The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) aims to foster cooperative international research of intelligent transportation system (ITS) and to support international harmonization of ITS standards. Coordinated research can support and accelerate the deployment and adoption of cooperative vehicle (also termed connected vehicle) systems  and preclude the development and adoption of redundant standards. Cooperative systems enabling vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications have the potential to contribute to a safer, more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly transportation system.

Harmonization of International Standards and Architecture around the Vehicle Platform

As a global automotive industry, 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 industries. The objective of the Standards Harmonization research program is to work with the international standards community to harmonize standards and architecture to increase vehicle connectivity. Harmonization facilitates interoperability between products and systems, which can benefit transportation management agencies, vehicle manufacturers, equipment vendors, and others. 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, original equipment manufacturers, and other stakeholders to seek agreement and provide appropriate incentives.

The international standards harmonization program uses a multi-track approach to address the range of activities required for research:

• Track 1: Establish a U.S. DOT working group, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, ITS Joint Program Office (JPO), and other appropriate government and private sector representatives.
• 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.

Vehicle connectivity through harmonization of standards and architecture will reduce costs to industry and consumers in that hardware and/or software development costs will be spread over a larger user base, resulting in reduced unit costs. Differences between vehicles manufactured for different markets will also be minimized, allowing private-sector markets to have a greater set of global opportunities.

Recognizing the importance of harmonized international ITS standards and cooperative ITS research, RITA is collaborating with the European Commission (EU) Directorate General for Information Society and Media (DG INFSO) and the Road Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan.

U.S. and EU Collaboration

In January 2009, RITA and the EU DG INFSO signed an Implementing Arrangement to develop coordinated research programs, specifically focusing on cooperative vehicle systems. The purpose of this collaboration is to increase the value of each region’s research by creating a joint framework for field operational tests and evaluation tools, collaborating on cooperative vehicle safety applications research projects, and working to internationally harmonize cooperative vehicle standards.

The regions’ commitment was further affirmed in an EU-U.S. Joint Declaration of Intent on Research Cooperation in Cooperative Systems, signed in November 2009. The goals of the Joint Declaration are to:

• Support, wherever possible, global open standards to ensure interoperability of cooperative systems worldwide and to preclude the development and adoption of redundant standards
• Identify research areas that would benefit from a harmonized approach and that could be addressed by coordinated or joint research
• Avoid duplication of research efforts.

A Joint ITS Technical Task Force as well as Working Groups, co-led and staffed by representatives of the U.S. DOT and the EU, are conducting the work for this collaboration. The Working Groups include:

• Safety Applications Working Group – Focuses on supporting the development of cooperative safety applications in Europe and the United States by defining a common agreement among car manufacturers on specific standards/parameters to harmonize between these regions
• Sustainability Applications Working Group – Focuses on identifying, researching, quantifying, and evaluating the environmental benefits of an ITS application or scenario that would improve the operation and performance of an environmentally optimized transportation network
• Standards Harmonization Working Group – Focuses on encouraging and fostering the development and adoption of globally harmonized open standards for ITS cooperative systems
• Assessment Tools Working Group – Focuses on establishing a fundamental foundation to facilitate a common level of analysis capabilities, comparison of field operational tests, and exchange of data and information regarding test and evaluation of cooperative systems
• Driver Distraction and Human-Machine Interaction Working Group – Focuses on identifying opportunities for research collaboration, aligning research, and identifying differences in the area of driver distraction and human-machine interaction
• European Technical Roadmap Working Group – Focuses on producing a document to review the current state of the development of cooperative systems in Europe and the plans for future development and deployment
• Glossary Working Group – Focuses on establishing and publishing the common working definitions for the key terms and concepts to facilitate mutual understanding in ongoing discussions within the EU-U.S. Task Force.

U.S. and Japan Technical Cooperation and Information Exchange

RITA also signed an Implementing Arrangement with the MLIT of Japan to cooperate in transportation science and technology. The arrangement formalizes and advances the existing technical cooperation and information exchange on ITS between the two nations.

RITA and MLIT have agreed to promote collaboration in the field of ITS by:

• Identifying research and development areas that would benefit from joint development
• Sharing information on ongoing research and development projects, estimated benefits, research outcomes, and results of field demonstrations
• Informing stakeholders involved in the development of cooperative systems based on its technologies of continuing cooperation and progress between the nations
• Supporting development of globally open standards that ensure interoperability.

This collaboration with Japan is part of RITA’s continuing effort to develop international ITS research cooperatively and to support international harmonization of ITS standards.

Accomplishments: U.S. and EU Joint Showcase at the Vienna ITS World Congress

The EU and U.S. have made good progress in their bilateral endeavor and will create a showcase to share the joint work with the global ITS community at the ITS World Congress in Vienna, Austria, on October 22-26, 2012. The showcase will highlight their joint accomplishments and future plans in the areas of connected vehicle safety, standards harmonization, sustainability, driver distraction, and research tools. The U.S. and EU have been joined in several working areas by the MLIT of Japan. Where applicable, the presentations will include this work. Bilateral teams with industrial participation are working to develop the showcase as a joint endeavor.

Cooperation between the EU and U.S. industry, governments, and standards communities has resulted in a substantially harmonized core safety message set. The revised planned contents of the EU Cooperative Awareness Message (CAM) have been harmonized with the contents of the U.S. Basic Safety Message (BSM). While the messages are not identical, they are now sufficiently harmonized such that only simple translation is required for systems to utilize both messages nearly interchangeably, which will enable usage of substantially common hardware and software for products destined for both regions, reducing both cost and complexity. This harmonized content is expected to be incorporated into the final version of the CAM standard currently being completed via the European Telecommunications Standardization Institute's processes with adoption expected in the near future. This harmonized content will also be featured as part of the Car2Car Communication Consortium vehicle demonstration at the ITS World Congress in Vienna.

Resources

• US - Japan Probe Data Fact Sheet [PDF 1.98MB]
• International Deployment of Cooperative Intelligent Transportation Systems: Bilateral Efforts of the European Commission and United States Department of Transportation
• World Road Association Publication Sheet: “The Connected Vehicle”
• European Commission: International Research Cooperation
• EU-US Task Force Glossary