Destination Area: Intelligent Infrastructure for Human-Centered Communities (IIHCC)
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IIHCC focuses its attention on the ways that people interact with one another and with their environment. Interest areas in this DA include smart, healthy, and sustainable cities and communities; transportation systems; human safety, health, and wellness; integrated energy systems; network science and engineering; public policy; and cyber-physical systems. The initial focus for IIHCC will be on four themes:
Ubiquitous Mobility: The location-agnostic promise of new communication and information technologies
Automated Vehicle Systems: vehicles that can transit safely and efficiently through our communities independent of a human operator
Smart Design and Construction: an intelligent, integrated, adaptable, responsive, and sustainable human-centric built environment
Energy: the underlying innovations that will be required in the production, distribution, and consumption of energy to realize such a system
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Browsing Destination Area: Intelligent Infrastructure for Human-Centered Communities (IIHCC) by Content Type "Report"
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- Applications of Connected Vehicle Infrastructure Technologies to Enhance Transit Service Efficiency and Safety, Part 1Hancock, Kathleen L. (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC), 2016-09-30)Implementing Connected Vehicle Infrastructure (CVI) applications for handheld devices into public transportation transit systems would provide transit agencies and their users with two-directional information flow from traveler-to-agencies, agencies-to-traveler, traveler-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-traveler. This information flow could improve the efficiency of services provided by the agency and enhance the safety of travelers and drivers. This project developed an architectural framework for two CVI applications: (1) an application for dynamic demand-response transit (DRT) services and (2) an enhanced traveler safety application that allows individuals to notify a transit vehicle that they are within a specified distance of the vehicle’s current stop location. A limited simulation was performed to evaluate the potential of using this location information with respect to a transit vehicle to provide flexibility for that vehicle to remain at a stop for a limited time, minimizing passenger wait time and exposure to potential safety issues, specifically during night operations. An annotated bibliography of resources used for this study is also provided.
- Applications of Connected Vehicle Infrastructure Technologies to Enhance Transit Service Efficiency and Safety, Part 2Lee, Young-Jae; Thomas, Clayton; Dadvar, Seyedehsan (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC), 2016-09-30)Many transit agencies provide real-time operational information and trip-planning tools through phone, Web, and smartphone applications. These services utilize a one-way information flow from transit agencies to transit users. Current smartphone technology and connected vehicle infrastructure (CVI), however, can allow a two-directional information flow from users to transit agencies and back. This report provides a literature review on the state of current transit apps; proposes a system architecture for a smartphone app that allows for dynamic flexible routing and increased transit user safety; and presents the results of a survey conducted on the perception and acceptability of the model app. Survey results were analyzed in terms of safety, efficiency, and privacy for different demographic, travel behavior, and geographic characteristics. Results showed that users did not significantly consider the privacy issues (7.1 on a scale from 1 [least acceptable] to 10 [most acceptable]) but believed that it could improve nighttime safety (7.3/10.0). Users believed that the app could improve nighttime pedestrian safety if it were connected to the police department (7.8/10.0). This app was also expected to improve transit efficiency and increase ridership, and is eventually recommendable (7.3/10.0). The least expected improvement was daytime safety (6.4/10.0), which is reasonable and expectable.
- An Assessment of Quiet Vehicles and Pedestrian and Bicyclist SafetyAlden, Andrew S. (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2014-07-28)The primary intent of this report is to provide a comprehensive and concise overview of the apparent safety issues presented to pedestrians and pedalcyclists by the operation of quiet vehicles on roadways. The report provides background information to establish how this issue became the focus of safety research in the United States and elsewhere. It presents the findings of a literature review of notable major research and a review of related pending and established regulations. The report also describes implemented and proposed countermeasure methods in addition to opportunities for future potential research to address knowledge gaps and improve overall understanding of the issues.
- Autonomous Emergency Navigation to a Safe Roadside LocationFurukawa, Tomonari; Zuo, Lei; Parker, Robert G.; Yang, Lisheng (SAFE-D: Safety Through Disruption National University Transportation Center, 2020-11)In this project, we developed essential modules for achieving the proposed autonomous emergency navigation function for an automated vehicle. We investigated and designed sensing solutions for safe roadside location identification, as well as control solutions for autonomous navigation to the identified location. Sensing capabilities are achieved by advanced fusion algorithms of 3D Lidar and stereo camera data. A novel control design, based on dynamic differential programming, was developed to efficiently plan navigation trajectories while dealing with computation delay and modelling errors. Preliminary validation of proposed solutions was carried out in a simulated environment. The results show strong potential for success, especially for the control module. Hardware integration in a real vehicle has been ongoing in a parallel fashion to enable field tests of developed modules in future work. Key sensing equipment was installed and calibrated and used to collect data for offline analysis. The retrofitting of the vehicle’s actuation mechanism was finished with the whole drive-by-wire system in place. Future work will involve road testing the developed systems.
- Connected Motorcycle Crash Warning InterfacesSong, Miao; McLaughlin, Shane B.; Doerzaph, Zachary R. (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC), 2016-01-15)Crash warning systems have been deployed in the high-end vehicle market segment for some time and are trickling down to additional motor vehicle industry segments each year. The motorcycle segment, however, has no deployed crash warning system to date. With the active development of next generation crash warning systems based on connected vehicle technologies, this study explored possible interface designs for motorcycle crash warning systems and evaluated their rider acceptance and effectiveness in a connected vehicle context. Four prototype warning interface displays covering three warning mode alternatives (auditory, visual, and haptic) were designed and developed for motorcycles. They were tested on-road with three connected vehicle safety applications - intersection movement assist, forward collision warning, and lane departure warning - which were selected according to the most impactful crash types identified for motorcycles. It showed that a combination of warning modalities was preferred to a single display by 87.2% of participants and combined auditory and haptic displays showed considerable promise for implementation. Auditory display is easily implemented given the adoption rate of in-helmet auditory systems. Its weakness of presenting directional information in this study may be remedied by using simple speech or with the help of haptic design, which performed well at providing such information and was also found to be attractive to riders. The findings revealed both opportunities and challenges of visual displays for motorcycle crash warning systems. More importantly, differences among riders of three major motorcycle types (cruiser, sport, and touring) in terms of riders’ acceptance of a crash warning interface were revealed. Based on the results, recommendations were provided for an appropriate crash warning interface design for motorcycles and riders in a connected vehicle environment.
- Connected Motorcycle System PerformanceViray, Reginald; Noble, Alexandria M.; Doerzaph, Zachary R.; McLaughlin, Shane B. (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC), 2016-01-15)This project characterized the performance of Connected Vehicle Systems (CVS) on motorcycles based on two key components: global positioning and wireless communication systems. Considering that Global Positioning System (GPS) and 5.9 GHz Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) may be affected by motorcycle rider occlusion, antenna mounting configurations were investigated. In order to assess the performance of these systems, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s (VTTI) Data Acquisition System (DAS) was utilized to record key GPS and DSRC variables from the vehicle’s CVS Vehicle Awareness Device (VAD). In this project, a total of four vehicles were used where one motorcycle had a forward mounted antenna, another motorcycle had a rear mounted antenna, and two automobiles had centermounted antennas. These instrumented vehicles were then subject to several static and dynamic test scenarios on closed test track and public roadways to characterize performance against each other. Further, these test scenarios took into account motorcycle rider occlusion, relative ranges, and diverse topographical roadway environments. From the results, both rider occlusion and approach ranges were shown to have an impact on communications performance. In situations where the antenna on the motorcycle had direct lineof-sight with another vehicle’s antenna, a noticeable increase in performance can be seen in comparison to situations where the line of sight is occluded. Further, the forward-mounted antenna configuration provided a wider span of communication ranges in open-sky. In comparison, the rear-mounted antenna configuration experienced a narrower communication range. In terms of position performance, environments where objects occluded the sky, such as deep urban and mountain regions, relatively degraded performance when compared to open sky environments were observed.
- Connected Vehicle Applications for Adaptive Overhead Lighting (On-demand Lighting)Gibbons, Ronald B.; Palmer, Matthew; Jahangiri, Arash (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC), 2016-07-01)The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) has developed an on-demand roadway lighting system and has tested the system’s effect on driver visual performance. On-demand roadway lighting can dramatically reduce energy usage while maintaining or increasing vehicle and pedestrian safety. The system developed by VTTI uses connected vehicle technology (CVT), wireless lighting controls, LED luminaires, and a stand-alone processor on the Virginia Smart Road to sense vehicles and turn on roadway lighting only when needed. During this research project, the use of on-demand, or just-in-time, lighting was investigated with respect to assessing driver distraction, and to human factors, including a driver’s ability to visually detect and recognize on-road objects and pedestrians. The developed on-demand lighting system described above utilized dedicated short range communication (DSRC), connected vehicle infrastructure (CVI), and centralized wireless lighting controls, and was used with VTTI-developed in-vehicle instrumentation and custom software. The software allowed the study of forward preview time in terms of forward lighting distance needed for drivers to detect roadside pedestrians and hazards. Visual performance testing revealed a relationship between speed and the amount of forward lighting needed to detect pedestrians and hazards on the side of the roadway, and a small, but statistically insignificant, practical difference in visual performance between on-demand lighting and continuously-on lighting conditions. A survey of participant reactions indicated that the public generally accepts on-demand lighting and does not find it distracting as long as a minimum lighting condition is met. The survey also found that participants felt the system provided a safe driving environment. The main application for an on-demand lighting system would be on roadways with little traffic at night and higher accident rates, or higher conflict areas such as intersections, pedestrian crossings, and merge areas.
- Connected Vehicle Enabled Freeway Merge Management – Field TestSmith, Brian L.; Park, Hyungjun; Hayat, Md Tanveer (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC), 2016-01-01)Freeway congestion is a major problem of the transportation system, resulting in major economic loss in terms of traffic delays and fuel costs. With connected vehicle (CV) technologies, more proactive traffic management strategies are possible. The Freeway Merge Assistance System (FMAS) can implement innovative ramp management strategies by providing personalized advisories to individual drivers to ensure smoother merging. The benefits anticipated from these strategies will completely depend on the advisory compliance of the drivers; this, in turn, will be influenced by situational as well as individual behavioral factors. The purpose of this research was to investigate drivers’ responses to this new generation of personalized in-vehicle advisory messages. A field test was conducted with naïve human subjects to collect driver behavior data about different types of advisory messages under different traffic scenarios in a controlled environment. The data gathered from the field test indicated that the compliance rate was higher when a large- or medium-size gap was available for a lane change. The lowest compliance rate was observed for a small-gap scenario. In addition, it was discovered that more drivers would follow a direct advisory message that advised a lane change rather than an indirect message which was meant to stimulate a lane change through speed control.
- Connected Vehicle Freeway Speed Harmonization SystemsRakha, Hesham A.; Yang, Hao (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC), 2016-03-15)The capacity drop phenomenon, which reduces the maximum bottleneck discharge rate following the onset of congestion, is a critical restriction in transportation networks that causes additional traffic congestion. Consequently, preventing or reducing the occurrence of the capacity drop not only mitigates traffic congestion, but can also produce environmental and traffic safety benefits. To address this issue, this project developed and evaluated a speed harmonization (SH) algorithm based on a bi-level feedback control system with the assistance of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. The algorithm computes advisory speed limits for individual vehicles to prevent the breakdown of downstream bottleneck discharge by regulating traffic flow approaching the bottleneck, which in turn reduces traffic stream delay, emissions and fuel consumption levels. To assess the benefits of the algorithm, a section of Interstate 66 in Northern Virginia was simulated with the INTEGRATION microscopic traffic simulation model, and five trailers were installed on the road to collect real-time traffic data for each vehicle equipped with V2I communications to implement the SH algorithm. The simulations demonstrated that the algorithm significantly mitigated road congestion when a capacity drop occurred at a bottleneck. Also, the study results showed that higher market penetration rates (MPRs) of vehicles equipped with the SH algorithm led to higher SH algorithm benefits. In particular, at 100% MPR, the bottleneck discharge flow rate increased by up to 1.5%, and the vehicular delay decreased by about 22%. Moreover, with the SH algorithm, CO2 and fuel consumption levels were reduced by up to 3.5%. A 100% MPR is the best-case scenario. However, the results also demonstrated that an MPR of even 10% is sufficient to produce overall emission and fuel consumption savings.
- A Connected Vehicle–Enabled Virtual Dynamic Message Sign System Demonstration and Evaluation on the Virginia Connected Vehicle Test BedPark, Hyungjun; Babiceanu, Simona; Kluger, Robert; Smith, Brian L.; Recht, David (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center, 2016-03-15)Dynamic message signs (DMSs) are widely used to deliver traveler information. While these have proven to be effective, key limitations exist: (1) the locations of DMSs are fixed, (2) reading a DMS message is distracting to drivers, and (3) installation and maintenance of DMSs is expensive. To address these limitations, a smartphone-based virtual DMS (VDMS) application was developed in the first round of Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC) projects. This application used smartphones to provide audible “reading” of DMS messages to drivers. This project built upon previous work to develop a more advanced, second generation of the VDMS system, that is fully integrated in the Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) environment of the Virginia Connected Vehicle Test Bed. The highlights of the enhanced VDMS system include (1) use of four of 40+ DSRC-based roadside equipment units (RSEs) on the Virginia Connected Vehicle Test Bed, and (2) software (VDMS Manager) that has the capability to virtually “build” new DMSs and to create modified and new messages for those DMSs. To evaluate the VDMS system as an information dissemination tool to support advanced traffic management, operational testing (including three surveys, entrance, post-incident, and exit) was carried out with actual operators at the McConnell Public Safety and Traffic Operations Center. It was observed that operators preferred the VDMS system due to its capability of providing more detailed and customized messages at more appropriate locations for motorists.
- Crashworthiness Compatibility Investigation of Autonomous Vehicles with Current Passenger VehiclesDobrovolny, Chiara Silvestri; Stoeltje, Gretchen; Zalani, Aniruddha (SAFE-D: Safety Through Disruption National University Transportation Center, 2021-11)Automated Vehicles have been one of the most sought-after concepts to make transportation more effective and safer. No-occupant vehicles with automated driving systems (ADS) make up one such class of vehicles. These are primarily intended for goods transportation services. This vehicle class presents a body structure different than that of a passenger vehicle. Yet, these no-occupant ADS-equipped vehicles are sharing the roads and could potentially be involved in crashes with passenger vehicles. Occupant safety may be compromised if vehicles are not compatible from a crashworthiness perspective. ADS-equipped vehicles should consider appropriate vehicle crashworthiness compatibility given the potential for interactions with vulnerable road users and other vehicle types. Investigation of the level of ADS-equipped vehicle crashworthiness compatibility with human-driven vehicles can lead to more appropriate vehicle designs, as well as more suitable and better passive protection systems for occupants in such crash scenarios. This research project considers finite element crash computer simulation investigation between ADS-equipped and passenger vehicles with the intent to provide a better understanding of the differences in crashworthy behavior of ADS-equipped vehicles.
- Data Mining Twitter to Improve Automated Vehicle SafetyMcDonald, Anthony D.; Huang, Bert; Wei, Ran; Alambeigi, Hananeh; Arachie, Chidubem; Smith, Alexander Charles; Jefferson, Jacelyn (SAFE-D: Safety Through Disruption National University Transportation Center, 2021-02)Automated vehicle (AV) technologies may significantly improve driving safety, but only if they are widely adopted and used appropriately. Adoption and appropriate use are influenced by user expectations, which are increasingly being driven by social media. In the context of AVs, prior studies have observed that major news events such as crashes and technology announcements influence user responses to AVs; however, the exact impact and dynamics of this influence are not well understood. The goals of this project were to develop a novel search method to identify AV-relevant user comments on Twitter, mine these tweets to understand the influence of crashes and news events on user sentiment about AVs, and finally translate these findings into a set of guidelines for reporting about AV crashes. In service of these goals, we developed a novel semi-supervised constrained-level learning machine search approach to identify relevant tweets and demonstrated that it outperformed alternative methods. We used the relevant tweets identified to develop a topic model of AV events which illustrated that crashes, fault and safety, and technology companies were the most discussed topics following major events. While the sentiment among these topics was mostly neutral, tweets about crashes and fault and safety were negatively biased. We combined these findings with a series of interviews with Public Information Officers to develop a set of five basic guidelines for AV communication. These guidelines should aid proper public calibration and subsequent acceptance and use of AVs.
- Design and Evaluation of a Connected Work Zone Hazard Detection and Communication System for Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs)Mollenhauer, Michael A.; White, Elizabeth E.; Roofigari-Esfahan, Nazila (SAFE-D: Safety Through Disruption National University Transportation Center, 2019-08)Roadside work zones (WZs) present imminent safety hazards for roadway workers as well as passing motorists. In 2016, 764 fatalities occurred in WZs in the United States due to motor vehicle traffic crashes, which are the second most common cause of worker fatalities. The advent of connected and connected automated vehicles (CVs/CAVs) is driving WZ safety practitioners and vehicle designers towards implementing solutions that will more accurately describe activity in WZs to help identify and communicate imminent safety hazards that elevate crash risks. A viable solution to this problem is to accurately localize, monitor, and predict WZ actors’ collision threats based on their movements and activities. This information along with CV/CAVs’ trajectories can be used to detect potential proximity conflicts and provide advanced warnings to workers, passing drivers, and CAV control systems. This project aims to address WZ safety by delivering a real-time threat detection and warning algorithm that can be used in wearable WZ communication solutions in conjunction with CVs/CAVs. As a result, this research provides a key element required to significantly improve the safety conditions of roadside WZs through prompt detection and communication of hazardous situations to workers and CVs/CAVs alike.
- Design and testing of a pneumatically propelled underwater glider for shallow waterWolek, Artur; Gode, Tejaswi; Woolsey, Craig A.; Quenzer, Jake; Morgansen, Kristi A. (Virginia Center for Autonomous Systems, 2015-10-28)This report details the design and testing of a pneumatically propelled underwater glider. The vehicle was designed as a platform for motion control experimentation, and to explore the use of novel actuator designs to improve performance in shallow water and significant currents. The glider’s pneumatic buoyancy engine is capable of rapidly inflating an elastomeric bladder to 5 liters. (This displacement is an order of magnitude greater than that of legacy buoyancy engine designs.) The buoyancy engine was shown to operate reliably at 25 m depth. However, the compressibility of the bladder and associated change in tank weight (from exhausting air with each dive) presented significant challenges in trimming the vehicle. The attitude of the glider is controlled by translating and rotating a semi-annular mass. Because of the geometry of this mechanism, the glider is not restricted to a range of roll attitudes (i.e. the glider has unlimited roll authority and can “flip over”). By flipping over the glider may employ asymmetric hydrodynamic surfaces while preserving the same flow-relative geometry during both descents and ascents. Such asymmetric hydrodynamic surfaces (e.g. cambered hydrofoils, dihedral, wing twist) may be used to improve efficiency and performance. The ability to operate in both upright and inverted orientations requires reducing the contribution of the rigid body (minus the moving mass) to the bottom heaviness of the vehicle. A moving acoustic long-baseline ranging system was developed to position the glider while it was underway. The performance of this system was characterized experimentally in terms of ping success rate for various transducer geometries and depths in a shallow-water, rocky bottom lake.
- Driver Training Research and Guidelines for Automated Vehicle TechnologyManser, Michael P.; Noble, Alexandria M.; Machiani, Sahar Ghanipoor; Shortz, Ashley; Klauer, Charlie; Higgins, Laura L.; Ahmadi, Alidad (SAFE-D: Safety Through Disruption National University Transportation Center, 2019-07)The advent of advanced driver-assistance systems presents the opportunity to significantly improve transportation safety. Complex sensor-based systems within vehicles can take responsibility for tasks typically performed by drivers, thus reducing driver-related error as a source of crashes. While there may be a reduction in driver errors, these systems fundamentally change the driving task from manual control to supervisory control. A significant challenge, given this fundamental change in the driving task, is that there are no established methods to train drivers on the use of these systems, which may be counterproductive to safety improvements. The aim of the project was to develop training protocol guidelines that could be used by advanced driver-assistance system trainers to optimize driving safety. The guidelines were developed based on the results of three activities that included the development of a taxonomy of the knowledge and skills necessary to operate advanced driver-assistance systems, a driving simulator study that examined the effectiveness of traditional training protocols, and a test track study that examined the efficacy of a vehicle-based training protocol. Results of both studies suggest that differing training protocols are most beneficial in terms of driver cognitive load and visual scanning as opposed to short-term changes in performance.
- Emergency Vehicle-to-Vehicle CommunicationMurray-Tuite, Pamela; Phoowarawutthipanich, Aphisit; Islam, Rauful; Hdieb, Naser (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center, 2016-08-15)Emergency response vehicles (ERVs) frequently navigate congested traffic conditions to reach their destinations as quickly as possible. In this report, several efforts performed by the research group are described, including micro-simulation, field-testing, and optimization, to determine mechanisms for facilitating safe and efficient ERV travel. Micro-simulation of a network based on the Northern Virginia Connected Vehicle Test Bed examined the effect of a variety of factors on ERV travel time, including the presence of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, traffic volumes, cycle length, ERV speed distributions, non-ERV speed distributions, and traffic signal preemption. The results indicated that V2V communication could reduce travel time for an ERV in congested traffic conditions. The research group developed a V2V communication prototype to alert non-ERVs of an approaching ERV by triggering a flash of the infotainment system, followed by audible instructions to move to the left, move to the right, or stay put. Twelve drivers, aged 25 to 50, tested the V2V prototype on the Northern Virginia Connected Vehicle Test Bed during off-peak periods. Data from this field test and associated questionnaires were used to investigate reaction time to the instructions. The estimated reaction times using the developed model varied from 1.4 to 5.8 seconds. A mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) optimization model was formulated to maximize the forward progress of ERVs by sending information to ERVs and non-ERVs within a given road segment. A single set of instructions was sent to each non-ERV, assigning them to a location out of the ERVs path. Numerical case analysis for a small, uniform section of roadway with a limited number of non-ERVs revealed the model is capable of optimizing the behavior of non-ERVs to maximize the speed of the ERV.
- Estimating Crash Consequences for Occupantless Automated VehiclesWitcher, Christina; Henry, Scott; McClafferty, Julie A.; Custer, Kenneth; Sullivan, Kaye; Sudweeks, Jeremy D.; Perez, Miguel A. (Virgina Tech Transportation Institute, 2021-02)Occupantless vehicles (OVs) are a proposed application of automated vehicle technology that would deliver goods from merchants to consumers with neither a driver nor passengers onboard. The purpose of this research was to understand and estimate how the increased presence of OVs in the United States fleet may influence crash risk and associated injuries and fatalities. The approach used to estimate potential modifications in crash risk consequences was a counterfactual simulation, where real-world observations were modified as if alternate events had occurred. This analysis leveraged several U.S. national crash databases, along with the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) dataset. The analysis required the derivation of parameters that could be used to modify existing crash estimates as OVs enter the fleet in greater numbers. The team estimated benefit parameters pertaining to (1) the crashes that could be ultimately avoided altogether based on the OV’s smaller size, (2) benefits that could be obtained from the improved crashworthiness characteristics of the OV, and (3) benefits due to the lack of occupants in the OV. Results showed that of the 58,852 fatalities in the national databases examined, a full-scale market penetration of OVs was estimated to reduce fatalities by 34,284, a reduction of 58.2%. Most of this reduction (83%) would come from the lack of occupants in the OVs. Similarly, of the 6,615,117 injured persons in the national databases examined, a full-scale penetration of OVs was estimated to reduce injured persons by 4,088,935, a reduction of 61.8%. As was observed for fatalities, most of this reduction (72.1%) would come from the lack of occupants in the OVs. The results of this investigation, however, should not be taken as definitive benefit estimates. There are important assumptions inherent in the parameters that were used, and some of these assumptions may not be immediately realized. Rather, the results are meant to support critical thinking into how innovative technologies such as OVs may offer benefits that transcend the typical approaches used in vehicle safety, including passive and active safety measures.
- Examining Senior Drivers Adaptation to Mixed Level Automated Vehicles: A Naturalistic StudyLiang, Dan; Antin, Jonathan F.; Lau, Nathan; Stulce, Kelly E.; Baker, Stephanie Ann; Wotring, Brian (SAFE-D: Safety Through Disruption National University Transportation Center, 2019-08)Advances in the development of advanced vehicle technologies (AVTs), such as blind spot alerts, lane keep assist,lane alert, and adaptive cruise control, can benefit senior drivers by reducing exposure to hazards andcompensating for diminished cognitive abilities sometimes seen in this population. However, the degree to whichsuch benefits can be realized in this vulnerable population depends largely on the degree to which senior driverswill accept, adopt, and adapt to these features. This study investigated how 18 seniors, aged 70–79, accepted,trusted, and used mixed-function AVTs when provided an AVT-equipped vehicle to drive as they desired for a 6-week period. Researchers assessed attitudes and the effect of exposure via before-and-after exposure surveys, briefweekly check-in surveys during the driving exposure period, and focus group sessions conducted after theconclusion of the driving exposure period. Analyses revealed that seniors prefer technologies that inform, such asblind spot alert, over those that assert independent control over the vehicle, such as lane keep assist. Increasedconfidence in and willingness to use AVTs correlated positively with exposure, with adequate time for orientationand appropriate user documentation emerging as key factors determining senior drivers’ acceptance.
- Exploration of under-ice regions with ocean profiling agents (EUROPA)Allen, David W.; Jones, Matthew; McCue-Weil, Leigh S.; Woolsey, Craig A.; Moore, William B. (Virginia Center for Autonomous Systems, 2013-09-14)Europa is an incredibly enticing target for exploration – the nearest reaches of what may be a vast new "habitable zone" of interior oceans warmed and stirred by tidal forces. Decades of NASA and National Academy studies including the most recent planetary science decadal survey have affirmed the preeminence of Europa as a destination for astrobiology research. This report provides a comprehensive technology roadmap and an assessment of current state of the art and future technologies to enable an under-ice mission to Europa. In this study, the authors provide an overview of key mission objectives, a profile of Europa, and a mission overview. The authors then delve into a discussion of the key fundamental science objectives and design tradeoffs to arrive at a comprehensive science traceability matrix and value system for design of a multi-vehicle, under-ice mission to Europa. The current state of the art is assessed and design alternatives discussed. The report culminates in a concept of operations for the mission and a recommended mission architecture utilizing three surface units, each deploying a single cryobot, with each cryobot carrying three biologically inspired, gliding under-ice hydrobots equipped with sensor packages that will characterize the physical and chemical state of Europa’s ocean over its entire depth.
- Field Implementation Feasibility Study of Cumulative Travel-Time Responsive Intersection Control Algorithm under Connected Vehicle TechnologyChoi, Saerona; Park, Byungkyu Brian; Lee, Joyoung (Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC), 2016-03-31)This project utilized the Connected Vehicle (CV) environment, which provides two-way wireless communications between vehicles and infrastructure, to (1) improve the Cumulative Travel-time Responsive (CTR) Intersection Control Algorithm under low CV market penetration by utilizing Bluetooth technology, and (2) assess potential benefits of the CTR algorithm by examining mobility, energy, and greenhouse emissions measures. The project team developed and evaluated a hardware-in-the-loop simulation to ensure that the developed CTR algorithm will work with an existing traffic controller on the Northern Virginia Connected Vehicle Test Bed. The team enhanced the CTR algorithm and evaluated its impact to verify the feasibility of field implementation. Two prediction techniques, a standard Kalman filter (SKF) and an adaptive Kalman filter (AKF), were applied to estimate cumulative travel time for each phase in the CTR algorithm. In addition, traffic demand, the market penetration rate (MPR), and the types of available data were also considered in evaluating CTR algorithm performance. The Lee Highway and Nutley Street intersection on the Northern Virginia Connected Vehicle Test Bed was selected for a case study and simulated within VISSIM. The results showed that the CTR algorithm’s performance depends on the MPR, as the information collected from CVs is a key CTR algorithm-enabling factor. However, this study found that the MPR could be relaxed (1) when the data were collected from both CV and infrastructure sensors, and (2) when an AKF was adopted in the CTR algorithm. The minimum MPRs required to outperform the current actuated traffic signal control were empirically found for each prediction technique and types of available data—data from both Connected Vehicle and infrastructure sensors, or Connected Vehicle’s data only. Even without the infrastructure sensors, the CTR algorithm could be considered for implementation at an intersection with high traffic demand and a 50% to 60% MPR. As the MPR for this field evaluation was around 14%, much lower than the minimum 20% required with an AKF incorporated, the project team could not implement the proposed algorithm. Instead, the team developed an implementation plan that can be easily adopted by traffic engineers once the MPR reaches 20% or higher.
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