What are connected vehicles?
In the future cars, trucks, buses, the roadside, and our smartphones will talk to each other.
Such a system of “connected vehicles,” mobile devices, and roads will provide a wealth of transportation data, from which
innovative and transformative applications will be built.
Connected vehicle technologies are being developed to enable safe, interoperable networked wireless communications
among vehicles (V2V), the infrastructure (V2I), and travelers’ personal communication devices (V2X).
Who is developing Connected Vehicles?
Connected vehicle research is sponsored by the DOT and others to leverage the wireless technology to make surface
transportation safer, smarter, and greener.
This program has the support of the auto industry and at the same time evolved into private sector initiatives such as
Google’s development of an autonomous vehicle. The future connected vehicle environment is based on emerging wireless
communications technology that will change how drivers navigate the transportation network and how DOT’s will manage the
transportation network
Google, Nissan, and General Motors have all stated corporate goals to have automated vehicles for sale, some as early as
2017. A fully autonomous “driverless” vehicle could be on the market by 2025. Lane departure warning systems, “blind spot”
monitoring and alerts, and automated cruise control based on distance from the vehicle in front rather than speed are autonomous
vehicle technologies already available. Mercedes, Ford and others market automobiles that offer integrated partial automation at
speeds under 25 miles per hour.
Benefits of Connected Vehicles
Source: Center for Automotive Research
http://autocaat.org/Technologies/Automated_and_Connected_Vehicles/
How do connected vehicles work?
Connected vehicles and automated vehicles are essentially different technologies, though some of the challenges
they present to transportation agencies will be similar. These two technologies may converge or diverge from each
other based largely on developments in the private sector (e.g., vehicle manufacturers, third-party vendors). While
some actors envision a completely autonomous vehicle that does not require communication with other entities,
others see a convergence between the two technologies.
Connected Vehicles Deployments
Vehicle to Vehicle
Electronic brakes
Crash Avoidance
Vehicle to Infrastructure
Speed
Heading
Acceleration
GPS position
Wipers on or off
Infrastructure to Vehicle
Broadcast traffic signal timing
Broadcasting safety alerts:weather, work zones,
How do Autonomous Vehicles Work?
Google self driving car is an electric car that navigates based on artificial intelligence/robotics. The technology
measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analyzing the reflected light. This laser allows the
vehicle to generate a detailed 3D map of its environment. Currently (as of June 2014), the system works with
a very high definition inch-precision map of the area the vehicle is expected to use, including how high
the traffic lights are; in addition to on-board systems, some computation is performed on remote computer farms
•Unable to navigate parking lots or unexpected obstacles like debris or pedestrians.
•Operates poorly in bad weather
•Problems projected to be resolved by 2017. Projected release to public 2017 to 2020.
•Google not interested in manufacturing the autonomous vehicle.
Connected Vehicle Rollout
Levels of automation range from intelligent, adaptive cruise controls up to fully automated, driverless vehicles. Industry leaders
expect that Level 4 vehicle automation will be available on the market by 2018. Fully autonomous, driverless vehicles could be
on the market by 2025.
U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as “those in which operation of the
vehicle occurs without direct driver input to control the steering, acceleration, and braking and are designed so that the driver is
not expected to constantly monitor the roadway while operating in self-driving mode.” Further, the NHTSA has defined vehicle
automation into five levels; the higher the level the more automated the vehicle is.
Listed below are the NHTSA’s five levels of automation:
Fully automated (sometimes called autonomous) or “self-driving” vehicles are defined by:
No-Automation (Level 0):
The driver is in complete and sole control of the primary vehicle controls – brake, steering, throttle, and motive power – at all times.
Function-specific Automation (Level 1): Automation at this level involves one or more specific control functions. Examples include where the vehicle
automatically assists with braking to enable the driver to regain control of the vehicle or stop faster than possible by acting alone.
Combined Function Automation (Level 2): This level involves automation of at least two primary control functions designed to work in unison to relieve
the driver of control of those functions. An example of combined functions enabling a Level 2 system is adaptive cruise control in combination with lane
centering.
Limited Self-Driving Automation (Level 3): Vehicles at this level of automation enable the driver to cede full control of all safety-critical functions under
certain traffic or environmental conditions and in those conditions to rely heavily on the vehicle to monitor for changes in those conditions requiring
transition back to driver control. The driver is expected to be available for occasional control, but with sufficiently comfortable transition time. The secondgeneration Google car is an example of limited self-driving automation.
Full Self-Driving Automation (Level 4): The vehicle is designed to perform all safety-critical driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an
entire trip. Such a design anticipates that the driver will provide destination or navigation input, but is not expected to be available for control at any time
during the trip. This includes both occupied and unoccupied vehicles. The third-generation Google car is an example of full self-driving utomation. Vehicles
with level 4 automation may also be referred to autonomous vehicles.
*Note: Vehicles with automation levels above 3 must also incorporate connected vehicle technologies.
Of these five levels, only up to level 2 is currently available to the public. However, the federal government and manufacturers
are now researching, developing, and testing level 4 automation technologies on public roads in certain states that have passed
enabling legislation. The states that have passed legislation allowing higher level automated vehicles include California, Florida,
Michigan, and Nevada. Several other states are also working to pass similar legislation.
Wireless Communications Frequencies and Applications
Cellular
Bluetooth
WiMAX
Wi-Fi
DSRC
Source: ITS America
The Wireless communication designed for the connected vehicle environment is dedicated short-range communication (DSRC).
The DSRC communication is designed as the best available choice for its low latency, high speed and high tolerance for
message loss.
The Connected City
9
How will we move in the future.
Source: Mineta Transportation Institute
Why is the connected environment important.
Source: Mineta Transportation Institute
How will connected vehicles improve transportation.
Source: Mineta Transportation Institute
Who:
Connected vehicle research is sponsored by the DOT and others to leverage the wireless technology to make surface
transportation safer, smarter, and greener.
Interoperability:
The vision for the ITS Standards program is to enable interoperable connected vehicle and ITS services within a complex,
multimodal, connected transportation network, including both vehicles and infrastructure.
Challenges:
Connected Vehicle Human Factors Research 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 majority of the vehicles on the road should possess DSRC units.
Privacy and Security:
The vision for the Core System concept is to facilitate trusted applications transactions — requests for data, exchange of data,
and synthesis of data for dynamic safety, mobility, and environment applications from multiple sources simultaneously —
for both mobile and non-mobile users. In addition to providing trusted exchanges, the Core System will work with external
systems to support and provide secure communications.
The majority of the vehicles on the road should possess DSRC units.
Greatest innovation might not be systems themselves,
but how they interface with each other.
Discussion
Fully automated, driverless vehicles can be either autonomous or connected to each other and the infrastructure.
Automated vehicles that are connected to the infrastructure have specific implications for how public agencies either
accommodate or direct future trends in deployment of automated vehicles.
Highway network and transportation system planning, design, maintenance, and operations functions are all likely to
require adaptation to meet technical, policy, and legal expectations of this changing road user fleet.
A Connected Vehicle Research Roadmap is needed to define and address critical organizational and institutional issues for
state and local transportation agencies.
The AASHTO Connected Vehicle Strategic Plan was completed in 2009, and a subsequent Infrastructure Deployment
Analysis was completed in 2011. The latter noted the need for an Information Exchange Forum, and a Connected Vehicle
Education & Outreach Program, among other nationwide institutional initiatives. Also as recommended by the 2011 Analysis,
the Federal Highway Administration and AASHTO are in the process of completing a Connected Vehicle “Footprint Analysis”
to continue to quantify roadway infrastructure costs and other prospective impacts. The National Highway and Transportation
Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expected to issue agency decisions over the next two years affecting Dedicated Short
Range Communications system expectations for light and heavy vehicles, and the Federal Highway Administration intends to
develop Connected Vehicle infrastructure guidance beginning in 2015.