The development of a European ITS communications architecture for cooperative systems is of course an ongoing process. Thus the document is continuously adapted and updated. As COMeSafety is in its final year, there are discussions with the European Commission on the future responsibility of the maintenance of the European ITS Communication Architecture Document, which are not finished yet. COMeSafety will publish the result of the discussion on its website, which will be alive until mid 2011.
IntelliDriveSM is a multimodal initiative of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and its public and private sector partners. IntelliDriveSM applications are intended to provide networked wireless connectivity among vehicles; between vehicles and infrastructure; and among vehicles, infrastructure, and passengers’ wireless devices. USDOT’s theme for the future of ITS is wireless connectivity, and that is where USDOT will focus resources moving forward. Connectivity among vehicles enables crash prevention. Connectivity between vehicles and the infrastructure enables safety, mobility, and environmental benefits. Connectivity among vehicles, infrastructure, and wireless devices (for use by vehicle passengers or pedestrians) provides continuous real-time information to all system users.
USDOT has released an ITS Strategic Research Plan 2010-2014, which includes definition of the future research necessary to accelerate IntelliDriveSM development and implementation. The ITS Strategic Research Plan is the result of nearly a year’s work by USDOT, and input from multiple stakeholder meetings. The key strategic challenges at this stage of IntelliDriveSM development include:
One of the major thrusts of USDOT’s ITS Strategic Plan is interoperability, which will be achieved through systems engineering, standards harmonization, and testing and certification. The systems engineering approach will focus on analyzing and eliciting stakeholder needs and required functionality; documenting requirements; and then proceeding with design synthesis and system validation, while considering the system life cycle. USDOT will foster development of consensus standards, supported by testing and certification programs where appropriate.
The USDOT Strategic Plan incorporates several component five-year research plans, which are in various stages of development: (1) the Vehicleto- Vehicle (V2V) Research Plan; (2) the Vehicle-to- Infrastructure (V2I) Research Plan; (3)the Human Factors Research Plan; (4) the Mobility Research Plan; (5) the Environmental Research Plan; and (6) the Policy and Institutional Issues Research Plan. As these plans develop, information will be provided on the IntelliDriveSM website. For this article, the V2V, V2I, and Human Factors Plans are briefly described below. Also included is a description of International Collaboration Activities for cooperative safety.
The V2V Five-Year Research Plan is being developed based on input from the automotive industry, specialty equipment manufacturers, highway and transit agencies, commercial vehicle operators, and other stakeholders who provide comments to USDOT through workshops, written comments, and structured interviews with leaders of key stakeholder groups. The V2V research plan will identify the interrelated research activities needed to resolve technical and policy issues. The ultimate objective of the V2V plan is to support a 2013 decision point by USDOT’s National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA has set 2013 as its target date for deciding whether government regulations will be needed to speed deployment of potentially lifesaving technology and applications.
USDOT’s research initiatives will include acceleration of in-vehicle safety technology. Slated for early development are enabling technologies such as “Here I Am” and “Heartbeat” messages. By incorporating this capability through retrofit and aftermarket devices, it is expected that the benefits of reduced crashes may be greatly accelerated. Since 2002, USDOT has been conducting research with automotive manufacturers to assess the feasibility of developing crash avoidance systems using vehicle- to-vehicle communications. Engineering prototypes have been developed and demonstrated with applications that address the most critical crash scenarios, which are:
The development of these applications was critical to understanding the functional and performance requirements for the underlying technologies, such as positioning and communications. However, additional research is needed to address more complex crash scenarios for head-on collision avoidance, intersection collision avoidance, pedestrian crash warning, and prevention of motorcycle crashes. These capabilities could be achieved by providing V2V communication capabilities to complement other vehicle-based safety technologies.
The research plan currently consists of seven tracks that represent the major activities required to accelerate deployment of V2V-based safety systems: (1) Track 1 - Crash Scenario Framework; (2) Track 2 - Interoperability; (3)Track 3 - Benefits Assessment; (4) Track 4 - Application Development; (5) Track 5 - Driver Issues; (6) Track 6 - Policy Issues; Track 7 - Commercial Vehicles. Transit Safety applications will be incorporated into the next draft of the V2V Roadmap.
The Draft V2V Roadmap (below) depicts the key activities in each track over the five-year period.
The IntelliDriveSM Vehicle-To-Infrastructure (V2I) for Safety Research Plan is currently under development by USDOT, with input from IntelliDriveSM stakeholders. The program will build on the results of the USDOT’s Cooperative Intersection Collision Avoidance Systems (CICAS) and VII Proof of Concept research programs.
V2I technology development is focusing on prevention of crash types and crash scenarios that are associated with high fatality and injury rates, including: (1) Intersection crashes; (2) Roadway Departure crashes; (3) Speed-Related crashes; and (4) Commercial Vehicle crashes. There will also be non-crash safety elements in the plan for commercial vehicle operations and transit operations.
The technologies under investigation will provide a graduated spectrum of safety interfaces, including: (1) In-vehicle information and advisories; and (2) In-vehicle driver warnings of imminent crash scenarios.
USDOT also will sponsor research to foster early development of enabling infrastructure communications technology such as Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT), and on-road demonstrations for highvalue applications. By enabling the generation of SPaT data, numerous applications are envisioned, not only for safety but also for mobility and environmental purposes.
Interfaces will be based on open standards for data and communications, including: (1) Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC)-based for time critical applications; (2) Open platform concept for non-time-critical applications.
Driver distraction is a central concern. IntelliDriveSM applications that are provided to users in their vehicles must be designed so that drivers can use them safely. Toward that end, USDOT is launching a new research initiative on Human Factors for IntelliDrive.SM USDOT will work cooperatively with vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, fleet operators, the consumer electronics industry, and other stakeholders on this initiative. Stakeholders will help USDOT identify human factors requirements-such as information needs and usability issues-to help ensure that the results of the research program are publicly acceptable. The research program’s scope will include assessment of the distraction potential and usability of systems in production vehicles and nomadic devices, including evaluation of longer-term exposure implications. An important goal is creation of an environment that allows nomadic systems to be functionally integrated with vehicle-based systems. USDOT will work with industry to determine how to develop voluntary implementation strategies that will encourage vehicle and equipment manufacturers to design interfaces with minimal demands on workload. Goals of the research program also include development of performance metrics for distraction mitigation.
International collaboration is critical to the success of IntelliDrive.SM In January 2009, the European Union (EU) and United States took a very important step forward by signing an Implementing Arrangement to strengthen cooperation in ITS applications. Under this Implementing Arrangement, three meetings were organized this past year in Stockholm: A high-level meeting of the international delegates; a Steering Committee meeting; and a meeting of the joint ITS Technical Task Force, which was charged with developing strategies for meeting the objectives set by the Steering Committee. A key initial objective is international collaboration on research related to cooperative systems.
When the Technical Task Force met in September, 2009, it established the following as priority action areas: (1) standards harmonization; (2) applications; (3) testing; (4) driver distraction; and (5) terminology.
In the standards harmonization area, a near-term goal is for the European Commission and the USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) to sign a joint statement of intent, including reference to welcome Japan and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region to join in future. Goals for 2010 include establishment of an international standards harmonization task force; conducting an inventory and assessment of current standardization work; and developing an action plan. Near-term tasks include establishment of a common working definition of harmonization; identification of a short list of priority standards for international harmonization; identifying standards development organizations for conducting the work; and identifying support mechanisms for expeditious balloting of standards.
In the applications area, two cooperative applications (one V2V, one V2I) will be selected for cooperative research. The goal will be to define technical solutions to common critical technology issues such as security, positioning, and/or communications.
In the testing area, initial goals are to share and leverage benefits estimation tools and Field Operational Test design structures. Establishment of a common data structure to promote data sharing opportunities related to benefits estimation is another action item.
Important goals related to driver distraction issues include establishment of common metrics, and data collection and sharing. Establishment of voluntary guidelines is a potential long-term goal.
In the terminology area, establishment of common working definitions for key terms and concepts is an important early step that will facilitate international collaboration.
USDOT is committed to IntelliDriveSM and committed to ongoing collaboration with stakeholders through increased program transparency, information- sharing, stakeholder workshops, webinars, and other interactive opportunities. The USDOTsupported website at www.intellidrive.org provides opportunities to sign up for “Friends of IntelliDriveSM news alerts, and RSS Feeds.
For more information about USDOT’s ITS Strategic Research Plan, see www.its.dot.gov/strat_plan/index.htm.