Connected Vehicle Deployer Resources
The Connected Vehicle Deployer Resources page seeks to assist the deployer community in deploying interoperable connected vehicle solutions. Interoperability ensures that connected vehicles and roadside infrastructure from different manufacturers can exchange information and use the information in a consistent manner.
This page provides access to information on the following topics:
Equipment Loan Program and Help Desk
The USDOT’s Connected and Automated Vehicle Support Services provide infrastructure owner operators (IOOs), equipment manufacturers, and device vendors with technical assistance and equipment loans during connected and automated vehicle (CAV) deployments. By providing knowledge and equipment, the services advance CAV deployments without any cost for users. Support services are provided to all levels of users, including IOOs interested in testing CAV technologies as they consider deployment, vendors interested in bench testing time and space at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), and organizations in the later stages of CAV deployment, such as the Connected Vehicle Pilot Sites.
For more information, email CAVSupportServices@dot.gov or review the Equipment Loan Program and Help Desk Technical Primer. Please note that our previous online ticketing system has been discontinued in order to consolidate all requests under our email address.
The Equipment Loan Program provides a CAV user with the opportunity to become familiar with the types of equipment typically used in connected vehicle deployment. Available equipment includes:
- Roadside Units (RSUs)
- On Board Units (OBUs)
- Packet Sniffers
- Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) and MCAP Message Test Devices
- Connected and Automated Vehicle Education (CAVe)-In-a-Box – CAVe-in-a-box is a hands-on learning experience to aid curriculum, and support instruction for community colleges and trade schools, facilitate benchmarking connected vehicle equipment, and support onboarding of ITS technicians. The toolkit features two prototype designs for roadside and in-vehicle installations as well as a detailed system design document for configuration and deployment. To learn more about CAVe-in-a-box or borrow one to test on your own, email CAVSupportServices@dot.gov
The Help Desk provides technical assistance during CAV testing and deployments, including:
- Device Configuration Support
- Output review – assistance with submission of case and review of logs
- J2735 messages – assistance with interpretations of standard, content, and structure
- MAP/Traveler Information Message (TIM) Tool Application Support
- First-level support for questions or issues related to MAP/TIM generation tools
- Device Testing Support
- Dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) wireless sniffer access
- Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) location support
- Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) assistance
- Infrastructure Implementation Support
- IPv6 network design recommendations
- Physical installation guidance
- Security Support
- Network security guidance
- Security Credential Management System (SCMS) questions and updates
- Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Hub
- Support for V2X Hub User Group
- V2X Hub installation and setup
- Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx)
- First-level support for questions and issues related to WZDx specifications
To submit a help desk or equipment loan request, please email us at CAVSupportServices@dot.gov. Please note that our previous online ticketing system has been discontinued in order to consolidate all requests under our email address.
Open Source Connected Vehicle Tools
Open Source Software for Intelligent Transportation Systems (OSS4ITS) is an ecosystem that advances the deployment of interoperable transportation systems. The software suite provides infrastructure owner operators (IOOs), software companies, and device manufacturers a clear picture of the available open source software tools for both technical and business audiences. OSS4ITS provides the ITS deployment community with robust, flexible, and extensible open-source software products that are easier to implement and maintain and encourages collaboration by contributing back to accelerate the future deployments. These products include CARMASM, V2X Hub, Operational Data Environment (ODE), and Secure Data Commons (SDC). For more information on Open Source Connected Vehicle Tools, visit the OSS4ITS Confluence Page.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed the innovative CARMASM Platform to encourage collaboration with the goal of improving transportation efficiency and safety. FHWA's interest in advancing transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) strategies with automated driving technology is focused on how infrastructure can move traffic more efficiently. The CARMASM Platform is built on robot operating system (ROS) and utilizes open source software that enables Cooperative Driving Automation (CDA) features to allow Automated Driving Systems (ADS) to interact and cooperate with infrastructure and other vehicles through communication. For more information, visit:
CARMASM Support Services
CARMASM Support Services provide industry, academia, IOOs, and other agencies with knowledge and technical support on the CARMASM product suite with the goal to accelerate CDA and collaboration. For further information, click here.
The Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Hub builds on existing open source software applications for communication among all parts of a connected deployment including vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians, cyclists, and emergency services to create an interoperable software environment for V2X research and deployment. The V2X Hub is a message handler that acts as a translator and data aggregator/disseminator for infrastructure components of a connected vehicle deployment. For more information, visit:
The ITS Operational Data Environment (ODE) is a real-time virtual data router that ingests and processes operational data from various connected devices – including vehicles, infrastructure, and traffic management centers – and distributes the data to other devices and subscribing transportation management applications. Using the ITS ODE within intelligent transportation deployments increases data fluidity and interoperability while meeting operational needs and protecting user privacy. The software’s microservices architecture makes it easier to add new capabilities to meet local needs. For more information, visit:
The Secure Data Commons (SDC) is a cloud-based analytics platform that enables traffic engineers, researchers, and data scientists to access transportation-related datasets. The USDOT created the SDC to provide a secure platform for sharing and collaborating on research, tools, algorithms, and analysis involving moderate sensitivity level (personally identifiable information and confidential business information) datasets using commercially available tools, without needing to install tools or software locally.
ITS Standards and Architecture
More and more transportation agencies are relying on ITS to help them manage and maximize their transportation facilities. As ITS becomes more widespread, transportation agencies are recognizing the value that standards can bring to their ITS deployments. Standards can help maximize ITS investments because they allow data sharing:
- Between devices manufactured by different ITS vendors at different times
- Across different ITS applications
- Among transportation agencies located in different jurisdictions
To learn more about ITS Standards, visit the ITS Standards website or sign up for free ITS Standards Training.
The National ITS Reference Architecture, also known as the “Architecture Reference for Cooperative and Intelligent Transportation” or simply “ARC-IT” provides a common framework for planning, defining, and integrating intelligent transportation systems. To learn more visit the Architecture Reference for Cooperative and Intelligent Transportation (ARC-IT) website.
Access to Data and Code
Access to ITS data and open source code is critical for public agencies, private companies, and academia to conduct research and create new ITS innovations and services. Consistent and timely access to data increases the return on federal investment in ITS research and demonstration projects while helping to inform future investment decisions, which speeds deployment of innovative ITS technologies and produces widespread benefits. Open source code encourages code reuse and fosters open-source development saving and promoting interoperable solutions. The USDOT has developed tools to allow deployers to access ITS research data and open source code.
The ITS DataHub provides a single point of entry to discover USDOT’s publicly available ITS research data, including connected vehicle data. By providing access to these data, the USDOT aims to enable third-party research into the effectiveness of emerging ITS technologies, preliminary development of third-party applications, and harmonization of data across similar collections. Data accessible through the ITS DataHub is quality-checked, well-documented, and freely available to the public. The ITS DataHub is home to over 100 data sets created using ITS technologies. The ITS DataHub’s data sets contain various types of information, such as highway detector data, travel times, traffic signal timing data, incident data, weather data, and connected vehicle data. To access and contribute data, visit:
ITS CodeHub is the USDOT Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office's (JPO) source code management system. It is a resource for the ITS community to discover open source code, software, and more. The ITS CodeHub promotes a reuse-first mentality and aims to support the discovery of open source code by putting it directly into the hands of developers to customize, transform, expand, and improve, as trends evolve and needs change. To access and contribute code, visit:
Technical Reports and Primers
The USDOT developed a series of technical documents targeted at capturing best practices and lessons learned from earlier connected vehicle deployers that can be used to inform future deployers. These resources are intended to foster collaboration and enable early deployers to build and maintain interoperable connected vehicle deployments.
The Connected Vehicle Pilot Deployment Program seeks to combine connected vehicle and mobile device technologies in innovative and cost-effective ways. Ultimately, this program will improve traveler mobility and system productivity while reducing environmental impacts and enhancing safety. The USDOT selected three pilot sites – New York City, Tampa Hillsborough Highway Expressway Authority (THEA), and Wyoming – that are progressing through a Concept Development Phase (September 2015 – August 2016), a Design/Build/Test Phase (September 2016 – Spring 2019) and a final Operate and Maintain Phase (Fall 2018 – Fall 2020). As the CV Pilot sites advance through the stages of development, they have yielded a series of artifacts, including guidance documents, technical assistance webinars and reports that may be of value to other early deployers of connected vehicle technologies to conduct similar planning and design activities.
Aligning information flows across deployments can also help ensure interoperable connected vehicle deployments. To assist other deployers, the Connected Vehicle (CV) Pilot sites – New York City, Tampa Hillsborough Highway Expressway Authority (THEA), and Wyoming – made their Information Flow Triples spreadsheet available. Th Information Flows Triples spreadsheet documents the source and destination physical objects and the information flows exchanged between the objects from each CV Pilot site. The Information Flows Triples spreadsheet is available upon request by emailing cvpilots@dot.gov. For additional information on Information Flow Triples, please see the National ITS Reference Architecture.
The Connected Vehicle Pilot sites – New York City, Tampa Hillsborough Highway Expressway Authority (THEA), and Wyoming – made their Data Object Alignment spreadsheets available to stakeholders interested in deploying connected vehicle projects that are interoperable with the CV Pilot sites. Connected vehicle messages include mandatory and some optional data objects. Data Object Alignment spreadsheet are available for the following message types: Basic Safety Message (BSM); Traveler Information Message (TIM); Intersection Geometry (MAP) Message; Signal Phase and Timing (SPAT) Message; and Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) Service Advertisement (WSA) Message. The CV Pilot spreadsheets denoting the data objects used by each CV Pilot site are available upon request by emailing cvpilots@dot.gov.
The Security Credential Management System (SCMS) is a critical component of this connected vehicle environment serving as a message security solution for V2X. It uses a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)-based approach that employs specialized methods of encryption and certificate management optimized for anonymization to facilitate trusted communication. TheSCMS technical primer provides an overview of the SCMS, discusses security and design considerations, provides an overview of the SCMS structure, describes the types of certificates used, defines the SCMS process, and summarizes lessons learned from early deployers that have used the SCMS.
This document is intended to assist project managers who are planning deployment of connected vehicle (CV) systems in the procurement of Security Credential Management System (SCMS) services. A SCMS is a critical component of a connected vehicle environment serving as a message security solution for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X). The content in this resource document is based on other early deployers’ experiences with the procurement and use of a SCMS for CV. The objective of this document is to share these experiences to help other projects understand and ask relevant questions.
Authenticity and integrity of the communications for connected vehicle applications are ensured using digital signatures and IEEE 1609.2 digital certificates supported by the security credential management system (SCMS). The permissions of the senders are indicated using Provider Service Identifiers (PSID) and Service Specific Permissions (SSPs). The PSID is a globally unique integer value that is associated with a service being provided using a communications system such as 5.9 GHz DSRC WAVE. Associated with PSIDs is a SSP. This technical primer provides an overview of PSIDS and SSPs – including lessons learned from early deployers.
This document provides Security profiles being used by the CV Pilot sites and is intended to be used to inform early deployers and guide them to make the best choices for their own deployments. The Connected Vehicle Pilot sites worked collaboratively with the USDOT, their roadside unit (RSU) and onboard unit (OBU) vendors, and their security credential management system (SCMS) vendor (which was the same for all three sites) to jointly develop Service Specific Permissions (SSP) guidance for all of the Provider Service Identifiers (PSIDs) they were implementing. Technical leads from the CV Pilot Sites –and some of their vendors—included members that had subject matter expertise with the SAE and IEEE standards associated with PSIDs and SSPs.
This document captures lessons learned and best practices for Roadside Units (RSUs) as experienced by the Connected Vehicle (CV) Pilot sites. The document synthesizes, at a high-level, key lessons learned, and best practices related to RSUs to assist early deployers as they deploy connected vehicle technologies in their jurisdictions. This document is part of a series of Connected Vehicle Deployment Technical Assistance resources intended to foster collaboration and enable early deployers to build and maintain interoperable connected vehicle deployments. RSU lessons learned and best practices were collected from documents and technical presentations produced by the CV Pilot sites, discussions from CV Pilot Technical Roundtables, and other sources. Content is captured for the acquisition/procurement, design, installation, and testing of RSUs.
United States Department of Transportation
