Moving from smart concept to reality

In the world of traffic technology, it would serve us well not to underestimate where science and technology can take us.

Back in the early ‘90s, I had a first-hand look at the Travtek “smart” car demonstration in Orlando while part of the Florida DOT.  The on-board navigation system was rudimentary at best and the computerized voice quality was first generation interactive voice response technology: hollow and impersonal.

Future promise

The promise, however, was there.  Smart cars could one day help us navigate the metropolitan mazes, and real-time traffic information would one day be ours for the taking at the push of a button or better yet, the utterance of a voice command.

In 2004, Will Smith starred in the film, I-Robot, which gave viewers a prediction of traffic management in the year 2035.  Smart cars and roads operate with cool efficiency, with traffic moving at speed and humans no more than occupants, with destinations, distancing and maneuvering left to the vehicle and the road.

In the film, safety is sacrificed only when Smith’s character overrides the system and goes to manual control, leading to a number of crashes during a chase scene. 

Today, that future is rapidly coming upon us.  GPS navigation is becoming a standard feature on automobiles and companies that produce on-board navigation devices, once obscure, have become household names.  Traffic management centers have sprung up across the globe, providing real-time traffic data to motorists.

Smart car-smart roads

Most intriguing is the development of the “smart road” concept.   US DOT’s Vehicle–Infrastructure Integration (VII) initiative is building on advances made in the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI) to create the foundation of the smart car-smart roads future.

A National VII Coalition has been established to determine the feasibility of widespread deployment and to establish an implementation strategy. The coalition consists of automobile manufacturers, AASHTO, 10 state DOTs and US DOT.

Some states are moving forward in earnest. Test beds are being built to prove the concepts and test the technology.  Projects underway are exploring the following:

• Vehicles as Traffic Probes – Data from vehicles is sent to a central processing center and used to calculate travel times along specified links, routes or paths.
• Travel Time Data to Vehicles – The central processing center sends accurate and up-to-date link travel times to the roadside units (RSU) and then the vehicle for use in real-time dynamic routing. The travel times will be generated by the 511 system.
• Incident Information to Vehicles – The central processing center transmits real-time incident information to the RSU and then the vehicle.
• Intersection Collision Warning – The local signal controller transmits signal timing (phase condition) information to the RSU and then the vehicle.
• In-Vehicle Signage – Integration of roadside signage information into in-vehicle navigation system, e.g., speed limit, next exit information. Lays migration path to work zone warning.
• OEM Specific Application – Encrypted message set specific to Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) requirements, passed between vehicle, RSU and OEM center.
• Florida is creating the i-Florida model deployment for a statewide “infostructure” of traffic data; Virginia is building a VII test bed; and Michigan is working closely with automobile manufacturers.

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