• Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) Communications for Safety
• Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) Communications for Safety
• Real-Time Data Capture and Management
• Dynamic Mobility Applications
• Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis (AERIS)
• Road Weather Connected Vehicle Applications

• Harmonization of International Standards and Architecture around the Vehicle Platform
• Connected Vehicle Human Factors Research
• Connected Vehicle Systems Engineering
• Connected Vehicle Certification
• Connected Vehicle Test Environment(s)

• Active Traffic Management
• Smart Roadside
• CVISN Core and Expanded Program
• Intelligent and Efficient Border Crossings
• Multi-Modal Integrated Payment Systems
• ITS Maritime Applications

• ITS Exploratory Solicitations
• ITS Rail Exploratory Initiative

---

Connectivity˜

It's a concept that is rapidly changing our daily habits: real-time information gives us the power to make decisions and act on opportunities, provides us with details needed to understand our fast-paced world, and brings us an awareness of how our systems work. The start of the 21st century introduced advanced wireless technologies to our lives, and already they are having a dramatic impact on our connections to family, friends, and the social and entertainment worlds. These technologies are proliferating throughout the business, political, and educational arenas, changing our relationship to information and creating an awareness of situations that previously would have gone unnoticed. These technologies are redefining how we access knowledge; for the realm of transportation, this means unprecedented awareness about what is happening to and throughout our transportation system at all times.

Transportation Connectivity˜

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (U.S. DOT) Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Program aims to bring connectivity to transportation through the application of advanced wireless technologies—powerful technologies that enable transformative change. Envision:

• A system in which highway crashes and their tragic consequences are rare because vehicles of all types can sense and communicate the events and hazards happening around them.
• A fully-connected, information-rich environment within which travelers, transit riders, freight managers, system operators, and other users are aware of all aspects of the system's performance.
• Travelers who have comprehensive and accurate information on travel options—transit travel times, schedules, cost, and real-time locations; driving travel times, routes, and travel costs; parking costs, availability, and ability to reserve a space; and the environmental footprint of each trip.
• System operators who have full knowledge of the status of every transportation asset.
• Vehicles of all types that can communicate with traffic signals to eliminate unnecessary stops and help people drive in a more fuel efficient manner.
• Vehicles that can communicate the status of on-board systems and provide information that can be used by travelers and system operators to mitigate the vehicle's impact on the environment or make more informed choices about travel modes.

Enabling the Vision˜

The vision of the ITS Program for the next five years is to provide the Nation with a national, multi-modal transportation system that features a connected transportation environment among vehicles of all types, the infrastructure, and portable devices that will serve the public good by leveraging technology to maximize safety, mobility, and environmental performance.

To make this vision a reality, researchers; vehicle manufacturers (automotive, commercial vehicle, and bus); consumer electronics and telecommunications firms; and Federal, State, and local transportation officials are coming together to define a working relationship that will further research and develop new markets. By enabling wireless connectivity with and between vehicles, between vehicles and the roadway, and with portable devices, the ITS Program has the potential to transform surface transportation safety, mobility, and environmental impacts in our lifetimes.

This document is the Executive Summary of the ITS Strategic Research Plan, 2010–2014¹. It describes a focused research agenda for delivering transportation connectivity to the Nation. Building on the last set of recently completed research initiatives², this new research portfolio will continue efforts necessary for researching, prototyping, testing and evaluating, and transferring the next generation of ITS technology into the marketplace. Ultimately, this research portfolio will result in a fully-connected, information-rich transportation system for the Nation.

Why?

Highway safety is one of our Nation's major public health challenges, responsible for 37,261 fatalities in 2008³ and the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 4 and 34.⁴ The economic impact of motor vehicle crashes on U.S. roadways is estimated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at $230.6 billion a year, nearly 2.3 percent of the Nation's gross domestic product, or an average of $820 for every person living in the country. NHTSA has reported that the average roadway fatality has economic costs of $977,000, while the costs associated with a critically injured crash survivor surpass $1 million.⁵ Although these statistics reflect a recent decrease in the number of fatalities, it remains an unacceptably high loss of lives.

Traffic congestion is an $87.2 billion annual drain on the U.S. economy—more than $750 for every U.S. traveler. Americans waste 4.2 billion hours in traffic every year or nearly one full work (or vacation) week for every traveler.⁶

Vehicle fuel utilization and its tailpipe emissions are the single largest human-made source of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane. These fumes cause pulmonary diseases and premature deaths. Children are particularly vulnerable, as poor air quality triggers asthma which is the number one cause of hospitalization among children and is having a major impact on our schools, emergency rooms, and healthcare system.⁷ Additionally, vehicles that are stationary, idling, or traveling at reduced speeds due to congestion emit more than those that are in free flow conditions. Therefore, technologies that reduce fuel consumption, idling, and vehicle miles traveled while reducing acute congestion could play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in major cities, around ports and freight hubs, and on major roads and corridors.

Why Now?

In 2010, a timely opportunity presents itself to the Department—to plan for the delivery of the next generation of ITS research. The planning process began in early 2008 with outreach to stakeholders and the public, input from modal decision makers and technical staff, and a trend analysis (see textbox on next page).

emerged as a significant research need driven by the new, powerful, and dynamic technologies that are available on the market now or are just on the horizon. The predominant research question for industry is how to safely harness their potential for transportation. It is a timely research question—existing ITS research initiatives are ending, and the previous Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration (VII) Program's proof-of-concept test results both proved the capability for transportation connectivity and identified the remaining research questions and required efforts. The confluence of these events has significantly influenced the direction of this ITS Strategic Research Plan.

Noteworthy Trends in Transportation Trends in Transportation Safety focus Continued high fatality rates Growing congestion Growing interest in transit Growing environmental awareness Emphasis on performance measurement and management Troubled transportation financing Road pricing and financing alternatives Transportation impacts on livability Trends in Technology Wireless technology boom Strong consumer market Fast pace of innovation Expectation for information Ubiquitous connectivity Person-to-person networking

Figure 1: Trends in wireless connectivity. See detailed description

Figure 2: Growth in mobile wireless devices, 1997–2007 (subscribers per 100 inhabitants). See detailed description

Figure 3: Consumer interest in transportation information. (POI = Points of Interest) See detailed description

back to Table of Contents

---

Enacting the Vision

The ITS Program's Strategic Research Plan has been defined through a multi-modal Departmental effort and informed through stakeholder input. The resulting research program is administered as a collaborative partnership between the ITS Joint Program Office (JPO), part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), and modal administrations that include:

• Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
• Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
• Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
• Maritime Administration (MARAD)
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

To explore the potentially transformative capabilities of wireless technologies to make transportation safer, smarter, greener and, ultimately, enhance livability for Americans, the centerpiece of the ITS Program's research plan is a program called Connected Vehicle—a crossmodal, research initiative that aims to create safe, interoperable connectivity between vehicles (automobiles, trucks, motor coaches, transit vehicles, and other fleets), infrastructure, and mobile devices.

The Connected Vehicle research is designed to achieve a deployable system. To do so, critical success factors were identified, each of which must be addressed and resolved for Connected Vehicle to be implementable. These critical success factors define three distinct areas for research:

• Applications: Applications in safety, mobility, and environment are effective and validated.
• Technology: Technology is secure and interoperable.
• Policy: The system as a whole is sustainable. The system is publicly acceptable.

From these critical success factors, programmatic research questions were derived (summarized below). Using these questions, research programs were formed that are organized and focused specifically on resolving these questions and other technical issues, as a means for achieving the goal of deployment.

This Executive Summary describes four major components of the ITS Strategic Research Plan, 2010–2014:

• The Connected Vehicle Program: The applications, technology, and policy research programs that are structured to address the research questions are described. While the above questions apply to the program overall, they also apply in a more specific manner within the multiple areas of research. As a result, these questions will again appear under the research program descriptions.
• New Mode-Specific ITS Research: As noted earlier, ITS is more than Connected Vehicle. In close cooperation with modal partners, new ITS technologies, strategies, and systems have also been defined as part of the next five-year research agenda.
• ITS Exploratory Research: The ITS Program intends to provide an avenue to solicit creative ideas for new technology options that deserve further attention. This section describes this new program element.
• ITS Cross-Cutting Support: In addition to the research programs, the ITS Program hosts critical functions that provide support across the research programs. These cross-cutting functions are described and include: architecture, standards, technology transfer, professional capacity building, evaluation, and outreach and communications.

Finally, this Executive Summary concludes by describing the expected benefits of delivering the next generation of ITS to the Nation.

back to Table of Contents

---

back to Table of Contents

---

Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) Communications for Safety ...

... is the dynamic wireless exchange of data between nearby vehicles that offers the opportunity for significant safety improvements.

The vision for V2V research is that each vehicle on the roadway (inclusive of automobiles, trucks, transit vehicles, and motorcycles) will be able to communicate with other vehicles, and that this rich set of data and communications will support a new generation of active safety applications and systems.

---

Research Plan

The objective of the V2V safety research program is four-fold:

1. Develop V2V active safety applications that address the most critical crash scenarios (listed below in Track 4)
2. Develop a rigorous estimation of safety benefits and an assessment of potential regulatory action by NHTSA by 2013.
3. Work with industry and enable market factors that will accelerate V2V benefits through in-vehicle V2V technologies and through the use of aftermarket and/or retrofit options to ensure that the first V2V-equipped vehicle owners find value in their investment.
4. Building from the results of the VII program's proof-of-concept tests, complete the development and testing of the V2V communications technologies and standards.

Success will be measured by progress on:

• Development of practical, DSRC-based, V2V active safety applications and supporting equipment and demonstration of their effectiveness.
• Completion of the DSRC standards and other standards that are needed for deployment of V2V, and development of solutions to security, scalability, positioning, and other technical issues (refer to the Technology section).
• Research on human factors for the driver-vehicle interface to find effective approaches that can minimize distraction and driver workload (refer to Human Factors research program description).
• Acceleration of V2V technology implementation into vehicles through aftermarket or retrofit approaches for basic V2V technologies that generate "Here I Am" messages.
• Definition of infrastructure requirements for V2V and its supporting systems (such as certification, security, or access procedures).

The ITS Program has defined a collaborative research process that will engage the appropriate parties in a multi-track program to address the breadth of technical and non-technical V2V research needs:

• Track 1 — Identify critical crash scenarios for V2V. By connecting pre-crash scenarios to crash avoidance safety applications, initial benchmarks for safety application function, performance, and effectiveness will be developed.
• Track 2 — Ensure interoperability and determine supporting infrastructure needs for V2V deployment. Safety applications must work across equipped vehicles and adhere to a level of communication standards to ensure security and message integrity.
• Track 3 — Develop rigorous estimates of safety benefits. The development of performance measures, objective test procedures, and an adaptation of Advanced Crash Avoidance Technologies (ACAT) will assist in validating safety benefits.
• Track 4 — Develop prototype active safety applications and evaluate through objective tests and field trials. Currently under development are applications for: Emergency Brake Light Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Intersection Movement Assist, Blind Spot and Lane Change Warning, Do Not Pass Warning, and Control Loss Warning. The development of these applications is dependent upon and assists in the analysis of the functional and performance requirements for the underlying technologies such as positioning and communications. However, additional work needs to be done to address more complex crash scenarios for head-on collision avoidance, intersection collision avoidance, pedestrian crash warning and extending the capabilities to prevent motorcycle crashes. An additional effort under this track will be the cooperative research and development of one safety application with partners in the European Union (see additional details on a Cooperative Agreement with the European Union).
• Track 5 — Develop effective driver vehicle interfaces. Collision warning system effectiveness relies on the quality of its interface, which can affect the driver's performance.
• Track 6 — Investigate policy issues and formulate regulatory decisions within the context of the broader Connected Vehicle program (refer to policy research program description).
• Track 7 — Develop Commercial Vehicle Safety Applications. Develop and evaluate V2V safety applications that incorporate the unique needs and vehicle dynamics of large trucks and motor coaches, since a collision with a vehicle in transport was the first harmful event in 75 percent of all fatal crashes involving large trucks. Other applications for commercial vehicle operators will also be evaluated.⁹
• Track 8 — Develop Transit Safety Applications. The ability to transition automobile safety applications to transit vehicles have the potential to provide positive impacts to the transit industry.

The results achieved through the V2V safety research program will be indicators of an environment in which V2V can flourish. The Department and its modal partners will engage the automotive, truck, and bus manufacturers and suppliers, along with other partner groups, through Connected Vehicle working group participation. In addition, the Department will work with stakeholder groups to define effective technology transfer opportunities. Ultimately, this research will support a decision with NHTSA in 2013 on whether a regulatory decision for deployment is warranted.

back to Table of Contents

---

Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) Communications for Safety...

... is the wireless exchange of critical safety and operational data between vehicles and highway infrastructure, intended primarily to avoid motor vehicle crashes and enable a wide range of other safety, mobility, and environmental benefits.

The vision for the V2I research is to enable safety applications that are designed to avoid or mitigate vehicle crashes (inclusive of automobiles, trucks, motor coaches, and transit vehicles), particularly for those crash scenarios not addressed by V2V. It is also focused on creating national interoperability to support infrastructure and vehicle deployments.

---

Research Plan

The objective of the technical V2I safety research program is three-fold:

1. Develop V2I active safety applications that address some of the most critical crash scenarios, particularly using the signal phase and timing (SPaT) capability.
2. Develop a rigorous estimation of safety benefits that will contribute to the assessment of possible safety regulations and/or guidelines.
3. Provide objective data and information that will support decision making regarding nationwide infrastructure deployment.

The program research will involve multiple transportation agencies and modes. It will concentrate on key FHWA, FTA, and FMCSA application areas of interest, including intersection safety, run-off-road prevention, speed management, transit communications and operations, and commercial vehicle enforcement and operations. In addition, exploratory research on V2I safety for commuter, freight, and heavy rail will investigate data interoperability and communication to support a variety of applications, including grade crossing operations, track surveillance, and Right-of-Way detection.

Due to the great variety of vehicle and infrastructure safety systems currently installed and forthcoming, the program will also emphasize the need for consistent, widely applicable standards and protocols.

The key to success in this research area is the definition of minimum infrastructure needed to ensure maximum benefit from the applications. Success will be further measured by progress on:

• Development of practical, high-value V2I applications and supporting tools and guidance (including applications for specialty vehicles such as transit bus, rail, trams, and trucks)
• Development and assessment of a traffic signal system application to communicate SPaT information to the vehicle in support of delivering active safety advisories and warnings.
• Testing and demonstrations of application effectiveness:
  • Identification of all critical interfaces and analysis of where standards are needed.
  • Research on the driver-vehicle interface to ensure effective approaches that enhance overall safety while minimizing distraction and driver workload (refer to Human Factors research.)

Through collaborative research, the ITS Program will engage the appropriate parties in a multitrack approach that addresses the breadth of technical and non-technical V2I research needs:

• Track 1 — Identify and analyze critical crash scenarios for V2I applications. Preliminary studies show that 12 percent of crash scenarios could be addressed by V2I safety applications. Addressing these scenarios are in addition to the crash scenarios addressed by V2V safety applications.
• Track 2 — Develop prototype applications, which include the identification and refinement of requirements and countermeasures. An additional effort under this track will be the cooperative research and development of one safety application with partners in the European Union (see additional details on a Cooperative Agreement with the European Union).
• Track 3 — Address interoperability that enables multiple systems or components to exchange (across jurisdictional boundaries) useful information, including mapping, positioning, standards, security, and wireless communication, among other areas.
• Track 4 — Through controlled demonstrations and field operational testing, conduct benefits assessments by collecting and analyzing real world data while assessing engineering architecture and design. This supports analysis, resulting in more detailed understandings of the market potential, infrastructure requirements, and the level of market penetration needed to enable future systems.
• Track 5—Conduct deployment planning by developing tools and guidelines that give practitioners the information required to make sound decisions on how eventually to deploy and maintain V2I systems.

Ultimately, the results of the V2I safety research program will develop a foundation for developing safety applications supporting infrastructure and vehicle communication.

back to Table of Contents

---

Real-Time Data Capture and Management...

... is the creation and expansion of access to high-quality, real-time, multi-modal transportation data that is captured from connected vehicles (automobiles, buses, trucks, fleets), mobile devices, and infrastructure.

The vision for the Real-Time Data Capture and Management research is the active acquisition and systematic provision of integrated, multi-source data to enhance current operational practices and transform future surface transportation systems management.

---

Research Plan

The objective of the Real-Time Data Capture and Management research program is to enable the development of environments that support the collection, management, integration, and application of real-time transportation data.

Real-time data applications offer an ability to increase highway safety and operational efficiency nationwide. Not only will this data allow travelers to make better informed travel decisions, but public- and private-sector data on all modes and roads can be used to transform transportation management. Real-time data sets also have the potential to support a range of multi-modal mobility applications. Real-time information on parking availability and transit schedules can enable smarter mode choice decisions and efficiencies for travelers. Updated freight movement data assists commercial freight operators with optimizing operations. Overall, the information developed from the Real-Time Data Capture and Management research program will reveal opportunities for achieving greater efficiencies within our transportation systems.

Some types of data that can be captured and managed include: situational safety, environmental conditions, congestion data, and cost information derived from both traditional (traffic management centers, Automated Vehicle Location systems) and non-traditional (mobile devices, Connected Vehicle equipment) sources. Data can also be collected from sources that are generating data on elements of the transportation system such as toll facilities, parking facilities, and transit stations.

Results that are key to success in this research area include:

• Establishment of one or more multi-source data environments for the development and testing of safety, mobility, and environment applications.
• Engagement of stakeholders to assist in defining the requirements for test data environments and to encourage active use of prototypes and test beds.
• Identification of data management processes, operational practices, standards, integration, and rules for data exchange and sharing, particularly across jurisdictions.
• Successful testing that validates assumptions about:
  • The data (availability and accessibility of sources, quality, reliability, consistency, timing, etc.)
  • The management and operational practices (how real-time data capture and use is managed)
  • The benefits, as they are demonstrated through testing of the applications.

Success will be further measured by progress on:

• Synthesis of foundational research to assess the state of the industry.
• Development of a variety of large-scale data sets (utilizing connected vehicles, mobile devices, and infrastructure) for testing transportation management and performance measurement applications.
• Demonstrations of multi-modal and multi-state, real-time data capture and management to show the value of ubiquitous transportation information. Some smaller-scale, real-time data sets may be available for research purposes before 2011.

The ITS Program will use a collaborative, multi-track approach to comprehensively address the Real- Time Data research needs:

• Track 1: Engage stakeholders for input across all phases from foundational analysis to pilot deployment.
• Track 2: Develop data environments and address technical, institutional, and standards issues surrounding the collection and dissemination of data.
• Track 3: Conduct proof-of-concept tests and test standards, procedures, tools, and protocols to produce implementation guidance for a real-world environment.
• Track 4: Conduct pilot deployments and demonstrate the data capture and data management techniques in an operational setting, while giving stakeholders the opportunities to develop systems beyond the life of the program.
• Track 5: Develop evaluation and performance measures.
• Track 6: Coordinate outreach and technology transfer. Test data sets, data collection, and analysis methodologies will be shared with stakeholders with information available to the broader transportation community.

This research program will build on the existing Real-Time Information Market Assessment and the recent Real-Time System Management Information Program. Collaboration is expected from a wide range of stakeholders to help guide the research program. Related U.S. DOT research programs, such as Dynamic Mobility Applications and the AERIS Program (see descriptions below), are anticipated to both define data requirements (and identify information gaps) as well as use real-time data sets that are developed under this program.

back to Table of Contents

---

Dynamic Mobility Applications ...

... are the next generation of applications that transform mobility by providing transportation managers and systems operators with real-time monitoring and management tools to manage mobility between and across modes more effectively and travelers the ability for dynamic decision making. These applications capitalize on vehicle infrastructure connectivity, e.g., data from vehicle probes and other real-time DSRC and non-DSRC data sources.

The vision for dynamic mobility applications research is to provide significant improvements to mobility by: (1) introducing innovative methods for operating existing transportation systems based on the availability of new data sources and communications methods and (2) creating opportunities for greater multi-modal integration.

---

Research Plan

The objective of the Dynamic Mobility Applications Research Program is to identify high-value applications for research and develop the tools, metrics, and concepts that form the foundation for applications development. The applications that will be evaluated are those that enable public-sector, multi-modal system management and:

• Use available vehicle and infrastructure connectivity and data to enable dynamic decision making.
• Allow managers to anticipate problems, be proactive in addressing issues, and rapidly monitor impacts on and across the transportation networks.
• Support emerging work in decision support systems—systems that can assimilate and analyze large volumes of detailed real-time and historic data to provide recommendations in a manner that is most valuable to the user.

Examples of multi-modal dynamic applications may include: measurement and prediction of system performance using probe data generated through DSRC and non-DSRC technologies; increasing intersection safety and efficiency through SPaT and geospatial information map (GID) technology; road weather management; transit management; freight operations; dynamic, real-time route planning and adjustment to emerging incidents; advanced parking management systems; or Integrated Corridor Management.

The first steps in this research program are to:

• Define multi-modal performance metrics that form the basis for decision support systems, tools, and models.
• Collect real-time data for assessment (to include collaboration with the Real-Time Data Capture and Management program).
• Assess data from historical and real-time traffic and travel behavior perspectives to understand what data enables dynamic, proactive decision-making.
• Identify which public-sector, multi-modal dynamic applications might be of highest value and use demonstrations to test the validity of those assumptions with stakeholders.

Success will be measured by progress on the development of a foundational platform (concept of operations, performance specifications, test results, etc.) that could encourage other entities (e.g., private sector entrepreneurs) to develop viable mobility applications. This program will coordinate with a range of stakeholder groups to foster software and application development.

The ITS Program will use a multi-track approach that addresses the breadth of research needs and includes:

• Track 1: Engage stakeholders for input across all phases from foundational analysis to focused demonstrations.
• Track 2: Develop tools that will ultimately enable public and private sector applications development and support application impact assessment while utilizing communications across interoperable platforms.
• Track 3: Conduct proof-of-concept tests for the standards, algorithms, tools, and protocols that will be needed for implementation of the applications.
• Track 4: Conduct focused demonstration and analysis based on a partnership with the Real-Time Data Capture and Management initiative and the AERIS program to demonstrate applications in a market-based environment and assess quantifiable benefits. This track includes conducting a near-term demonstration of market-ready technologies and applications.
• Track 5: Develop evaluation and performance measures.
• Track 6: Coordinate outreach and technology transfer. Well-documented applications, demonstration and proof-of-concept test findings will be shared with stakeholders, with information available to the broader transportation community.

back to Table of Contents

---

Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis (AERIS) ...

... are the capture, synthesis, and delivery of real-time, vehicle- and infrastructure-based, environmentally relevant information to support system management that advances environmental improvements within the transportation system.

The vision for AERIS research is to generate, capture, and analyze data to create actionable information that allows systems users and operators to make "green" transportation choices.

---

Research Plan

The objective of the AERIS research program is four-fold:

1. To enable the public sector to manage transportation for environmental purposes.
2. To establish definitive results on the potential of ITS data to positively affect the environment.
3. To identify potential future regulatory needs for applying information technologies to environmental sustainability.
4. To research the feasibility of integrating numerous, existing environmental data sources with Connected Vehicle technologies and leverage the capability of ubiquitous connectivity to provide real-time, environmentally-relevant actionable information.

At the core of this program is the idea of "facilitating green transportation choices." It is the intent of the program to:

• Support research into the generation, capture, standardization, and use of real-time data present in the transportation system (i.e., connected travelers and infrastructure) to enable environmentally-beneficial choices by system users and system operators.
• Leverage existing research and stakeholder activities to create a unique body of knowledge and experience that demonstrates the most effective uses of ITS to reduce the negative impacts of transportation on the environment.
• Form the foundation for addressing future, long-range efforts to conserve energy, address air and water quality issues, address weather issues, mitigate other environmental impacts of the transportation system, and support likely environmental goals in the new transportation authorization.

Success will be measured by progress on:

• Development of an extensive foundational research program that will inform application and strategy development by both the public and private sectors.
• Identification of the most effective technological solutions.

The ITS Program will use a multi-track, collaborative approach that supports a rigorous research program. The AERIS program will leverage data from vehicles via Connected Vehicle research and data sets to:

• Assess what environmentally-relevant data can currently be acquired.
• Assess if this is the "right" data and if there are data gaps.
• Undertake research that will create the most useful data sets and information to support "green choices."

This foundational research will identify opportunities for further research to develop specific ITS strategies for improving environmental decisions and outcomes by public agencies and consumers.

The research will be comprised of five major tracks:

• Track 1: Survey and build knowledge by comprehensively reviewing the state-of-the-art practice to:
  • Determine the limits of current technology and available data sets.
  • Identify the limits and challenges of monitoring and analysis, including a review of existing models and algorithms.
  • Examine and evaluate where ITS technologies and data can be more effective and contribute maximum value to addressing environmental impacts.
  • Use existing travel models to explore traveler behavior and use existing traffic simulation models to explore the effectiveness of improvement strategies.
• Track 2: Identify candidate strategies and applications that appear to improve environmental decisions by public agencies and travelers (including an assessment of the technology and data needs and cost-benefit analysis).
• Track 3: Analyze and evaluate candidate strategies and applications that make sense for further development and evaluation based on the expectations of their potential contributions.
• Track 4: Demonstrate and test strategies and applications within an Connected Vehicle test bed.
• Track 5: Develop the facts and evidence needed to inform any future policy and regulatory decisions. This analysis will include an exploration of the relationships between traveler behavior and incentives; progress in private-sector application development, commercialization, and development of sustainable markets; the evolution of alternative energy vehicles and their role in mitigating environmental impact; and the ongoing analysis of carbon cap policies, trade policies, and worldwide environmental agreements.

The AERIS program will closely coordinate research with other ITS research programs such as the U.S. DOT's Road-Weather Research Program, the Dynamic Mobility Applications research program, and the Real Time Data Management and Capture research program.

back to Table of Contents

---

Road Weather Connected Vehicle Applications ...

... are the next generation of applications and services that assess, forecast, and address the impacts that weather has on roads, vehicles, and travelers. The applications and services are intended to capitalize on the previous Clarus Initiative research that has delivered a network of road weather information by integrating existing data sources. Through additional research, technology development, and community outreach, the Road Weather Connected Vehicle Applications research will develop greater specificity regarding the impact that weather has on roadways and promote strategies and tools that mitigate those impacts. Such strategies will build upon decision support tools currently undergoing development, testing, and deployment (such as those developed under the Road Weather Management program, e.g., the Clarus Regional Demonstrations and the Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS)).

In close coordination with and cutting across the efforts under the other Connected Vehicle research programs, the vision for the Road Weather Connected Vehicle Applications research is to broaden the foundation of road weather data to include mobile sources and to focus the analysis on improving the ability to detect and forecast road weather and pavement conditions by specific roadway links.

---

Research Plan

The Road Weather Connected Vehicle Applications Program seeks to:

• Improve safety by reducing crash risk due to inclement weather, increase awareness among agencies and users of the real-time conditions, and restore safer driving conditions quicker and more efficiently.
• Increase mobility by restoring capacity, reducing delays, and creating more uniform traffic flow.
• Increase productivity and reduce operation costs by optimizing the use of labor, pavement treatments, and equipment.

The research plan for 2010–2014 has a two- fold focus:

1. The program will continue to invest in high-risk applied research to expand the breadth and capabilities of road weather data sources, technologies, traffic management and decision support tools, and information.
2. The program will coordinate research with the Dynamic Mobility Applications, V2V and V2I Safety, and the AERIS Programs to determine how existing road weather technologies can be optimized by incorporation into the resulting applications from these programs.

The program uses a multi track approach to address the range of activities required for research:

Track 1: Technology and Application Development and Adoption

• Identify and integrate new and expanded road weather data sources (in particular, mobile sources and State and local DOT fleets) that enhance roadway safety, capacity, and efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts.
• Analyze the capability of existing vehicle sensors to collect road weather data.
• Research the characteristics and quality of the data that can be retrieved from vehicles.
• Develop algorithms and capabilities to translate mobile data into useable weather and road condition observations.
• Assess whether existing standards for data collection need to be modified for collecting weather data.
• Refine weather forecasting and transportation models that take advantage of these rich new data sources.

Track 2: Leverage Existing Technologies

Analyze how to maximize the use of available road weather information and technologies for greater safety and operational benefits by:

• Integrating existing observational networks and data management systems.
• Investigating the translational needs and formats for taking existing observational data and making it useable for dynamic mobility or environmental applications.
• Incorporating recent advances in weather-responsive traffic management and decision support tools into operations.
• Improving weather modeling capabilities and forecast tools, such as the road surface and atmospheric interface.
• Enhancing mechanisms for communicating road weather information to users, including transportation officials and the public.

Track 3: Stakeholder Engagement

• Maintain and expand the unique partnership among the public, private, and academic sectors; the transportation and weather communities; and operations and research personnel that has been developed to achieve a multi disciplinary approach to problem solving.
• Engage with the private sector to build new services around the data and applications platforms that result from the research.
• Enhance mechanisms for communicating road weather information to users, including transportation officials and the public.
• Integrate road weather technologies into an information infrastructure.

Track 4: Cross-Cutting Activities

• Enable technology transfer of effective road weather scientific and technological advances into the commercial marketplace.
• Improve education and training of road weather information users, such as State and local transportation officials and private sector transportation contractors.
• Coordinate with transportation weather research programs in other modes, such as aviation.

The Road Weather Connected Vehicle Applications Program will invest in applied research in partnership with industry that addresses high-risk problems whose solutions benefit both manufacturers (in terms of enhanced or new products and markets) and agencies (in terms of being able to procure state-of-the-art technologies).

The program will promote the adoption of advanced technologies, techniques, and tools such as capturing and translating vehicle data into weather and pavement observations and utilizing that data to create more sophisticated applications and integrated decision support systems. The result is a research initiative that benefits state and local agencies, private weather providers, and the traveling public.

back to Table of Contents

---

back to Table of Contents

---

Harmonization of International Standards and Architecture around the Vehicle Platform ...

... is a process through which various stakeholders, vehicle and equipment manufacturers, standards organizations, and governments work together to agree on common standards.

The vision is for the ITS JPO, in partnership with NHTSA, to participate in international standards harmonization activities focusing on standards "around the vehicle platform:" that is, any standards needed to provide connectivity between vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure.

---

Research Plan

The objective of the Standards Harmonization research program is to work with the international standards community to harmonize standards and architecture in order to increase vehicle connectivity. Harmonization facilitates interoperability between products and systems, which can benefit transportation management agencies, vehicle manufacturers, equipment vendors, and others. By overcoming institutional and financial barriers to technology harmonization, stakeholders could realize lower life-cycle costs for the acquisition and maintenance of systems.

Efforts under this research program include collaboration with standards development organizations (SDOs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and other stakeholders to seek agreement and provide appropriate incentives.

The program uses a multi-track approach to address the range of activities required for research:

• Track 1: Establish a U.S. DOT working group, including NHTSA, ITS JPO, and other appropriate representatives.
• Track 2: Develop a program of work identifying specific harmonization efforts that require negotiation with relevant global authorities.
• Track 3: Engage global authorities to seek agreement on the selection of standards requiring harmonization and provide appropriate Federal Government support (possibly funding) for these efforts.
• Track 4: Provide appropriate Federal government support to ensure maintenance of standards.
• Track 5: Monitor ongoing and future global activities to identify harmonization/standardization opportunities.

As a global industry, it is critical to reduce barriers to standardization and achieve a broad agreement on harmonization that can benefit both the public and the motor vehicle industries. To that end, the Department has established a Joint Declaration of Intent on Research Cooperation in Cooperative Systems with the European Union (EU). The purpose of the agreement is to advance cooperation on research for information and communication technologies, as applied to transportation. The U.S. DOT/RITA and the European Commission Information Society and Media Directorate intend to identify the research areas that would benefit from a harmonized approach and which should be addressed by coordinated or joint research. In particular, the parties intend to make efforts to preclude the development and adoption of redundant standards and to support and accelerate the deployment and adoption of Cooperative Systems.

back to Table of Contents

---

Connected Vehicle Human Factors Research ...

... is research that is focused on understanding, assessing, planning for, and counteracting the effects of signals or system-generated messages that take the driver's eyes off the road (visual distraction), the driver's mind off the driving task (cognitive distraction), and the driver's hands off the steering wheel (manual distraction).

The vision for the Human Factors research is to address the number of new, competing visual and audible stimuli that create increasing demands for the driver's attention and comparatively greater driver workload in order to ensure that Connected Vehicle applications and technologies are not distracting.

---

Research Plan

Operating the radio, eating, passenger noise, and fatigue are among a variety of distractions that drivers have always encountered. With the recent growth in technologies and portable devices used in vehicles, drivers now face an increasing number of distractions, further highlighting the need for human factors research.

The objective of the research program in Human Factors for Connected Vehicle is to assess, counteract, and ultimately eliminate possible driver distraction from Connected Vehicle technologies. The program aims to research and implement technology-based solutions that could deter drivers from multitasking and reduce vehicular sources of distraction.

Using a cooperative and cost-sharing approach, the program will work with NHTSA and other DOT agencies and vehicle manufacturers, operators, and equipment suppliers. This collaborative effort will raise public awareness about the distracted driving problem and encourage vehicle and equipment manufacturers to design interfaces with minimal demands on driver workload. The program goals outlined below will guide the overall research. Success factors include the ability to:

• Lower the frequency with which drivers multitask, to reduce their exposure to risk.
• Reduce the complexity of distracting tasks and reduce demands on driver attention.
• Manage the multitasking options that drivers can make, to avoid overloading them.
• Assist distracted drivers through in-vehicle technologies that monitor their attention status and provide feedback on unsafe behaviors and potential crashes.

Similar to the other research programs, the Human Factors Research program will use a multi-track approach for this research:

• Track 1: Define the problem by identifying the types of distractions that contribute to crashes. Distraction is anything that diverts the driver's attention from navigating the vehicle, and it often fits into more than one category. For example, eating is visual and manual, while using a navigation system is visual, manual, and cognitive.
• Track 2: Develop and evaluate performance metrics for distraction mitigation. By monitoring new technology interfaces and developing best practices, objective test procedures can be developed to assess distraction and usability of production vehicles and nomadic technologies.
• Track 3: Produce an integration strategy that allows nomadic systems to be functionally integrated with vehicle-based systems to optimize the driver/vehicle interface. Integration reduces interface complexity and multitasking. In addition, real-time distraction monitoring systems that provide distraction alerts or messages are potential areas of integration research.
• Track 4: Develop longer-term exposure testing through field operational experiments to determine safety impacts of crash warning technologies and their effects on long-term driver behavior that could affect the safety of distracted drivers.
• Track 5: Perform strategic outreach with stakeholders to identify requirements, information needs, and usability issues, so that the program and its results are publicly acceptable.

The Human Factors Research program is a highly collaborative effort that addresses the effectiveness of safety applications by evaluating any potential issues around driver distraction. The program will work toward mitigating any distracting by products from using In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVIS) and develop technology-based solutions.

back to Table of Contents

---

Connected Vehicle Systems Engineering ...

... is a structured process by which a system is logically, physically, and functionally defined. The outcome of implementing a systems engineering process is a set of documents that describe a system's architecture, interfaces, and requirements.

The vision for the systems engineering research is to update the Connected Vehicle Concept of Operation to include the broadening of the scope of the concept, update the System Architecture to accommodate the new definition of the system, and provide recommendations for updates to standards that define system elements. A contractor will execute the process that will convert stakeholder requirements into the new system definition. From this process will emerge the first set of security requirements for Connected Vehicle.

---

Research Plan

The existing documents that describe the technology platform for Connected Vehicle —the concept of operations, the architecture, the standards interfaces, and the system requirements—are based on the work done to establish the VII system and the requirements of the DSRC technologies. In 2008, the VII architecture was opened up to include both DSRC- and non-DSRC-based technologies, and the program became the Connected Vehicle Program.

To complete the research needed for the Connected Vehicle technology, a systems engineering process will be used to update the critical foundational documents. In using the systems engineering approach, the ITS Program looks to ensure that the final products are comprehensive and thorough.

A critical first task will be the solicitation of requirements from Connected Vehicle stakeholders. Representatives from the following ITS industries will be invited to participate in requirements gathering workshops: the automotive industry, the transportation management industry, the traffic signal controller industry, the telecommunications industry, the commercial vehicle operators (CVO), the vehicle aftermarket and retrofit providers, transit operators, and rail operators. These workshops will occur in 2010 and form the basis for the iterative development of updated and new documents that will include:

• A revised Concept of Operations (ConOps) that is based on a set of User Needs workshops that include public-sector transportation managers, the automobile industry, traffic signal controller industry, telecommunications industry, commercial vehicle operators, transit operators, rail operators, and vehicle and aftermarket providers. The ConOps will be prepared in accordance with standard systems engineering practices. Additionally, the ConOps will consider ongoing efforts in Europe and Asia.
• Analysis and development of a set of revised, refined requirements for the core system of Connected Vehicle. These requirements are not for the Connected Vehicle applications but, instead, define the key interface requirements that govern how applications will gain access to Connected Vehicle capabilities and services.
• A set of alternative system architectures for Connected Vehicle that will allow for further analysis and stakeholder review. The architecture documents will describe:
  • The physical architecture that identifies all system components.
  • The security architecture that describes how security and privacy will be handled, as well as the consideration of alternative implementations of the anonymity by design approach.
  • A functional architecture that identifies all major functions performed within Connected Vehicle and allocates those functions to system components.
• Development of Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation (AMS) tools to assess the feasibility and trade-offs of the system architectures proposed for Connected Vehicle and examine performance issues related to the different technical solutions.

The workshop will be the first attempt at defining security requirements for Connected Vehicle. Security requirements occur at a number of levels:

• Physical security associated with the Connected Vehicle infrastructure, hardware, facilities, and staff. This type of security is typically governed by laws and procedures in place with public- and private-sector organizations responsible for existing infrastructure. Under the policy research plan, these laws and procedures will be reviewed to understand their relevance to Connected Vehicle.
• Data, software, and communications security that focuses on the credentials that determines who can communicate with and in the Connected Vehicle environment. From a technical perspective, the ITS Program will develop processes that establish the trust relationship between communicating partners. For instance, this may be accomplished by adding a signature to each transmitted message or by establishing a certification process that determines what equipment is allowed to interact with the Connected Vehicle system. From a policy perspective, this security is based on certifying who (travelers, drivers, system operators) can interact with the Connected Vehicle and how credentials are managed; options for certification will be a part of the policy research (see section on Certification and Policy).

back to Table of Contents

---

Connected Vehicle Certification ...

... is the process of ensuring that system components meet the necessary requirements to perform as intended. Certification ensures that components that are manufactured according to Connected Vehicle requirements will be trusted by the system and by users.

The vision for the Certification research is to work in close cooperation with public and private partners to establish appropriate certification requirements for equipment.

---

Research Plan

A successful Connected Vehicle deployment must address the inherent risks to consumer safety, security, and privacy associated with a system breakdown. With national interoperability comes the opportunity to establish national standards and criteria for certification of individual products that will have access to the system, system processes, and operational procedures. Because this is a new high-risk industry without an established consumer base, the Federal Government finds that an appropriate role is to work with industry to develop certification processes and procedures independently. The ultimate form that a certifying entity would take, and the role of Government in oversight and enforcement of requirements are yet to be determined and will be investigated as part of both the technical research program as well as the Connected Vehicle Policy research program.

Certification research will be primarily focused on understanding the needs for device compliance, system security, and privacy requirements. The ITS Program will conduct the following research activities in support of certification:

• Policy Research Related to Certification — Establish a forum for solving policy-related issues, including determining what is to be certified, what entity is responsible for certification, and what parties need to obtain certification. This research is included within the Connected Vehicle policy research program, and it is envisioned that government (U.S. DOT and State/local) will have the lead role in this research area.
• Technical Requirements for Certification— Define what level of items within a device or what interfaces need to be certified and how to accomplish the certification. It is envisioned that Government and industry will share responsibility for this area of work. However, Government will have a primary role in funding developments prior to a consumer market emerging for certified products. Government will serve as an enabler and coordinator of this function.
• Implementation Support and Oversight — Executing the planned certification scheme will likely be done by a third-party entity. This includes development of test tools and methods. However, Government may have a role in assisting with start-up, and in overseeing operation and adherence to standards. This implies an ongoing operational role for Government beyond the scope of research.

Milestones for certification activities must match related milestones in the other program roadmaps. For instance, a 2013 milestone for potential rulemaking on equipment requirements in vehicles must be matched by a similar milestone to have certification requirements and processes established in time for implementation of the rule. More specific milestones will be established in conjunction with the development of the individual program roadmaps.

back to Table of Contents

---

Connected Vehicle Test Environment(s) ...

... are real-world, operational test beds that offer the supporting vehicles, infrastructure, and equipment to serve the needs of public- and private-sector Connected Vehicle testing and certification activities.

The vision for the test environment research is to establish a minimum of one test bed that can support continued research, testing, and demonstration of Connected Vehicle concepts, standards, applications, and innovative products. Test environments will also serve as a precursor or foundation for State and local Connected Vehicle deployments. They are expected to generate sustainable markets for the private sector, as the test environment will enable products and applications that will deliver benefits to State and local consumers who purchase them.

---

Research Plan

A key element in the culmination of the VII research was a set of proof-of-concept tests that were conducted in 2008 using field (roadside) installations in Michigan and California, with a network control center located in a Herndon, Virginia facility. The findings from this testing form the foundation of this ITS Strategic Research Plan, and its recommendations are reflected in the structure of the Connected Vehicle technology, applications, and policy research programs.

In early 2009, with the re-branding of the VII initiative as "Connected Vehicle, the Department has been assessing its options with regard to the test bed in Michigan. Although there are known limitations with the current facility, it represents a major investment on the part of the Department and has great potential value in carrying out the anticipated tests and demonstrations described within this next five-year research plan.

To realize and maximize that value, the Department is conducting two concurrent activities pertaining to the Michigan test bed:

• One activity is to stabilize the test bed operating environment and open it up to industry for supporting continued research and demonstration.
• Another activity is to procure a Systems Engineering Contractor that will review, revise, and upgrade the existing VII documentation to make it consistent with the new vision of Connected Vehicle (see Systems Engineering).

An additional focus of this effort is to develop and prototype a set of generic management processes, equipment, and back-end services that are needed in support of test bed operations and, eventually, Connected Vehicle deployments. These processes, equipment, and services will be the mechanism that enables the management, oversight, and general operations of the Connected Vehicle system at all levels (State, local, regional, national, as appropriate). They will be developed and prototyped at the Michigan test bed but will be extensible to all early test beds and early deployments.

back to Table of Contents

---

Connected Vehicle Policy and Institutional Issues

Connected Vehicle Policy and Institutional Issues Research is the research and analysis that will:

• Address policy and institutional issues that limit or challenge successful Connected Vehicle deployment.
• Formulate recommendations and options.
• Identify how key partners and industry will contribute to the development of actions that will move the Connected Vehicle research and deployment forward.

The vision for the Policy research is one of a collaborative effort among the Department, key industry stakeholders, vehicle manufacturers, state and local governments, and representative associations. Collectively, this group will structure and conduct a research agenda that results in the successful deployment of Connected Vehicle for the Nation.

Research Plan

The first track of the research is focused on developing a set of systems definitions of Connected Vehicle or deployment scenarios that describe alternative visions for how Connected Vehicle might result in deployment for the Nation. The deployment scenarios will enable stakeholders to identify infrastructure requirements and the minimum level of infrastructure needed to gain the maximum benefit.

Alternative deployment scenarios also form the basis for the Department, stakeholders, and experts to further research and analyze Connected Vehicle opportunities and options. Additional tracks will build from these deployment scenarios to research:

• Track 2: Financing and Investment Models:
  • How will Connected Vehicle be funded and/or financed and by whom?
• Track 3: Governance Models:
  • What elements of the Connected Vehicle system need to be governed?
  • What are options for doing so?
• Track 4: Institutional Issues:
  • What are the major institutional, legal, and policy issues that limit or challenge successful Connected Vehicle deployment? How can they be resolved?
  • How do we address public concerns for privacy and ensure that applications do not cause distracted driving?

Answers to these critical questions are at the core of whether Connected Vehicle will be deployed. While research may result in convergence around one viable deployment scenario, it is possible that it may also result in multiple, feasible scenarios. A fifth track of research has been defined to compare the alternative scenarios for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks; analyze the trade-offs; and develop recommendations for a robust policy and institutional foundation for Connected Vehicle deployment.

back to Table of Contents

---

back to Table of Contents

---

Active Traffic Management

... are the market-ready technologies and innovative operational approaches for managing traffic congestion within the existing infrastructure.

The vision for Active Traffic Management research is to allow transportation agencies to increase traffic flow, improve travel time reliability, and optimize available capacity throughout the transportation network.

---

Research Plan

Active Traffic Management (ATM) offers significant potential for reducing freeway congestion without the need for building additional lanes or infrastructure. By using real-time information and technologies, transportation managers can optimize available capacity, increase traffic flow, improve travel time reliability, decrease primary/secondary incidents, and improve the uniformity of driver behavior.

The program builds upon existing research to establish an operational concept and analyze enabling technologies. Due to the deployment of innovative ATM practices in countries outside the U.S., the program will incorporate an assessment of existing international efforts and realized benefits.

Although there are several efforts underway, there is no cohesive effort to bring the results from these projects together to provide actionable guidance, algorithms, models, or requirements. A need exists to develop a research test environment that would include a simulation test bed, data test bed, and model deployment evaluation to bring the existing research efforts together.

An existing effort to develop the ATM Concept will provide basic foundational research and directly contribute to furthering ATM. Preliminary results indicate that current technological research in algorithms, decision support systems, real-time modeling, data needs, and system impact from ATM is still limited. As a result, the initial program efforts will focus on addressing system engineering issues and basic technology and data gaps. The program will pursue research along several tracks:

• Track 1: Finalize the development of an Active Traffic Management (ATM) Concept of Operations.
• Track 2: Identify the requirements necessary to support the Concept of Operations.
• Track 3: Develop algorithms, rules, and processing software based on requirements.
• Track 4: Produce real-time data needed for ATM application, which will include identifying the necessary fidelity and granularity. Examine data from various sources; for example, from fixed and mobile sensing technologies.
• Track 5: Create and evaluate a simulation test bed that can reveal potential ATM benefits.
• Track 6: Fully scope an operational test and evaluation of the benefits of combining variable speed limits (VSL) and automated speed enforcement (ASE) technology, which are two promising ATM strategies.

The ATM research program will assist transportation agencies in moving from monitoring and responding to congestion problems to an operational strategy that influences traffic flow rates, capacity, and demand throughout the transportation network. The Concept of Operations this program establishes leads to the development of performance criteria and traffic management techniques that safely optimizes the flow of traffic.

back to Table of Contents

---

Smart Roadside ...

... is the development of roadside infrastructure for commercial vehicle operations that employs technologies for information sharing.

The vision for Smart Roadside research is to demonstrate, evaluate, and deploy interoperable technology and improved data sharing to improve safety, security, operational efficiency, and mobility on the Nation's freight transportation system.

---

Research Plan

The Intelligent and Efficient Border Crossings project is a joint modal initiative between FHWA and FMCSA. The Smart Roadside program encompasses technology and information sharing research efforts with commercial vehicle roadside elements that are crucial to the missions of the Department. The objectives of the program are to:

• Manage the flow of commercial vehicle traffic.
• Prevent and respond to crashes and other incidents in a timely manner.
• Focus enforcement resources on high-risk carriers, vehicles, and drivers.
• Ensure timely transport of goods to the marketplace.
• Reduce unnecessary delays for commercial vehicles, leading to reduced energy consumption and emissions.
• Preserve the roadway infrastructure.

In support of the Smart Roadside Initiative, FMCSA and FHWA will:

• Fund selected tests, demonstrations, and deployments.
• Coordinate with state and industry representatives to identify promising applications of Smart Roadside infrastructure.
• Coordinate the development of the necessary architecture and standards.
• Develop appropriate guiding principles.
• Document the business case for the Smart Roadside.
• Develop/implement a deployment strategy.
• Maintain a Smart Roadside roadmap and projects database to coordinate FMCSA, FHWA, and other related programs/projects.
• Facilitate stakeholder collaboration.
• Seek collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency.

back to Table of Contents

---

Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks (CVISN) Core and Expanded Program ...

... is a collection of information systems and communications networks that are owned and operated by governments, motor carriers, and other stakeholders that support commercial vehicle operations (CVO).

The vision for this program is to implement core CVISN and Expanded CVISN to improve the safety and productivity of motor carriers and their drivers and reduce regulatory and administrative costs for public- and private-sector stakeholders through improved data sharing, electronic credentialing, and targeted automated screenings and Research Plan enforcement of high-risk carriers at the roadside.

---

Research Plan

CVISN is a framework or "architecture" that assists transportation agencies, motor carrier organizations, and other stakeholders in planning and deploying integrated networks and systems. Use of the CVISN Architecture for planning and deployment enables agencies and the motor carrier industry to integrate systems to share data. Working together in this manner greatly leverages the capability of the individual systems, allowing agencies and firms to accomplish more than they could independently in a more cost effective and timely manner.

As a flexible framework, CVISN allows FMCSA the ability to ensure that technological advances, updates to the National ITS Architecture, and other research that might impact motor carriers are considered and incorporated. There are two levels of CVISN functionality for States and motor carrier firms:

• Core CVISN functionality provides specific capabilities in three areas:
  • Safety information exchange
  • Electronic credentialing
  • Electronic screening
• Expanded CVISN leverages the functionality of the Core CVISN systems to provide further capabilities for:
  • Driver information sharing
  • Enhanced safety information sharing and data quality
  • Smart roadside
  • Expanded electronic credentialing.

The objective of this research program is to support FMCSA in continuing the grant funding and oversight that has facilitated progress in establishing CVISN in fifty States. This partnership between the ITS JPO and FMCSA to fund and coordinate CVISN with the National ITS Architecture was established in previous legislations. Although the program is well on its way to meeting its stated goals, the funding will be continued through the new authorization when it is anticipated that the authority and funding responsibility for the CVISN Program will be ceded to FMCSA. Until that transition, the key elements of this effort will include:

• Support for deployment of core and expanded CVISN capabilities.
• Support for the ITS/CVO CVISN Program.
• Technical support for ITS/CVO training and CVISN Deployment Workshops.
• Program, research, and policy Support for the ITS/CVO CVISN Program.

back to Table of Contents

---

Intelligent and Efficient Border Crossings ...

... are ITS applications that use variable toll pricing, advanced traveler information systems, electronic screening, and other technologies to improve safety and mobility, reduce emissions, and improve security at our Nation's borders.

The vision for the research on Intelligent and Efficient Border Crossings is to enable the implementation of innovative ITS solutions for a bi-national border system that ultimately improve safety and mobility, reduce emissions, and facilitate trade and travel without compromising the vital mission of securing America's borders.

---

Research Plan

The Intelligent and Efficient Border Crossings project is a joint modal initiative between the ITS JPO, FHWA, and FMCSA that is focused on using ITS to create safer, less congested, and more environmentally-sustainable border crossings.

The research under this initiative is two-fold:

• At a U.S.-Mexican border site, the Department will collaborate on and support the development of a plan for a tolling system that can accommodate dynamic pricing at the border. Currently, Caltrans, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), and Mexican agencies are planning a third border crossing to reduce delays caused by traffic congestion, better accommodate projected trade and travel demand, and increase economic growth and job opportunities on both sides of the border without sacrificing border safety and security. This opportunity allows all parties involved to plan a holistic approach to ITS at the new border crossing that enables a "Clean, Green, and Smart Border." The ITS components/areas included in this research are: electronic toll collection systems, border wait-time monitoring systems, variable pricing of tolls to reduce wait times, enhanced border security systems, and advanced traveler information systems. It will be the first North American international land border crossing project that proposes the use of nontraditional transportation project financing to improve capacity and operation of an international land border crossing.
  
  A key aspect of this research initiative is to examine and develop marketing strategies such as discounting for lower emission trucks (promoting a green border); advance toll payment (pre-payment discounting); and guaranteed usage, as well as to determine what ITS and technology are needed to implement these strategies. If this research is not undertaken, no model will exist to encourage other border crossing regions to consider innovative financing and solutions to border infrastructure and operations issues.
• At a U.S.-Canadian border site, the U.S. DOT will support the development of a detailed plan for implementing the International Border Crossing — Electronic Screening System (IBC E-Screening) for trucks, motor coaches, and buses. IBC E-Screening is an alert-based system expediting the safe and legal flow of freight and passengers across northern and southern U.S. borders while targeting unsafe operations.

The IBC E-Screening component of this project leverages investment in the FMCSA Query Central-to-Customs and Border Protection's Automated Commercial Environment/ International Trade Data System (QC-ACE/ITDS) to provide an automated, data-driven approach to selection of vehicles for inspection at the border. This system enables uniform and consistent application of policies and procedures related to safety and compliance assurance of cross-border commercial traffic. The data will be augmented to include verification of more than 20 additional screening factors and enable identification and full safety/compliance verification of carriers, trucks, trailers, and drivers electronically within three seconds or less of a truck's presentation at the processing point rather than the current 15-minute manual process.

Additionally, at this second site, research will center on the implementation of IBC EScreening to assess the feasibility of reducing large truck crashes using an automated tool. This tool has several functions:

• Electronically identifies the carrier, truck, trailer, and driver data associated with commercial truck trips entering the U.S. at land ports using radio frequency identification (RFID), which exists on approximately 90 percent of trucks.
• Electronically screens each trip component for factors of interest to State and FMCSA inspectors, providing for full safety and compliance verification of carriers, trucks, trailers, and drivers each time they enter the U.S.
• Displays screening results to State and FMCSA enforcement officers and inspectors to assist them in making more informed inspection selection decisions in fixed and mobile operations and mainline and ramp settings, significantly increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations.
• Enables data monitoring/reporting by States and FMCSA to better position each organization to fulfill its mission.

At both sites, FHWA and FMCSA will research the use of DSRC (5.9 GHz) technologies and determine how implementation might maximize opportunities to work with Canada and Mexico on the potential to improve safety and operations in border regions.

back to Table of Contents

---

Multi-Modal Integrated Payment Systems ...

... are integrated, interoperable electronic fare payment systems that can be utilized by all modes at all times.

The vision for the Multi-Modal Integrated Payment Systems research is to deliver to travelers the ease of use and convenience that comes from one payment system that can be used across modes. Transportation agencies will benefit from simplified transactions, streamlined revenue collection, improved efficiency, and lower transaction costs.

---

Research Plan

This research program assesses the impediments to deploying multi-modal, integrated payment systems (MMIPS) and identifies whether there are opportunities for markets and business models that would lead to sustainable markets for these technologies. While the private sector has done much to develop and deploy electronic payment technologies for transit and tolling systems, further research is needed to extend these systems across all modes by addressing interoperability.

The FTA and the FHWA will cooperatively investigate the potential for multimodal, integrated payment systems. In partnership, they will build upon previous research into electronic fare payment systems, tolling systems, parking reservation and payment systems, standards, and back-end financial transaction models that currently support transit and highway systems. New research will begin with a feasibility assessment of integrated systems, including analysis of new and emerging technologies and models for operations, financial transactions, and consumer electronics capabilities. This first phase will assess the platform of various electronic payment techniques and technologies, such as smart cards, bank-owned cards, cell phones, personal digital devices (e.g., BlackBerry, iPod), and transponders.

Further research will be conducted to determine the ITS standards needed to create an open architecture environment. Research will also be done to evaluate the technological capabilities and flexibility for identifying and assigning fees based on usage of the system. Finally, research will be conducted to identify benefits and costs.

If it is determined that an integrated, multi-modal system is technologically feasible, non-technical research will address institutional issues and customer acceptance, assess market opportunities, analyze back-office clearinghouse operations, and develop one or more business models for consideration in developing policy options.

The research is expected to result in the demonstration and evaluation of an integrated system comprised of transit bus service, parking, and tolls.

back to Table of Contents

---

ITS Maritime Applications ...

... are transportation technologies applied within intermodal freight transfers between port, marine highway, truck, and rail. More than 90 percent of the Nation's imported and exported goods move by water and over one billion tons of domestic freight travels annually on America's Marine Highways.

The vision for the ITS Maritime Applications research is to investigate the range of ITS applications that can provide greater operational efficiencies within the maritime environment.

---

Research Plan

Using waterborne transportation for moving freight can help mitigate landslide congestion, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and conserve energy. Despite these benefits, inefficiencies within the first and last travel legs of freight delivery can make waterborne transportation cost prohibitive.

Effective application of ITS technologies can lead to greater resource efficiencies and increased system performance. Some examples of ITS applications include:

• Optimized scheduling for waterborne freight arrival and transit, which increases system capacity and reduces fuel consumption by minimizing delays.
• Providing real-time weather information to improve safety operations for vessels.
• Coordinating truck and container move scheduling to reduce wasted trips and unnecessary empty containers moves.

The ITS maritime technology research will be conducted in two phases:

• The first phase will begin with a series of stakeholder workshops that focus on two outcomes: (1) identifying opportunities for increased efficiency and lowering the cost of intermodal maritime services, and (2) determining the most appropriate ITS application(s) to meet the objectives.

The results of this first phase of research is expected to result in:

• Identification of ITS applications that are specific to Marine Highway services and that will minimize waste and optimize resource utilization in the intermodal transfer during the first and last leg of freight deliveries.
• Describe performance measures for evaluating the applications' efficiencies and public benefit.
• Quantify public benefits of increased Marine Highway utilization.

Phase two research will focus on deploying selected pilot projects. The research will establish a baseline for service and determine potential efficiencies and cost savings. Performance measurement evaluations will be conducted to test and validate the efficiencies and benefits produced from these applications. Upon project completion, the Maritime Administration and the ITS Program will determine whether to deploy additional ITS deployments and develop best practices for fleet-wide dissemination.

back to Table of Contents

---

back to Table of Contents

---

ITS Rail Exploratory Initiative ...

... is a research effort designed to explore whether Connected Vehicle offers increased safety benefits within the rail environment. The research will also determine the requirements for rail-based communications and ITS technologies.

The vision for the ITS Rail Exploratory Initiative research is to improve rail safety and lower operational costs through real-time data exchange and ITS applications.

---

Research Plan

The objective of this exploratory research initiative is to determine whether V2V or V2I Connected Vehicle application can offer potential safety benefits for commuter, freight, or heavy rail. The research will also focus on the feasibility of developing applications.

Currently, Connected Vehicle safety applications address the automobile platform and use DSRC. This research will investigate if DSRC is appropriate for rail-to-rail, rail-to-infrastructure, or rail-to-automobile communications. Additionally, this research will assess if existing rail communications or other modes of communication (Cellular, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, etc.) can be used for rail safety applications.

The research questions will focus on the current communication capabilities used within the rail environment, and how these technologies might interface with DSRC communications. Rail cars, including locomotives, have different architectures than automobiles, potentially adding greater complexity to Connected Vehicle rail applications. In particular, the institutional and policy issues will need to be assessed, as the business, policy, and jurisdictional models employed within the rail industry differ significantly from other transportation industries.

If the V2V and V2I safety applications for heavy rail and other rail modes are feasible, the benefits to travelers are immense and include lives saved through improved safety and lower repair costs for the infrastructure and rail vehicles.

Areas that will be assessed for their viability to implement Connected Vehicle communications technologies and safety applications include the following:

• Positive train control (PTC) for freight and commuter rail
• Communication-based train control (CBTC) on commuter, heavy rail, and light rail
• Grade crossing and blocked crossing for commuter rails
• Vehicle and track surveillance (Right-of-Way or intrusion detection) on commuter, heavy rail, and light rail.

The research will be led by the FTA and involve a partnership with the FRA, transit experts, and stakeholders. The research will investigate the development and adoption of standards for data interoperability and communication between rail vehicles, rail to light vehicles, and rail to infrastructure. It will develop one or more business models that support sustainability and industry innovation, and it will investigate national policy and regulations. Finally, the research will identify target markets or locations for potential application demonstrations which will be determined after the feasibility research is successfully completed.

back to Table of Contents

---

ITS Technology Transfer

Technology transfer is a new element in the ITS Program. It reflects a desire to institute a process that is focused on ensuring that the results of ITS research become commercially viable and are adopted by the transportation community. While the function has yet to be fully defined, there are multiple efforts being pursued by the ITS Program:

• Research will be initiated to review best practices in technology transfer at other Federal and State agencies, National Laboratories, and universities. NASA, for instance, has a well-established set of procedures for facilitating research products to market and for addressing associated issues around patents, licenses, intellectual property, and market incentivization.
• An important function of the Connected Vehicle test beds is to support technology transfer and learning. The technology transfer function will coordinate closely with the ITS Professional Capacity Building (PCB) and the ITS Communications and Outreach programs.

ITS Professional Capacity Building

The goal of the ITS PCB Program is to provide the knowledge and technology transfer required by a multi-modal ITS workforce in support of effective deployment and use of ITS technologies. Adoption of new technologies, in particular, fast and successful adoption is highly dependent upon a workforce that is:

• Aware of the new technologies and research results;
• Knowledgeable about procurement and specifications;
• Skilled in incorporating them into existing systems;
• Trained to oversee the implementation process from a systems perspective; and
• Capable of putting them into use.

To ensure that the new as well as existing ITS technologies are effectively transferred into use, the ITS PCB Program strategy is being restructured and reinvigorated to address the new and anticipated challenges. This new focus is intended to complement the traditional focus that has provided an effective approach to meeting public- and private sector workforce development needs over the years.

Key elements of a refocused program include: continued training on effective deployment skills; migration to new web-based and virtual training technologies; significant upgrades to the ITS Standards training resources; and establishment of new partnerships, such as with University Transportation Centers, to create additional depth and breadth for ITS training and education.

ITS Evaluation

The objective of the ITS Evaluation program is to determine the effectiveness and benefits of deployed ITS and the value of ITS program investments. Evaluations are critical to ensuring progress toward the vision of integrated intelligent transportation systems and achieving ITS deployment goals. Evaluations are also critical to an understanding of the value, effectiveness, and impacts of the ITS Program activities and to allow for the continual refinement of the ITS Program's strategy.

To that end, a new ITS Deployment Evaluation program plan is under development that will define six newly refined processes for measuring the impacts of deployments.

1. ITS Research Evaluation — Planning for, conducting, and reporting on independent evaluations of ITS Program research activities.
2. ITS Deployment Tracking Surveys — Planning for and developing deployment tracking surveys and analyzing the results.
3. ITS Deployment Evaluation — Planning for, conducting, and reporting on evaluations of deployments conducted outside of the ITS Research Program.
4. ITS Program Evaluation — Planning for, conducting, and reporting on the overall effectiveness of the ITS Program. 40 ITS Strategic Research Plan, 2010–2014
5. Knowledge Management — Collecting, organizing, and analyzing information and findings from research, deployment, program evaluations, and deployment tracking surveys.
6. Knowledge Transfer — Reporting research, deployment, and program evaluation results and implications to stakeholders both internal and external to ITS. Identifying and applying Knowledge Transfer "best practices," including user-friendly media and formats, user skill-building efforts, application demonstrations, etc., to encourage and facilitate deployment.

With the capture of new ITS deployment tracking data, the ITS Evaluation program will continue to add to the successful, on-line ITS Benefits, ITS Costs, and ITS Lessons Learned databases. New research is planned to measure the impact of the previous ITS initiatives; and new analysis is being initiated to measure value of ITS investment and ITS research.

ITS Outreach and Communications

The ITS Program is dedicated to publicizing the results of research and ensuring the transfer of knowledge and technology to stakeholders within the Department and externally. This is the primary purpose of the outreach and communications function. Outreach is targeted at supporting the ITS research programs with technical reports and design of stakeholder interactions through meetings and forums. Additional outreach activities will include upgrading and maintaining the ITS Program website, exploring new media and methods for communicating with stakeholders, developing and distributing publications and materials, exhibiting at industry trade shows, and coordinating with RITA Office of Public Affairs for media events and communication.

back to Table of Contents

---

Benefits

The benefits of a transformed transportation system — one that is fully connected, information-rich, and able to address safety, mobility, and environmental impacts — are wide-ranging and powerful. They will be felt by every one of us, delivering greater livability to our communities and to our daily lives.

The concept of transportation connectivity, once it has developed from research into deployment, will bring with it benefits that we are just beginning to understand:

• Travelers are the primary beneficiaries. They will experience improved safety of travel, including reduction in fatalities, injuries, and the costs associated with crashes. Travelers will also benefit from real-time, multimodal information that will lead to more efficient and eco-friendly choices regarding travel routes and modal choices. For instance, informed travelers may decide to avoid congestion by taking alternate modes such as walking, biking, or public transit; by rescheduling their trip; or by taking alternate routes.
• Transportation agencies benefit by being able to see and respond dynamically to conditions on the transportation network as they evolve and expand across all of the modes. Operators will have the tools to manage the multi-modal system more efficiently, saving fuel, and reducing environmental impact. For example, data generated by Connected Vehicle systems can provide transportation operations centers with detailed, real-time data on traffic volume, speeds, transit schedule status, parking availability, evolving weather conditions, and other roadway conditions. This information can be used to optimize the transit capacity, traffic signal timing or ramp meter operations, corridor management, incident and emergency response, variable speed limits, dynamic road pricing, road weather surface treatments, and improved real-time travel alerts and advisories, among others.
• Industry benefits with the introduction of a new marketplace in support of Connected Vehicle technologies, applications, and new, creative products and services. A key component of each of the research programs described in this ITS Strategic Research Plan is the focus on catalyzing new markets and the assurance that resulting policy will support market growth; in fact, successful Connected Vehicle adoption will rely upon the ability of private markets to efficiently bring products and services to consumers across the Nation.
• Industry will also benefit from efficiencies delivered by Connected Vehicle deployments. Organizations that engage in freight and passenger transportation, in particular, will find that the seamless, real-time information enabled by Connected Vehicle translates into greater economic productivity, administrative cost savings, and profits. System and operational efficiencies will be gained through real-time information on system conditions, routing recommendations, vehicle diagnostics, and fleet and capacity usage. Connected Vehicle will also enable interoperable operations and real-time data sharing and exchange to facilitate automated screening, inspections, credentialing, and other processes. Further, for those organizations that provide information services, Connected Vehicle will deliver a more ubiquitous range of data sources for developing new applications and services.

back to Table of Contents

---

Conclusion

Collectively, the component programs of the ITS Strategic Research Plan form a cohesive approach to achieving the vision of a connected transportation environment and demonstrating that transformation of our transportation system is possible.

It is the nature of research that, as answers emerge for these and other questions, new questions will arise. Therefore, this research plan will remain flexible; the ITS Program leadership is committed to tracking progress against milestones and providing programmatic reviews in order to adjust to new needs and changing directions in policy, technology, and the marketplace. However, the focus and vision of the program will remain consistent—to research and facilitate the delivery of a multi-modal surface transportation system that features a connected transportation environment among vehicles, the infrastructure, and portable devices to serve the public good by leveraging technology to maximize safety, mobility, and environmental performance.

Consistent with this administration's commitment to open government, the ITS Program will implement program management processes that assure:

• Transparency to provide citizens with information about what the ITS Program is doing so that it can be held accountable.
• Participation to actively solicit expertise from outside Washington so that it makes policies with the benefit of the best information.
• Collaboration that ensures that agencies work together with one another and with citizens as part of doing their job of solving national problems.

In conclusion, over the next five years, the ITS Program:

• Is committed to ITS research and specifically to Connected Vehicle. This Plan is intended to frame out a multi-year research process that brings research into implementation.
• Intends to move the state-of-the-art forward with a concerted focus on the Department's highest priority—safety.

This Plan harnesses powerful trends in wireless technologies, both DSRC and non-DSRC, to pursue their innovative application to transportation and transform the system as we know it.

back to Table of Contents

---

Endnotes

¹ The full ITS Strategic Research Plan will be available on the ITS JPO website (www.its.dot.gov) in May 2010. (back)

² See ITS Research Results: ITS Program Plan 2008 at:
http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/30000/30800/30867/ITS_Research_Results__ITS_Program_Plan_2008_-_ITS_Report.pdf. (back)

³ NHTSA Traffic Safety Fact Sheet at:
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811170.pdf. (back)

⁴ NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Traffic Safety Facts: Research Note, October 2009 at:
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811226.pdf. (back)

⁵ Blincoe, A., Seay E., Zaloshingia, T., et al. The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2000. May 2002. NHTSA Report No. DOT HS 809 446. (back)

⁶ Schrank, David and Lomax, Tim, 2009 Urban Mobility Report, Texas Transportation Institute, July 2009
http://mobility.tamu.edu. (back)

⁷ EPA and Centers for Disease Control statistics at:   (back)

• http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/1069
• https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10_244.pdf
• https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5608a.htm

⁸ Internal NHTSA analysis. (back)

⁹ FMCSA, 2007 Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts, 2007. January 2009, FMCSA Analysis Division, pages 41–42, table 35.
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/facts-research/art-analysis_Large-Truck-and-Bus-Crash-Facts-2008.aspx. (back)

back to Table of Contents

---

Image Sources

Cover photos: Top to bottom: © iStockphoto.com/jfmdesign; thad; dlewis33; globo; Jon Patton; nashvilledino2.

Figure 1: Telematics Research Group, Inc.

Figure 2: Statistics from the International Telecommunications Union at:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/ict/graphs/mobile.jpg.

Figure 3: C.J. Driscoll & Associates, "Interest of U.S. Consumers in Traffic Information Services", October 2006.

Page 6 Images: Car accident — © iStockPhoto.com/tillsonburg. Congestion — ©iStockphoto/ tillsonburg; Stouffer

Figure 4: Drawn internally for the DOT

Figure 5: Drawn internally for the DOT

Figure 6: Drawn internally for the DOT

Figure 7: Drawn internally for the DOT, Control Center photo: © iStockPhoto.com/Dr. Heinz Linke

Figure 8: Drawn internally for the DOT

Figure 9: Traffic Simulator with Person — © Texas Transportation Institute, 2004,
http://tti.tamu.edu/groups/cpd/resources/images/images_db/Traffic_Simulator.jpg

Page 29: Top to bottom: © iStockphoto.com/jfmdesign; thad; dlewis33; globo; Jon Patton; nashvilledino2.

Figure 10: Drawn for FMCSA:
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/facts-research/presentations/smart-roadsideworkshop/Onder-and-Secrist-SR101.pdf

Figure 11: Drawn for FMCSA as part of ITS Research Results: ITS Program Plan 2008 at:
http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/30000/30800/30867/ITS_Research_Results__ITS_Program_Plan_2008_-_ITS_Report.pdf. page 172

Page 34: Image 12— © iStockPhoto.com/lillyday

Page 36: Image 13 — © iStockPhoto.com/susib

Page 36: Image 14— © iStockPhoto.com/hutchyb

Page 37: Image 15— Image courtesy of WMATA

Page 35: Image 15 — © iStockPhoto.com/javier fontanella

Page 38: Top to bottom: © iStockphoto.com/jfmdesign; thad; dlewis33; globo; Jon Patton; nashvilledino2.

Page 39: Image 17 — © iStockphoto/buzbuzzer

Page 39: Image 18 — © iStockphoto/hfng

---

back to Table of Contents