Connected and Automated Vehicles: Developing Policies, Designing Programs, and Deploying Projects: From Policy to Practice

By Raj Ponnaluri and Priyanka Alluri

Disruption in Transportation, as some experts say, is here; so is this book at this critical inflection point in the history of transportation planning, engineering, and operations. With a focus on improving safety and maximizing available systems to accommodate all modes of travel, this work brings together an array of topics and themes on transportation technologies under the banner of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV). The emerging technology implementing entities, industry leaders, original equipment manufacturers, standard development organizations, researchers, and others are singularly focused on a global multilogue to promote Safety, Mobility, Environment, and Economic Development (SMEEd). These discussions are technologically interdisciplinary and procedurally cross-functional, hence the need for CAV: Developing Policies, Designing Programs, and Deploying Projects.

This book is aimed at the policy-maker who wants to know the high-level detail; the planner who chooses to pursue the most efficient path to implementation; the professional engineer who needs to design a sustainable system; the practitioner who considers deployable frameworks; the project manager who oversees the system deployment; the private sector consultant who develops and delivers a CAV program; and the researcher who evaluates the project benefits and documents lessons learned. This book makes a business case for implementing CAV technologies to achieve SMEEd goals; presents the possibilities and challenges to deploying emerging technologies; identifies the institutional roles and responsibilities; and develops a policy framework for mainstreaming CAV.

• A comprehensive perspective on emerging technologies and CAV policies, planning, and practice
• A practical guide to support the development of a policy framework, business case, and justify funding
• A real-world experience-driven discussion with case studies, lessons learned, and road map creation
• A goal-oriented and practitioner-focused detail to draft, design, and deploy emerging technologies and CAV to achieve safety and mobility outcomes

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Jun 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9780128208854

Raj Ponnaluri

Raj Ponnaluri is Florida’s State Connected Vehicles, Arterial Management, and Managed Lanes Engineer. He has over 25 years of work experience in Transportation Systems Management & Operations, Intelligent Transportation Systems, traffic engineering & operations, road safety, project management, procurement, Connected and Automated Vehicles, and emerging technology applications. Raj holds a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering. He also has an MBA with a specialization in Engineering Management. He is a registered Professional Engineer, a Professional Traffic Operations Engineer, and a Project Management Professional, and is certified by ITC-ILO on Procurement and Project Management. Raj published his works with the Transportation Research Board, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and Elsevier journals Transport Policy, Accident Analysis & Prevention, and International Association of Traffic Safety and Sciences Research.

Book preview

Chapter 1: Why connected and automated vehicles?

Abstract

Transportation industry has evolved from nonmotorized transportation to a high-speed roadway network comprising advanced vehicle technologies. This chapter provides the rationale for considering and investing in emerging technologies to mitigate roadway traffic crashes, minimize traffic congestion, reduce vehicular emissions, and improve the overall quality of life for all road users. The goal is to move from the traditional transportation engineering practices to implementing emerging technologies, mainly because these technologies have the potential to eliminate the human role in certain decision-making situations, and provide the necessary alerts and warnings to help modify driver and road user behavior. This chapter provides a rationale for adopting CAV technologies as a way to accomplish the following four goals: safety, mobility, environment, and economic development. This chapter also sets the stage for the rest of this work by presenting a case for thoughtful deployment of CAV, and concludes by bringing together what it all means in the context of CAV.

Keywords

Connected and automated vehicles; Safety; Mobility; Environment; Economic development

Is it about being in the technological race, or about showcasing the ability to say, "we too can deploy, or are Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) technology elements about solving real-world transportation problems? A person with a passion for transportation once said, traditional traffic operations and safe engineering practices may only take us so far as to make us think if in fact we need the next big leap forward." That leap may infact be accomplished through conceptualizing, designing, and deploying CAV and emerging technologies.

In the United States alone, vehicles travel over 3 trillion miles every year [1], all of which result in significant positive outcomes, such as increased productivity and higher quality of life. On the other hand, this travel behavior also results in more than 7 million traffic crashes and over 37,000 traffic fatalities annually [2], along with significant delays due to recurring and nonrecurring traffic congestion, especially in the urban regions [3]. Traffic delays also contribute to significant vehicular emissions, causing an adverse impact on public health with such concerns as respiratory diseases. Traffic delays and crashes, and their resulting mobility and safety concerns impede economic development through the loss of productivity and increased mental stress, leading to a lower quality of life.

Nonetheless, traditional transportation engineering practices, including the adoption of national standards, such as the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), and emerging technologies appear to provide tangible outcomes, especially with safety, mobility, environment, and economic development (SMEEd). More than ever, there is now a need to deploy emerging technologies, including situational awareness and connected infrastructure. These transportation technological advancements have the potential to equip the various road users with the means to help mitigate mobility and safety concerns.

Recognizing the pace at which auto manufacturers (Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)) are advancing, it is plausible that CAV infrastructure deployments will converge with vehicle-to-vehicle technologies, thereby providing end-to-end solutions with stakeholder involvement. Although the list can be extensive, at a minimum, the stakeholders may include public agencies, private entities, universities, and research institutions. Listed in Fig. 1.1 are stakeholders that may be involved in CAV activities. Public agencies include the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), state Departments of Transportation (DOTs), county and local governments, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), etc. Semiprivate organizations include toll agencies such as the Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, New Jersey Turnpike Authority, and North Texas Toll Authority. Private entities constitute transportation engineering and planning consulting firms. The industry sector includes CAV equipment vendors, transportation technology software developers, automobile OEMs, etc. Finally, university and research institutes include academia, researchers, and innovators.

Fig. 1.1

Fig. 1.1 Major stakeholders in the CAV space.

Each of these stakeholders has a significant role in the CAV space, especially because the application and deployment of emerging technologies are interdisciplinary, multifunctional, and cross-jurisdictional, requiring extensive collaboration. Also, these stakeholder groups are better positioned to explain to their constituents the role of CAV technologies in mitigating crashes, improving mobility, reducing vehicular emissions, and spurring economic growth. Arguably, these four areas are most critical in quantifying the impacts of technology applications and emerging innovations. Hence policymakers strive toward improvements in SMEEd areas. Fig. 1.2 presents the four areas as the SMEEd goals; they are central to not only conceptualizing, designing, and deploying CAV and emerging technologies but also implementing strategies to enhance transportation for all road users.

Fig. 1.2

Fig. 1.2 SMEEd goals.

1.1: Goal #1: Safety

In 2017, more than 6.4 million traffic crashes led to over 37,000 traffic fatalities and more than 2.7 million injuries in the United States [4]. The toll of these crashes is estimated to be more than 1 trillion US dollars [5]. Regardless of the financial implication, the fact that several thousand lives are lost each year makes traffic safety a public health concern. Moreover, the nonquantifiable impacts, such as lost productivity and the effects on the health care system, also affect the general public. Despite applying many known countermeasures, adopting standard practices for designing and constructing roadways, and implementing national and state standards and guidance documents such as the MUTCD, millions of traffic crashes and thousands of traffic fatalities continue to occur each year. This concern has prompted transportation professionals to look beyond the traditional engineering approaches to mitigate the frequency and severity of traffic crashes.

Transportation professionals, therefore, are challenged with exploring innovative ways to address traffic safety concerns. Preliminary research has indicated that human factors, such as the role of human behavior and error in decision making, may lead to unsafe driving patterns and travel behavior. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 94%–96% of traffic crashes are attributed to human error [6]. On a conservative scale, a drastic improvement in traffic safety could potentially be realized if even half of the human error is eliminated. Roadway infrastructure, built for safe driving conditions by incorporating technology, could lead to a significant reduction in crash events. This approach of adopting technology for improving safety is not new and is ubiquitous in several transportation sectors, such as air and rail.

CAV can play an important role in mitigating and eliminating traffic crash potential by compensating for human error and responding in real- time to situations where the human driver may not have responded in time to avoid a crash. Examples include technologies already available in some vehicles, such as lane departure warning system, blind spot warning system, and forward collision avoidance system. Although these applications are currently vehicle-centric, the groundwork at a policy level has begun to upgrade the roadway infrastructure for communicating with vehicles and all road users. For example, vehicles equipped with advanced systems can detect vehicles moving at high speeds at an intersection with potential cross-street traffic and prevent crashes from happening. The often-quoted term "near-misses" also refers to the CAV concept where artificial intelligence and machine learning can be applied to analyze the intersection of moving objects, such as vehicles and vulnerable road users (i.e., pedestrians and bicyclists), thus triggering alerts and potentially providing immediate safety feedback to the vehicles and vulnerable road users in real-time. This concept could also be extended to other modes and road users whose safety is the primary outcome of deploying CAV technologies.

Considering the potential and scope of CAV and emerging technologies in improving traffic safety, not deploying these technologies could be a lost opportunity, especially in the modern era where technology applications are widespread. Acting now will save lives.

1.2: Goal #2: Mobility

Deploying CAV projects and implementing emerging technologies can not only improve safety but also positively impact mobility. Over the past decade, many of the Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) applications, including Google Maps and Waze navigation, have revolutionized travel and are now mainstream. Building on the positive momentum generated by these applications, CAV technologies have the potential to radically transform the way people travel in the future. An immediate concern to all motorists is the recurring (i.e., routine) and nonrecurring (i.e., incident-related) traffic congestion. This affects millions of commuters resulting in reduced safety, increased travel time, unreliable commutes, lost productivity, mental frustration, and environmental degradation. These congestion-related effects, especially physical exhaustion and mental stress, often spring from a lack of knowledge and information about traffic conditions downstream, resulting in erratic and aggressive driving behaviors by some drivers.

In the simplest of terms, mobility may be defined as the movement of people and goods. In this context, Litman (2003) noted that mobility assumes travel to mean person-miles or ton-miles, whereas a trip means a person- or freight-vehicle trip [7]. However, the general definition of mobility lends significant support to the shift away from the notion that transportation is strictly vehicle-centric; instead, it must consider all road users. Several state DOTs in the United States consider the mobility of all road users as one of the main goals in their state transportation plans. For instance, the 2017 Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSM&O) Strategic Plan notes that its mission is to identify, prioritize, develop, implement, operate, maintain, and update TSM&O program strategies and measure their effectiveness for improved safety and mobility [8]. TSM&O Strategic Plans in the other states also follow a similar approach; for example, the Maryland State Highway Administratiońs mission is to establish and maintain a TSM&O program and implement supporting projects within the Maryland State Highway Administration improving mobility and reliability for all people and goods through planned operations of transportation facilities [9]. Similar information with an emphasis on mobility exists in several Strategic Plan documents from across the globe.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) devices such as Dynamic Message Signs (DMSs) and Highway Advisory Radios (HAR), as well as Transportation Management Centers (TMCs) and ATIS applications such as 511, have been filling the information gap by providing as much real-time traveler information as practical to road users. That said, despite the best efforts of responding agencies to reduce incident clearance times, secondary incidents resulting from delayed responses to primary incidents are motivating the use of CAV technologies to detect incidents faster than the current systems allow. CAV technologies can sense the rapid drop in vehicular speeds, quickly increasing queue lengths, and rising vehicular volumes, thereby triggering instantaneous alerts to the onboard units (OBUs) in vehicles, or through integration with other navigation applications such as Google and Waze. This communication plan alerts the high-speed vehicles upstream of the incident location, potentially preventing secondary crashes and delays. There is a distinct possibility that CAV technologies could soon directly communicate with the drivers through vehicle CAN bus, thereby reducing the processing time and potentially eliminating secondary crashes. Most importantly, CAV and emerging technologies can help incident responders reach the incident location quickly and swiftly clear the roadway to traffic. Fig. 1.3 illustrates this concept, where roadside units (RSUs) and ATIS applications communicate with the TMC and then relay incident information to vehicle OBUs.

Fig. 1.3

Fig. 1.3 Potential application of CAV technologies and ATIS applications in disseminating information in real-time.

Beyond the traditional traffic and transportation engineering practices, CAV and emerging technologies are increasingly being recognized as potential possibilities for addressing the mobility needs of all road users. In particular, with transit signal priority (TSP) and freight signal priority (FSP) applications, multimodal utility with CAV extends to other applications, such as driver-assisted truck platooning (DATP). Such CAV projects are not only being conceptualized but also being planned and deployed, by both the public and private sector. However, given the infancy of CAV technology, efforts are underway to test algorithms, including those for TSP and FSP, to improve mobility and reduce network-wide travel times, emissions, and fuel consumption. This research is mainly possible because infrastructure and communication protocols can be modeled and applied to several measures of effectiveness (MOEs), including vehicular delay, travel time reliability, fuel consumption, and emissions.

1.3: Goal #3: Environment

Transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in the United States [10]. Overall, personal automobiles are the single greatest contributors to air pollution, especially in urban areas. Considering an integrated multimodal transportation network is a first step toward reducing the carbon footprint. Although mobility has traditionally focused on personal vehicles, multimodalism is increasingly gaining prominence. As illustrated in Fig. 1.4, emphasis is on several modes, including freight, transit, rideshare, bicycling, pedestrianization, scooters, and skateboards. It is worth noting that the congestion management process (CMP) considers multimodal transportation as a key objective of congestion mitigation [11], along with livability, linkages with environmental review, collaboration with partners and stakeholders, demand management and operations strategies, and effective practices for documentation and visualization. The CMP Guidebook [11] encourages the development of mobility performance measures to characterize current and future conditions on the multimodal transportation system. Other activities encouraged in the guidebook include the following:

•characterize existing and anticipated conditions on the regional system;

•track progress toward meeting regional objectives;

•identify specific locations with congestion;

•assess congestion mitigation strategies, programs, and projects; and

•communicate system performance to decision-makers, the public, and MPOs.

Fig. 1.4

Fig. 1.4 Integrated multimodal transportation system.

CAV and emerging technologies can help reduce the carbon footprint and facilitate green transportation choices by saving fuel and reducing emissions. For example, eco-lanes, where drivers are advised to operate at a certain speed, promote speed harmonization; communicating signal phasing and timing (SPaT) messages from signalized intersections in real-time using Smart Signals reduce idling and prevent unnecessary stops. CAV strategies can improve the environment by reducing emissions and saving fuel consumption. However, their adoption could result in unintended consequences. Although CAVs could improve environmental quality, these technologies also have the potential to increase fuel consumption because of increased travel and higher travel speeds. The potential adverse impacts of CAV technologies should also be considered when developing transportation plans and policies before their extensive deployment and adoption.

1.4: Goal #4: Economic Development

Since the industrial revolution of the 1800s, the world economy has radically accelerated, stretching beyond human imagination. In the United States, the invention of the motor vehicle in the early 1900s and its quick adoption as a replacement to the relatively slower-moving nonmotorized modes has led to the creation of many systems, such as the development of the interstate system by the Eisenhower administration. The slow but steady evolution of technology in several sectors of the economy obtained its biggest boost to date with the advent of the computer during the 1960s. However, the most revolutionizing initiatives in computer science and the ability of mass computations during the 1970s and 1980s can be seen as groundbreaking in all sectors of the economy, including transportation.

Fast-forwarding to the year 2000 and continuing today, the advent of the CAV technologies has boosted the intelligent vehicle highway systems (IVHS) of the 1980s and the ITS of the 1990s. Simultaneously, economic development also flourished. In essence, the need for speed, efficiency, reliability, and dependability on good transportation systems is a driving force in economic development. This is mainly the result of providing reliable travel times, increased productivity, and the potential for saving human lives. As can be inferred from Fig. 1.5, it is fair to say that economic development does not occur in a vacuum and requires countless knowledgeable people who can apply such knowledge for personal and professional development, thereby contributing to the national economy. A developed economy requires talented workforce with core competence in interdisciplinary areas, as is also required with CAV technologies.

Fig. 1.5

Fig. 1.5 Web of interlocking goals: safety and mobility are interlocked with economic development.

Further, the USDOT CMP guidebook also noted certain economic and societal benefits associated with deploying CAV technologies in particular that CAVs would create a demand for relevant goods and services, and fostering the expansion of the ITS industry. Secondary impacts from CAV deployments could also be realized in the insurance industry in the form of altered policies and premiums with a focus on safety improvements. The actual impacts, however, will ultimately depend on the level of CAV technology penetration and the related applications, as well as state and local interest and commitment to introducing sustainable infrastructure deployments [12].

In a broader context, investing in CAV technologies leads to economic development; increased safety reduces and eliminates the need for expenditures because of fewer crashes and improvements in public health. Better mobility leads to faster and efficient commutes, thereby reducing lost time and providing people with the opportunity to use that time for improved productivity. Similarly, a cleaner environment improves public health. CAV and emerging technologies specific to a particular transportation mode or sector also have a positive impact on the economic well-being and quality of life. For example, CAV applications in the freight sector, such as DATP, with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Level 3 and higher, could eventually result in more drivers with autonomous vehicles technology, thus reducing the risk to human life. More consistent and reliable travel patterns of these freight vehicles will also be realized, including more efficient utilization of roadway