One of the leaders in connected car services and transportation analytics, Inrix, has announced its plan to work with the non-profit Open Transport Partnership’s SharedStreets project to create a first-of-its-kind global transportation data standard for improved urban mobility.
Currently, street-level data standards used by private companies and public agencies are incompatible. In addition, driving restrictions are communicated with terrestrial signage and lane-striping and are frequently absent from, or incorrect on, digital maps. The SharedStreets project aims to overcome the long-standing legal, regulatory and technological barriers between the public and private sectors by converting disparate transportation data sources into a mutually readable, shared, global standard for the first time. SharedStreets provides a new, non-proprietary system for describing streets that is designed to be compatible with any source of public or private street data.
As part of the partnership, Inrix will align the data validated and managed by cities and road authorities using the company’s new AV Road Rules platform with the SharedStreets format to realize the goal of making that information open and interoperable. Through the platform, Inrix aims to provide the foundation for cities and road authorities to communicate with operators for safe and effective deployment of highly automated vehicles (HAV) on public roads. Inrix’s AV Road Rules is the first platform that enables cities and road authorities to assign, validate and manage traffic rules and restrictions to support the safe and effective operation of autonomous vehicles on public roads. The platform also uses the information from HAVs to report infrastructure improvement needs, making the roads safer for all users. By making use of the SharedStreets format, Inrix ensures the data that cities and road authorities validate and manage with AV Road Rules can be used across multiple providers and applications.
At launch, seven cities and road authorities and four HAV operators have signed on to support Inrix AV Road Rules, and many more have expressed interest in joining when it expands later this year. The initial set of pilot users includes: Austin (Texas); Boston and Cambridge (Massachusetts); Portland (Maine); the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (including Las Vegas); and Transport for West Midlands and Transport Scotland in the UK. The auto makers and operators using the platform include: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), May Mobility, nuTonomy (an Aptiv company), and operators running Renovo’s Aware platform.
“Automated vehicles are poised to dramatically improve urban mobility around the world, and data plays a central role in the safe operation of HAVs on public roads,” said Avery Ash, head of autonomous mobility at Inrix. “AV Road Rules enables cities and road authorities to quickly and easily digitize local restrictions such as speed limits, crosswalks, school zones and stop signs, enabling auto makers and HAV operators to ensure vehicles operate in compliance with local guidelines. Our work with SharedStreets reflects our ongoing commitment to improve the safety and efficiency of HAVs by allowing data to be effectively shared between the public and private sectors.”
