The Connected Vehicle Mobility and Environment Workshop was held in Arlington, VA on November 30 and December 1, 2010 under the sponsorship of the U.S. DOT connected vehicle research program.  The goals of the workshop were to:

• inform stakeholders on foundational concepts, organization, schedule, projects, procurements and products of the Mobility Research Program (Real Time Data Capture and Management and Dynamic Mobility Applications)
• confirm stakeholder concurrence on program direction
• motivate stakeholder utilization of program products, participation in upcoming procurements capture stakeholder feedback on targeted cross-cutting issues regarding data sharing and open source application development

Workshop participants (152 registered attendees) included representation from public and private sectors, as well as academia (Figure 1).

One aspect of the workshop included systematic stakeholder feedback on the results of a recent call for submission of ideas of transformative connected vehicle-enabled mobility applications.  These applications envision the use of connected vehicle data and communications technologies to improve the nature, accuracy, precision or speed of dynamic decision making by system managers and users to improve mobility.  The call generated 93 ideas, of which a total of 23 ideas were out of scope for the Dynamic Mobility Applications Program.  Concepts out of scope for the Dynamic Mobility Applications Program were referred to other program areas such as Real-Time Data Capture and Management, Safety, and AERIS.  The remaining concepts were consolidated into 33 concepts since many submissions were similar in nature or variants of a single concept.  At the workshop, participants were asked to identify promising applications from the collection of 33 concepts considering synergies between applications; balancing near-term risks and long-term impacts; and effectively leveraging connected vehicle data.  To this end, two breakout exercises were held, one on each day.  Note that only non-federal stakeholders participated in the voting exercises.

Day 1 Breakout Exercises:  Applications and Data Environments

On Day 1, the breakout exercise was organized around data environments: Arterial, Freeway, Corridor, and Regional.  In each breakout session, stakeholders were asked to rate (High, Medium, Low) each application concept’s potential impact, deployment readiness (i.e., likelihood that the application could be developed, tested, and widely deployed by 2025), and alignment with the Program objectives (including, clear federal role).  Participants were also asked to record text commentary along with these ratings to provide insight into their personal rationale for these ratings.  Finally, considering the three criteria, each breakout exercise participant voted for the top three most promising applications.  Voting followed a 3-2-1 format, with each participant’s top application receiving 3 points, the second application receiving 2 points, and the third application receiving 1 point.  It should be noted that only a limited number of application concepts (8 to 12) were included in each breakout session due to time constraints.  For example, cooperative adaptive cruise control was not included for discussion in the corridor and regional breakout sessions.

Arterial Breakout Session

Breakout participants ranked connected vehicle-driven traffic signal system the highest, and voted it as having the highest potential for transformative impact, and the greatest alignment with the goals of the program.  Applications that made use of advanced signal control concepts in conjunction with vehicle-to-vehicle control were voted as having the least likelihood of being ready for deployment by 2025.  For example, adaptive speed control for efficient traversal of intersections was deemed to have a high risk for deployment by 2025 because of complex safety interactions with pedestrians and bicycles, as well as an expectation that 100% market penetration would be required.  Some participants were concerned about identifying a clear federal role in the development of curbside parking availability and general road user traffic signal priority.  Table 1 summarizes the results of the voting exercise.  The score shown under “prioritization criteria” is an average of the ratings (High=3, Medium = 2, Low = 1) provided by 22 non-federal stakeholders.  For example, transit signal priority had a total of 15 votes, with a score of 2.0 out of 3 points for potential for transformative impact, a score of 2.2 for deployment readiness, and 2.0 for alignment with program goals.

Table 1. Results: Arterial Data Environment

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Freeway Breakout Session

Dynamic speed harmonization was ranked the highest by the 14 non-federal participants at the freeway breakout session.  Table 2 summarizes the results of the voting exercise.  It should be noted that although cooperative adaptive cruise control was voted as having the potential for higher impact and greater program alignment than incident scene work zone alerts, it got fewer votes (11) than the work zone alerts concept (14).  This may have been due to a perceived deployment risk for the 2025 time frame.  In fact, cooperative adaptive cruise control had the lowest score for deployment readiness (1.6), which was analogous to the assessment of participants in the arterial breakout session.  Freeway breakout exercise participants were concerned about identifying a clear federal role in the development of applications for electronic toll collection systems, multi-modal real-time traveler information and MDSS communications.  However, participants did make the observation that the federal role in the development of the multi-modal traveler information was in the facilitation of provision of multi-modal data or in the development of standards.

Table 2. Results: Freeway Data Environment

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Corridor Breakout Session

Multi-modal real-time traveler information was voted the most promising application concept, with the highest potential for transformative impact, the greatest likelihood for being ready for deployment, and the greatest alignment with the program goals.  This was inconsistent with the observations made by participants in the freeway breakout session, who noted a lack of clear federal role in the development of a traveler information application.  Table 3 summarizes the results of the feedback received from the 25 non-federal participants in the corridor breakout session.  Stakeholders observed that connected vehicle-driven integrated corridor management was not a change in paradigm; instead connected vehicle applications would be the basis for better data.  One stakeholder highlighted the need for standards for interoperability.

Table 3. Results: Corridor Data Environment

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Regional Breakout Session

Table 4 summarizes the results of the feedback received from the 15 non-federal participants in the regional breakout session.  Consistent with results from the corridor breakout session, multi-modal real-time traveler information emerged as the most promising application.  However, one participant noted that there was no clear federal role and another observed that traveler response to information was overrated and very few travelers would pay for information.  The emergency communications and evacuation application garnered zero votes.

Table 4. Results: Regional Data Environment

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Day 2 Breakout Exercises:  Applications and Primary Impacts

On Day 2, the breakout exercises were organized around primary impact: Environmental, Productivity, Mobility, and Safety/Security.  In each breakout session, stakeholders were asked to collectively identify up to three measures and transformative targets for each measure.  Stakeholders then individually rated (High, Medium, Low) each application concept’s potential to achieve the jointly identified transformative targets, and voted for the top three promising applications.  Finally, stakeholders collectively refined data and communications needs, and identified research needs for the most promising application(s).  As mentioned previously, due to time constraints only a limited number of application concepts were included in each breakout session.

Environmental Breakout Session

The three environmental measures identified by the stakeholders included:

• Tons of Total Emissions (including greenhouse gas and criteria pollutants)
• Total Gallons of Fuel Equivalents
• Mode Split (defined by stakeholders as percentages of non-SOV trips)

Table 5 shows the results from the voting exercise.  The score shown for each performance measure is an average of the ratings (High=3, Medium = 2, Low = 1) provided by the 16 non-federal participants in the breakout session.  For example, connected vehicle-driven integrated corridor management had a score of 2.1 out of 3 points for its potential to achieve the target for emissions reduction, a score of 2.0 to reduce fuel consumption, and a score of 2.1 to increase mode split.  Connected vehicle-driven integrated corridor management was ranked the highest with a total of 20 votes.  Connected vehicle-driven mileage-based user fee had one fewer vote (19), but was rated higher for its potential to achieve the transformational target for all three measures.  Participants observed that environmental impacts would have been more significant for parking applications which were not included in the environmental breakout session.

Data and communications needs were refined for the connected vehicle-driven integrated corridor management concept.  It was observed that for transformative impacts, full market penetration of connected vehicle-enabled vehicles and deployment of component applications (e.g., connected vehicle-driven traffic signal system, ramp metering) would be required.  Participants also identified the need for standardizing data to enable sharing of data between jurisdictions.  Research needs identified include approaches for: quantifying benefits for different deployment levels; incentivizing travel choices; and assigning costs.

Table 5. Results: Environmental Impacts

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Productivity Breakout Session

The three productivity measures identified by the participants include:

• Ratio of loaded moves to total moves
• Travel time reliability
• Freight tons or passengers per mile per day
  

A total of 11 non-federal participants voted on the applications (Table 6).  Given that all three productivity measures were freight-related, it is not surprising that the top two applications were freight-specific, with freight dynamic route guidance having earned the most number of votes (16).  Electronic toll collection and universal map application both had zero votes.  Interoperability was the key concern for electronic toll collection.  Although other freight concepts were ranked high, freight signal priority was ranked 7th.  This may be attributed to the need for community support for deployment of freight signal priority, which was identified as a key issue by one of the participants.
 

Data and communications needs were identified for freight dynamic route guidance.  Participants noted that the application did not require DSRC.  Key research needs identified include: modeling freight movement; routing algorithms; and modeling driver distraction.  Participants observed that transformative benefits could be realized provided the private sector was able to commercialize the application.

Table 6. Results: Productivity Impacts

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Mobility Breakout Session

The three mobility measures identified by the participants include:

• Travel time reliability at a known cost
• Accessibility/livability
• Portability/availability/extensibility (defined by participants as the percent of geography/population with access to the application)

Table 7 summarizes the feedback from 29 non-federal participants.   Multi-modal real-time traveler information was ranked the highest.  ATIS was also voted as having the highest overall potential to achieve transformative targets for increased reliability, accessibility and availability.  It was noted that knowledge of traveler choices would make traveler information more effective, and this would require two-way communication between the traveler and the system.

Table 7. Results: Mobility Impacts

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Safety/Security Breakout Session

The three safety/security measures identified by the participants include:

• Fatalities
• Delays due to incidents
• Secondary crashes

Table 8 summarizes the voting results from 13 non-federal participants.  Queue warning was ranked the highest.  It was noted that 50% of rear-end crashes in Japan occurred at intersections.  Interestingly enough, emergency vehicle preemption was ranked low with only two votes.  This may have been due to participants’ perception that the concept was not innovative or transformative.  As noted in the arterial breakout session, cooperative adaptive cruise control was again identified as being too advanced or futuristic for a 2025 deployment time frame.

Participants refined the top four application concepts.  Queue warning and incident scene work zone alerts for drivers and workers were identified as having synergies with requirements for safety applications and dynamic speed harmonization.

Table 8. Results: Safety and Security Impacts

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Conclusions

The application concepts that made it to the top ten among all breakout sessions were representative of all modes, including highways, transit (TSP), freight (F-ATIS, F-DRG), pedestrians (PED-SIG), emergency vehicles (INC-ZONE), implying representation at the workshop from a cross-section of agencies and expertise. Table 9 shows the average scores received for the 33 application concepts among all breakout sessions. An application received 6 points for any session where it was ranked #1, 5 points when ranked #2, 4 points when ranked #3, 3 points when ranked #4, 2 points when ranked #5, and 1 point when ranked #6. For example, connected vehicle-driven traffic signal system (I-SIG) appeared in two (2) out of the eight (8) breakout sessions. The maximum I-SIG could have accrued is 12 points. It was ranked #1 in one session and #3 in the other session, resulting in a weighted score of 83% (10 points/12 points). Overall, connected vehicle-driven integrated corridor management (ICM) was ranked highest among all breakout sessions. It appeared in three (3) of the eight (8) breakout sessions, and was ranked #1 in one session and #2 in the remaining two sessions, resulting in a total score of 89%. It should be noted that although ICM was ranked the highest, as noted in the environmental breakout session, transformative benefits can be realized only if component applications are in place.

Feedback collected at the public meeting will serve to inform the federal team but will not determine application priority. For briefing materials used at the public meeting, including breakout session reports, please visit: http://www.its.dot.gov/meetings.htm.

Table 9. Most Promosing Applications Across All Breakout Exercises

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