The U.S. Department of Transportation at the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress 2019

The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) will participate in the 26th Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress (ITS World Congress) to be held in Singapore from October 21 to 25, 2019, at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre. The theme of the event is “Smart Mobility, Empowering Cities,” with program themes such as connected and automated vehicles, cybersecurity and data privacy, standards and harmonization, and more. The United States is a leading force in ITS research and development, so several U.S. DOT representatives will be in attendance to discuss the Department’s latest efforts in ITS.

The 2019 ITS World Congress will include 5 days of programming, such as presentations and sessions, demonstrations, and exhibition booths and events. Notably, Ken Leonard, Director of the U.S. DOT’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office (JPO), will participate in several panel discussions. In addition, several U.S. DOT representatives will speak at the global conference including:

• Ken Leonard, ITS JPO
• Valerie Briggs, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
• Carl Andersen, FHWA.

The following are highlights of the U.S. DOT’s participation at ITS World Congress.

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials International Day

8:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M., Room 325

U.S. DOT Speaker: Ken Leonard, ITS JPO (featured on Panel 1 of 2)

Description: Panel 1, The Research, Policy Legislative, and Regulatory Framework Related to Cooperative Automated Transportation, will focus on three topics: 1) planning, design, and land use, 2) mobility as a service and mobility on demand implications (including ride share and first/last-mile transportation needs), and 3) pricing and tolling strategies and technologies.

Autonomous Vehicle Testing:  How Do We Address Legislative Discrepancies?

2:00 – 3:30 P.M., Nicoll 3
U.S. DOT Speaker: Ken Leonard, ITS JPO
Description: Autonomous vehicle testing facilities have existed for several years. Real-world testing in live traffic has started across the world, and there have been some challenges in this testing. Connected automated vehicle (CAV) legislation has a big impact on autonomous vehicle testing. For example, in the United States, the legislation is not uniform. Some states have enacted legislation, some have issued executive orders, some have both in place, and some have none. What about the rest of the world? What is being done to ensure that testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles will be done in a safe and expeditious manner so that CAV systems can be designed to operate globally?

Sustaining Smart City Safety and Mobility Through Traffic Incident Management

9:00 – 10:30 A.M., Room 326
U.S. DOT Speaker: Valerie Briggs, FHWA Office of Transportation Management
Description: Traffic incidents continue to severely impact transportation safety and efficiency in cities throughout the world. The purpose of this session is to emphasize the criticality of traffic incident management (TIM) to sustaining safety and mobility in smart cities. The coordinated multidiscipline and multifaceted approach to responding to roadway emergencies illustrates the need for the session to also present a deliberate and balanced integration of smart technology, data, people, and training for managing traffic incidents successfully. Technology and ITS have always been foundational to effective TIM. Today, rapid advancements in vehicle and roadway automation and smart city technologies are enabling vehicles to be connected with each other and roadway infrastructure. As these advancements take place, it remains critical to engage the roadway operators, particularly those from the public safety community, to understand their unique needs and challenges for responding to traffic incidents, particularly those involving electric and automated vehicles.

Transforming Freight Movement Through ITS (TFMI) Part 1:  Efficient and Sustainable Operation of Commercial Vehicles on Highways

9:00 – 10:30 A.M., Room 227
U.S. DOT Speaker: Carl Andersen, FHWA
Description: Road freight transport faces several main challenges: 1) greening, reducing GHG emissions and fossil fuel dependency; 2) managing an increasing flow of heavy vehicles on existing infrastructure; 3) extending the lifetime of ageing road infrastructure exposed to longer and heavier trucks; and 4) financing the maintenance and operation of the infrastructure and collecting the fair price for the infrastructure use. Combined ITS solutions can resolve these challenges. They include smart infrastructure, access programs, electric road systems, high-capacity vehicles, advanced heavy traffic monitoring and direct enforcement, routing and monitoring of connected vehicles, free flow tolling and tax per kilometer. Infrastructure and fleet managers, carriers, and regulatory bodies are the main actors, which need to build together and implement these solutions. A feedback on the best practices in Europe, North America, and Asia will be reported, and the panel discussion will identify the most promising ways and solutions for the near future.

5G and IOT Boosting the Digital Transformation of the Automotive Sector

2:00 – 5:30 P.M., Room 324
U.S. DOT Speaker: Ken Leonard, ITS JPO

Description: The Internet of Things (IoT) has contributed tremendously to advancing the connected and automated mobility (CAM) goals of safety, traffic efficiency and comfort. 5G, with its promise of a highly flexible architecture and extended reach of communication, can amplify IoT-CAM use cases in unprecedented ways. There are boundless economic benefits of using 5G’s network slicing model for IoT service provision. Harnessing fully the potential of IoT and big data solutions powered by 5G requires a collaborative approach toward a global market vision. In this symposium, experts from Europe, Asia, and the Americas will present perspectives on how 5G and IoT can bridge the gap to fully automated and on-demand mobility. The discussion will center on: 1) technological trends and research and innovation strategies; 2) new business models for automated mobility, particularly data sharing along a large value chain involving diverse stakeholders supplying solutions; and 3) policy and regulation approaches across the three regions.