Skip to main content

US to test connected vehicle technologies in six cities

The US Department of Transportation has announced the six cities where it will hold Driver Acceptance Clinics for the connected vehicle programme. The first clinic will be held in Brooklyn, MI, near Detroit, in August, while the remaining clinics will be held in Minneapolis, Orlando, FL, Blacksburg, VA, Dallas and San Francisco.
April 25, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
The 324 US Department of Transportation has announced the six cities where it will hold Driver Acceptance Clinics for the connected vehicle programme. The first clinic will be held in Brooklyn, MI, near Detroit, in August, while the remaining clinics will be held in Minneapolis, Orlando, FL, Blacksburg, VA, Dallas and San Francisco.

The Connected Vehicle Drive Clinics are part of a Department of Transportation research programme conducted by the 321 Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) and the 834 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Department is working with the Crash Avoidance Metrics Partnership (CAMP), a research consortium of eight automobile manufacturers, to develop technology that will help cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles avoid crashes by communicating with nearby vehicles and roadway infrastructure such as traffic signals, dangerous road segments and grade crossings. Drivers will receive safety warnings when there is a risk of a crash or other safety driving hazard.

RITA Administrator Peter Appel says, “Connected vehicle technology has the potential to address 81 per cent of all unimpaired driver related crashes. We must take a serious look at how this technology will work in the real world to create a safer transportation system.”
The clinics will take place in urban, suburban and rural communities around the country to see if the technology is accepted by a cross-section of US residents. The driver clinics will measure the acceptance by ordinary drivers of in-car collision warnings, “do not pass” alerts, warnings that a vehicle ahead has stopped suddenly and other similar safety messages. The clinics will also be used to test the performance of DSRC wireless safety technology in geographically diverse environments.

Approximately 100 local drivers will be recruited for each clinic, which will take place in controlled locations. Each clinic will include about 24 cars equipped with DSRC-based safety applications. Drivers will be evaluated by researchers as they use the vehicles in a controlled environment designed to simulate real roadways and intersections.

After the driver clinics are completed, the US Department of Transportation will deploy thousands of wirelessly-connected vehicles to test how the technology performs in a real world driving environment. The model deployment is scheduled to begin in the latter part of 2012 at a site that will be selected through an open competition. Both the driver clinics and the model deployment results will help NHTSA decide, in 2013, if the technology is sufficiently advanced enough for NHTSA to begin a series of rulemakings that could eventually require manufacturers to provide vehicle-to-vehicle communications capabilities in new vehicles.

The CAMP vehicle safety consortium includes: 278 Ford, 948 General Motors, 1683 Honda, 1684 Hyundai 5229 Kia Automotive Group, 1685 Mercedes-Benz, 838 Nissan Technical Centre North America, 1686 Toyota, and 994 Volkswagen of America.

Related Content

  • Aptiv and Hyundai to develop AV tech
    September 27, 2019
    Dublin-based Aptiv has partnered with South Korean automotive manufacturer Hyundai Motor to develop SAE Level 4 and 5 autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies. Aptiv says the joint venture will begin testing fully autonomous systems in 2020 and have an autonomous driving platform available for robo-taxi providers, fleet operators and automotive manufacturers in 2022. As part of the deal, Aptiv is dedicating around 700 employees to develop AV solutions. Hyundai and its affiliates Kia Motors and Hyundai M
  • Sorting myth from reality in vehicle automation
    June 2, 2016
    Bob Denaro looks beyond the hype surrounding autonomous vehicles to the challenges that still need to be overcome. Automated vehicles (AVs) may be the perfect storm – in a positive way - with the automobile manufacturers, the government and consumers all embracing the emergence of a transformational new technology and product.
  • C-ITS road safety pilot programme launches in Ireland
    February 9, 2024
    Transport Infrastructure Ireland is calling for 1,500 drivers to take part in trial
  • ITS America concerned over use of 5GHz spectrum band
    February 28, 2013
    ITS America has raised con­cerns with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the potential use of the 5GHz band spec­trum by unlicensed national information infrastructure devices. It wants to protect the 5.9GHz band for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC)-based systems. These crucially underpin the development of connected vehicle (CV) technologies which could help slash the US’ annual tally of six million road traffic accidents and over 30,000 deaths. Within the US Department of Trans