Guest blogger DOT Research and Innovative Technology Administrator Peter Appel: New ITS Strategic Plan envisions unprecedented mobility and safety

Imagine a world where highway crashes are significantly reduced, vehicles can talk to traffic signals, and travelers can get accurate travel time information and route options as well as data about the potential environmental impacts of their choices.

Welcome to the world of Intelligent Transportation Systems and, in particular, IntelliDrive^SM.

IntelliDrive is a group of technologies and transportation applications representing the next great milestone in transportation technology. Research is being sponsored by DOT and others to leverage the transformative capabilities of wireless technology to make surface transportation safer, smarter and greener.

The safety applications would offer drivers 360° awareness to inform them of hazards and situations they can't see and to provide connectivity among vehicles to enable crash prevention. Other features have the potential to reduce crashes through advisories and warnings. For instance, drivers may be warned of an imminent collision with another vehicle, a slippery patch of roadway  or sharp ramp curve ahead, or the approach of an intersection with inadequate time to pass through safely.

The system's mobility applications would provide a connected, data-rich travel environment based on information transmitted anonymously from the thousands of vehicles using the transportation system at a particular time. This information could help transportation managers monitor and manage transportation system performance like traffic signals or maintenance crews.

Providing travelers with real-time information about congestion and other travel conditions helps them make more informed decisions. Informed travelers may decide to avoid congestion by taking alternate routes or public transit, or by rescheduling their trip--all of which can make trips more fuel-efficient and eco-friendly.  Transportation management activities that reduce vehicle idling due to congestion also reduce emissions.

It's important to note that IntelliDrive offers all of these benefits without compromising the safety, security, or privacy of any users.

The Research and Innovative Technology Administration's new, five-year Intelligent Transportation Systems Strategic Research Plan is exciting news for all Americans.

Through projects like IntelliDrive, it lays the foundation for a new era of transportation characterized by state-of-the-art vehicle and road technologies that will save lives, improve fuel efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately lead to a higher quality of life in our communities.

It is our responsibility to ensure we harness this change for the greatest benefit of all Americans. While there is still much work to be done, this plan embraces a transportation future that will be significantly safer, greener and more mobile.

Comments

[Michael E. Bailey]

This is a project that would be of great importance to transit agencies and intercity bus lines across the country as well as the trucking industry. This is what we need for a safer transportation system. Of course nothing would prevent the fatal accident today on the Regional Transit System in Sacramento where a person on a bycycle rode to close to a bus and out of sight of the driver and fell underneath the vehicle. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[Tom Kern, Executive Vice President at ITS America]

Thank you, Administrator Appel. ITS America strongly advocates the smart, life-saving potential and promise of IntelliDriveSM technologies. If you’d like to learn more, we’ll have more than a half dozen sessions dedicated to “the latest” on IntelliDrive and cooperative systems at the 2010 ITS America Annual Meeting and Expo from May 3-5 in Houston, Texas. Here’s a link to the preliminary program http://www.itsa.org/amprogram/c150/News_and_Events/Calendar/Annual_Meeting_and_Exposition/Program.html. We invite all “Fastlane” subscribers and friends to come see us in Houston!

[gecko]

re: "the next great milestone in transportation technology"

The next great milestone in transportation technology will be broad implementation of distributed and on-demand vehicles that are small enough to be practically powered by human power on-and-off systems with environmental footprints less than 1% of automobiles.

Google maps has just acknowledged this and is definitely a game changer as a huge American company that supports cycling as serious transportation.

Now American transportation including the federal and local transportation departments must follow the lead to develop this ultimately hybrid human-electric technology to the logical conclusion or explain why not.

When will iPhone with AT&T and Verizon wireless get into the act?

And, what is Intelligent Transportation Systems' strategy towards this technology where in China alone 430 million people cycle and an additional 120 million use electric bicycles?

[Oleg mart]

I saw a show on discovery channel and i think we are capable of it now. It is all about the transportation technology of the future. It's great that even at the present time, someone is making a step towards safer transportation. It's better to be safer!!

[Ninja Media]

Google maps has just acknowledged this and is definitely a game changer as a huge American company that supports cycling as serious transportation.

[create a free blog]

Google maps has just acknowledged this and is definitely a game changer as a huge American company that supports cycling as serious transportation.