Connected/Automated Vehicles – Issues for
Transportation Research
AASHTO Research Advisory Committee and Transportation
Research Board State Representatives Annual Meeting
July 23, 2014
Ellen Partridge, Chief Counsel
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)
Outline
 Overview
 Summary of 2014 Automated Vehicle Symposium
 Details on 10 Breakout Sessions at Symposium
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Connected Vehicles
A connected vehicle system is based on wireless communication among
vehicles of all types and the infrastructure.
The wireless communications technology could include:
 5.9 GHz DSRC
 4G and older 3G cellular
networks provide
high-bandwidth data
communications
 Other wireless
technologies such as
Wi-Fi, satellite, and
HD radio may have roles
to play
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Automated Vehicles
Automated vehicles are those in which at least some aspect of a safety-critical
control function (e.g., steering, throttle, or braking) occurs without direct driver
input.
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Connected and Automated Vehicles
The path toward connected vehicles will ultimately lead to automated vehicles.
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ITS Joint Program Office
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NHTSA Automated Vehicle Levels
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Key Areas of NHTSA’s Levels 2 to 4 Automation
Research
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ITS Joint Program Office
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State Legislative and Regulatory Action
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/wiki/images/0/06/Statusmap14small.jpg
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Summary of Automated Vehicle Symposium
 Trends
□
Limited access highway driving
□
Truck platooning
□
Low-speed driverless vehicles
 Caveats
□
Enhanced realism about safety and transitioning between human and machine
control
□
More attention to V2V and V2I
□
Need for digital mapping
□
Shared use and transportation as a service
□
Private/public sector roles still to be developed
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #1
Evolutionary and Revolutionary
Pathways to Automated Transit and
Shared Mobility
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #1: Results

Automated vehicles will blur the lines between taxis, private vehicles, and
public transit.

Urban congestion is a complex problem; automated single-occupant
vehicles (SOVs) alone are not the solution

Transit is a segmented market; different solutions needed in different
environments to create a full network

Level 2 on buses is near … Princeton Research Center at Monmouth; stay
tuned

First mile / last mile are the opportunities for automated vehicles

Harness automation to architect livable spaces
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #2
Regional Planning and Modeling
Implications of Driverless Cars
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #2: Results

Automation Level 3: We have a pretty good handle on this; we just need to
think and work through appropriate analysis.

Automation Level 4: This is where we need the most development work –
both on understanding travel behavior changes and how to model it.

Collaboration with Policy Makers: Working closer with policy makers will be
important to understand their questions.

Modeling Issues to Be Resolved: Car sharing effects on travel behavior;
changes in household location; impacts to transit, walk and bike; etc.

Likely Increase in VMT: What are the policy implications for air quality,
energy use, congestion, and land use?
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #2: Next Steps

Organize a scenario development and vetting process to identify various
pathways to market adoption and their effects on travel behavior.

Conduct a synthesis of existing research on capacity and value of time
implications of automated vehicles.

Conduct special surveys, focus groups, and interactive gaming experiments
to better understand human adoption and use of these technologies.

Conduct a coordinated set of model runs in different geographic and modal
contexts to understand the range of the magnitude of impacts.
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #3
Roadway Traffic Management and
Operations with Automated Vehicles
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #3: Results

Automated vehicles expected to increase traffic flow efficiency
□
Connected automation required

Vehicle as a sensor and traffic control actuator

Connectivity can bring early benefits; automation can leverage them

Traffic management context will change
□

Travel/logistic patterns, type of vehicles, parking, empty cars
Transition period is important
□
Mixed traffic, manual-automated transitions, managed lanes
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #3: Results


Driverless vehicles will require new management approaches
□
Intersection control, platooning
□
Management of empty vehicles, parking
Dedicated lanes may accelerate deployment of driverless vehicles
□

There is a lack of suitable modeling and simulation tools to accommodate
automated vehicles (all levels)
□

Tracks in pavement, equity issues
Data, calibration, control models, information flows, driver behavior
Traffic flow dynamics will fundamentally change
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #4
Truck Automation
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #4: Results
What are the challenges and opportunities for automated on-road commercial
heavy vehicles? A sample:

Technology
□
Interoperability

Policy
□
Hours of Service

Human Factors
□
Gaps and driver’s comfort
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #5
Legal Accelerators and Brakes
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Breakout Session #5: Results

“Lead” Mode within Legal and Regulatory Constraints
□
Commercial Platoons
• Not really an automated driving system
• State tailgating laws, anti-platooning
□
Low-speed
• Controlled environments
• Shared transportation

“Infotainment” as an accelerator
□
Revenue Stream and Market Pull
□
Potential Issues
• Distraction
• Data privacy
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #5: Results

Need for Uniform Laws
□
Minimum Operating Laws and Regulations as an Accelerator
□
Concerns Over Vehicle Regulations Stifling Innovation

Data Use and Misuse
□
Opt-in Benefits as a Potential Accelerator
□
Misuse Could Destroy Consumer Confidence
• Surveillance Society

Liability
□
No consensus, but...explore ways to understand and manage risk and
uncertainty
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #6
The State and Future Direction of
Automated-Vehicle Human Factors
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #6: Results

We already know a lot about how trained professionals interact with
automation (e.g., pilots, process control).

Important differences exist between driving and other domains
□
Lower training
□
More variability in individual differences (multiple user groups—young,
elderly, different skills)
□
Smaller tolerances for error.

This makes automation design for road vehicles more difficult.

Makes collaborative design a very hard problem!
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #6: Results


Transfer of control
□
Mental models
□
Situation awareness
Misuse and improper use
□
Deliberately testing system boundaries

The role of driver monitoring to construct better collaboration between the
driver and the system

Design cannot only focus on “worst case” scenarios
□
Context matters (familiarity, novelty)
□
Drivers will want input even at high levels of automation
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #6: Next Steps


More collaboration early in design cycle with human factors is
recommended
□
Collect data early and quickly to avoid problems
□
Human factors domain has knowledge and methods that are useful
throughout the design cycle, and informed by previous research
Need to be creative and conceptualize beyond the concept of adding
systems to existing cars
□
Levels are flexible in the design space; they provide the starting point
for fully considering how different systems will interact
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #7
Near-Term Connected/Automated
Technology Deployment Opportunities
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #7: Results
Technology

Researcher Perspective. Actions needed to realize benefits: 1)
Connected vehicle market penetration and 2) Focus on near-term Level 1
applications – CACC, Speed Harmonization, Eco-Signal Operation

OEM and Supplier Perspective on Connectivity and Automation. Vehicle
connectivity is not going to enable automated driving, but is going to make
it better.

Deployment Challenges from USDOT Perspective. Aftermarket devices,
spectrum sharing demands, communications congestion potential, other
road users, and security

Operational Considerations from Roadway Authority Perspective (State
DOT). Determine optimal balance of intelligence between vehicles and
infrastructure; emphasize heavy vehicle applications as early adopters;
and determine whether to start with mixed traffic or exclusive right-of-way
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #7: Results
Early Deployment
 Roadway authority perspective. Highway authorities can advance system
technologies via investment/legislation/policy
 Identify value propositions for automated vehicles. Safety and efficiency
payoffs, policy supported by public benefit rationale, and increase in
infrastructure capabilities
 Role of public sector. 1) Establish facilities where we can learn more about the
benefits of automation, and 2) sponsor and invest in early deployments
 Be aware of consumer opinion and sensitivity to autonomous vehicles.
□ Currently, consumers are wary of autonomous features but may not be
fully informed of the potential benefits
□ Willingness to pay is low and there are control/trust issues. However,
safety can sell
□ Level 5 is the current consumer level of understanding and expectation.
However, mobility benefits are achieved at Level 1 and further levels of
automation primarily offer consumer convenience – need to bridge this
gap.
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #7: Results
Transition to Long-Term Deployment
 Promising near-term (next 10 years) deployment opportunities:
□
Level 1 applications for managed lanes and tollways
□
Public transportation and freight applications
□
Small scale community-based environments (retirement enclave,
campus) offer opportunity for higher level automation deployment (levels
4 and 5) due to lower risks

How can we best transition from early deployment to long-term deployment?
□
Accommodate progression of technology but allow for consistency with
regard to performance – can standards minimize disruption and preserve
benefits?
□
Allow for incremental improvement (e.g., following distances for CACC)
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #8
Personal Vehicle Automation
Commercialization
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #8:
Observations from Speakers
 ABS took 17 years, and ACC took 14 years to 5% penetration
 Disruption of insurance industry – liability migrates from the driver to the
manufacturer
 A large part of safety can be done with only ADAS
 Automation is enabler for shared vehicle market
 Lack of law breakers will decimate local muni budgets
 90% of organ donations come from auto accidents
 The car is just a computer on wheels; just another device between a
consumer and the info/data
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #8: Results
 Level 3
□ Business case not clear for
upgrade from Level 2
□ Necessary to get to Levels 4, 5
□ Problem of driver behavior not
as expected
□ Skills degradation?
□ Insufficient marginal benefit for
the cost?
□ But important evolutionary step
to Levels 4 and 5
□ Cool factor
 Level 4
□ Time savings, safety, mobility
□ New drivers – old and young
□ Enterprise value for commuting
employees
□ Tax, insurance incentives?
□ Shared vehicle support
 Level 5
□ New business models
□ Increase in traffic volume
□ Sustainable
□ Alternative to rail and air
□ Mobility accessibility
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #8
“If I had listened to my customer, I
would have developed a faster horse.”
– Henry Ford
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #9
Technology Roadmap, Maturity and
Performance
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #9: Results
 Focused on the “Holy Grail” –
Level 4 vehicle that operates
on any roads.
 Agreed that the Artificial
Intelligence Software and how
to test it were the biggest
challenges.
 “You need a learning process
to replace the human brain.”
 Did feel that there were steps
needed to get there, but
multiple paths to achieve it.
Levels
4
3
2
1
0
Very
Limited
Any
-- Environment -U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #9:
Standardization & Certification + Degraded States
 Federal, state, OEM, 3rd party testing: which entity does the certification; is
there a regional preference?
 How to deal with aging and re-certification?
 Are we able to test/create data on all possible scenarios?
 Model certification (aerospace level of testing/performance would be cost
prohibitive).
 An adversarial environment must be considered in the certification process:
outline standard threats.
 Emergency Situations:
□
Identified three degraded modes: fail safe, operational, soft
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #10
Road Infrastructure Needs for
Connected-Automated Vehicles
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #10: Session Focus and Goals

Focus: To explore how transportation infrastructure interacts with and
supports connected-automated vehicles
□ Digital infrastructure – mapping and data
□ Physical infrastructure – traffic control devices

Goals
□ Identify challenges and opportunities where potential infrastructure
changes and innovations are needed
□ Discuss research needs and next steps to prepare infrastructure to be
supportive of and compatible with connected-automated vehicles
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ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #10:
Results – Digital Infrastructure

States are collecting digital data to generate roadway basemaps

Opportunity to share data with digital mapping and automated vehicle
developers

Could all states provide a common base level map as a starting point for
high precision maps?

Varying data format and collection standards by state

Requirements for building maps for automated vehicles are unknown by
states

Need additional discussion between developers and states if leveraging
maps would be useful for deployment of automated vehicles
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #10:
Results – Physical Infrastructure

States are responsible for maintaining traffic control devices

Implementation of traffic control devices can vary state by state

Designed for human comprehension; multiple alternatives pose a greater
challenge for automated vehicles

States asking what infrastructure improvements are necessary for
automated vehicles; need more requirements for physical infrastructure
from automated vehicle developers

Low cost changes could be implemented now; other changes can be
factored into long-term planning

Need to develop more consistent standards
U.S. Department of Transportation
ITS Joint Program Office
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Breakout Session #10: Next Steps

Hold workshops at the national and state level to gather requirements from
developers of automated vehicles

Assess impacts of requirements on digital infrastructure data collection and
maintenance of physical infrastructure

Develop recommendations and guidance to share across all states to
accelerate deployment of automated vehicles
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ITS Joint Program Office
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