responders, such as police and emergency medical technicians, are at significant risk of being struck by vehicular traffic while performing their duties. While recent work has examined active and passive systems to reduce pedestrian collisions, current approaches require line of sight using either laser-, infrared-, or vision-based systems. We addressed this problem by developing a Global Positioning System (GPS)-based solution that equips roadside workers and vehicles with GPS units to estimate the trajectory of oncoming traffic, and to estimate whether worker strike is imminent. The results of our study show that our approach is 91% accurate in alerting the worker and vehicle of collisions and near misses. Furthermore, accurate warnings can be provided 5 to 6 seconds before any potential collision, allowing time for mitigating solutions.
Click here to learn more about this project and read the final report.
The CVI-UTC recently participated in the Northern Virginia Transportation Career Fair, a VDOT-sponsored event which contributes to the education and recruitment of the transportation industry’s future workforce. CVI-UTC research was displayed and demonstrated to more than 1,300 high school students to showcase the benefits of careers in transportation and inspire students to consider transportation-related fields while they make their future career goals and plans.
The mission statement of the Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC) is to conduct research that will advance surface transportation through the application of innovative research and using connected-vehicle and infrastructure technologies to improve safety, state of good repair, economic competitiveness, livable communities, and environmental sustainability.
Dr. Thomas A. Dingus serves as the director for the CVI-UTC, as well as the director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) and the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (NSTSCE). Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Dr. Dingus was founding director of the National Center for Transportation Technology at the University of Idaho and was an associate director of the Center for Computer-Aided Design at the University of Iowa. Dr. Dingus has more than 220 technical publications and has managed approximately $300 million in research funding to date ($130 million as principal investigator).
