Standards and Architecture Harmonization

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.

Through the Standards and Architecture Harmonization program, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) participates in international standards harmonization activities focusing on standards needed to provide connectivity among vehicles, and between vehicles and infrastructure.

Research Plan

The objective of the Standards and Architecture 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 among products and systems, which benefits transportation management agencies, vehicle manufacturers, equipment vendors, and other stakeholders. 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.

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.

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 industry. To that end, DOT 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 encourage international cooperation on information and communication technology research, as applied to transportation. DOT and the European Commission Information Society and Media Directorate have pledged to work together 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.

Research Goal

To globally harmonize IntelliDrive^SM technologies by taking an active role in developing and harmonizing standards and architecture around the vehicle platform.
To provide the standardization necessary for vehicles and infrastructure to communicate using widely available, affordable, and interoperable technologies that maximize safety and efficiency.

Research Outcomes

Vehicle connectivity through harmonization of standards and architecture will reduce costs to manufacturers and consumers. Hardware and software development costs will be spread over a larger user base, resulting in reduced unit costs. Differences between vehicles manufactured for different markets will be minimized, allowing private sector markets greater global opportunities.