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Report on cooperative relationship with PATH and CALTRANS |
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Introduction
Prior to the ITS America Annual Meeting in Boston that began on May 1, representatives of AHSRA visited Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) and the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) to study the state of ITS research in California and to exchange information with officials of those two organizations.
PATH Visit
(1) Date: April 24, 2000 (Monday), 10:00 to 13:30
(2) Place: California PATH (Richmond, CA 94804-4603)
(3) Receiving officials: Mr. Greg Larson(CALTRANS), Mr. Wei-Bin Zhang, Mr. Jim Misener, and Ms. Joy Delgren
(4) PATH: PATH is a research organization jointly formed by CALTRANS, the University of California (UC), public and private research institutes, and private businesses. Research is being conducted chiefly at the UC and at CALTRANS. Other members include the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), ITS America, and the California Alliance for Advanced Transportation Systems (CAATS).
(5) Summary of the Visit:
(a) Automated Truck Cruising A presentation was held on the Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO) (truck) project of Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka of UC Berkeley. This featured an automated cruising system for keeping a vehicle within one lane (see photo at top right). Five magnetic sensors are placed in single horizontal rows at the front and rear of the truck (excluding any trailers) (see photo at center-right). They are located within 30 centimeters from the road surface. Sensors are located at the two ends of the truck to check whether the truck is positioned at the center of the lane, as well as for lateral-position control to coordinate yaw-rate sensors while cruising along a curve. Air-braking control and steering control (based on NTK technology) help to make it possible for trucks to cruise at speeds as high as 100 miles (approximately 160 kilometers) per hour.
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Exterior of an automated-cruise truck |
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5 magnetic senso |
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(b) PATH Presentation
*Presentation of new technologies and research programs at CALTRANS (classified into classical, conventional, and advanced)
*Summary of PATH projects (80 to 100 projects)
*Presentation of traffic-control and information systems
*Sensor Friendly (chain fence, direction guide panel, etc.)
(c) Demonstration: The demonstrations held in the afternoon featured precision-parking and convergence tests.
(1) Precision parking Automated parking employing magnetic nails was demonstrated and explained by Dr. Han-Shue Tan, a PATH researcher. It was the same demonstration made at Demo '99 in Columbus, Ohio. Magnetic nails are embedded in the road at one-meter intervals along the sides of a parking space intended for automatic parking along the nails. The system makes it possible to park vehicles repeatedly and precisely, and in the future the system could be applied to bus docking (vehicles for the handicapped) and to automation of in-garage parking.
(2) Convergence test The demonstration of the new technology featured convergence platooning, although still at low speed. The system requires vehicle-to-vehicle communication. In the demonstration, one vehicle enters in between two other platooning vehicles to form a three-vehicle platoon (for convergence on highway ramps).
Details of the demonstration:
The demonstration was conducted at three speeds (13 mph, 15 mph, and 17 mph), with a headway of 8 meters for the converging vehicle. The vehicles confirm the position of each other at the start. While cruising, the speed of the vehicles forming the platoon is measured so that the converging vehicle can decide on the convergence speed. The vehicle at the end of the platoon executes speed control, including deceleration control. |
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PATH demonstration of precision parking |
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Visit with Dr. Masayoshi Tomizuka (Department of Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley)
(1) Date: April 24, 2000 (Monday), 14:00
(2) Place: FUNAC Room, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley
(3) Personal profile and content of interview Academic background: Ph.D., MIT, 1974 Area of expertise: Adaptive controls, dynamic system controls, manufacturing and mechanical vibrations
1) University of California System (at the following campuses):
*Berkeley:
Offers courses in all academic fields (including biotechnology, environmental engineering, materials science, and nuclear energy) and is top-rated in ITS research; 35,000 students and faculty
*Davis:
Physics, information engineering, general chemistry, etc.
*Irvine:
Computer science and software development
*Los Angeles:
Excels in cybernetics; offers courses in all academic fields
*San Diego
*Santa Barbara
*Santa Cruz
*Concurrent Systems Laboratory
Outline of the interview:
(a) PATH Project: Focus on longitudinal vehicle control, among other features.
(b) CALTRANS is member of the PATH Executive Committee but reportedly does not expect the university to be involved in deployment.
(c) However, seamless action from university research to commercialization is necessary, and mediation for commercialization is occurring.
(d) A future venture-business startup in PATH is being considered.
(e) Activities at UC Davis (near Sacramento) Layer control:
*Bottom layer/ passenger cars (hardware only)
*Second layer/ coordination-layer level /Third layer -link-layer level (an issue for the future)
*Fourth layer /network-layer level (unstudied area)
2) Content of 2002 Demo (simple explanation given by Mr. Larson regarding the CALTRANS plan)
*Mainly heavy-duty cars (commercial vehicles)
*Bus docking (public transportation)
*Display as technology for boosting human-machine relations (between humans and automobiles); will be adopted aggressively. This is a part of cruise support.
*Demo is being planned for October 2002. The proposal for the Demo has also been introduced in a committee meeting at ITS America.
CALTRANS Transportation
Visit to CALTRANS Transportation Management Center
(1) Date: April 26, 2000 (Tuesday), 10:00D12:00
(2) Place: Department of Transportation, District 4, Oakland, CALTRANS
(3) Receiving CALTRANS officers:
*Mr. Ron de Leon
Chief, AHS/VI Development
Department of Transportation, New Technology and Research MS 83 Office of Advanced Highway Systems
*Mr. S. Sean Nozzari
Chief, Transportation Management Center & Systems Operation Branch
Department of Transportation, District 4 Office of Traffic Systems
(4) Interview and exchanges The Transportation Management Center(TMC) is an information-management center that was created jointly by the California State Police and the Department of Transportation in 1992.
*Importance of the TMC
The center was formed to deal with the increased highway-travel distance of many vehicles in California, increases in the construction costs of new roads, and the seriousness of traffic congestion.
The TMC was formed to utilize Traffic Management Systems (TMS); that is, in recognition of the importance of traffic control and the need to implement effective management of the existing infrastructure and effective use of vehicle -control equipment and field personnel (such as freeway service patrols, management personnel, and traffic-management teams).
*The TMC's operations aim at:
Improving safety, reducing accidents, reducing congestion, protecting the environment, and reducing the burden on taxpayers. In terms of costs, unproductive loss of time due to accidents, the costs of repairs and medical care as a result of damages to vehicles and injuries to people, wasteful fuel consumption, and traffic congestion are addressed by the TMC through the following:
(1) Positive steps to reduce accidents, to prevent secondary damage, and to reduce congestion;
(2) Swift clearance of the roadway in case of an accident or other problem on a highway;
(3) Issuance of warnings concerning weather conditions;
(4) Implementation of traffic-flow controls (especially traffic-control signals at highway on-ramps); and
(5) Dissemination of transportation information to the public. |
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Entrance of Transportation Management Center |
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Inside Traffic-Flow Monitoring Center |
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Information exchanges with Mr. Ron de Leon (AHS/VI Dept.)
1) CALTRANS activities
<National Architecture>
Advanced Transportation Management System
Advanced Transportation Information System
Electric Tall and Traffic Management
<California Deman>
TMC Master Plan
Smart Traveler
Fast Trac (tag method)
*Commercial Vehicle Operations Help - Heavy Vehicles
*MFS Technology Texas Instrument
*Advanced Public Transport System CA APTS
*Advanced Vehicle-Control and Safety System (AVCSS) CA AHS Program
*Traffic Accident Survey Analysis System (TASAS ) Static owned
2) Specific applications
(1) First, HOV lanes were created.
(2) Next, HOV + bus studies in Los Angeles at following two interstate roads: I-10 Los El Monte I-110 Los Harbor
(3) Dedicated Truck Lane (to be introduced within 5 years) Total length of 100 miles on I-10 and Highway 60
3) The TMC is working to achieve the following goals regarding traffic problems.
(1) Congestion reduction
Goals:
15% reduction in natural congestion; 30% reduction of congestion caused by accidents
Annual reduction in congestion:
15% in natural congestion (12 mile veh-hr/yr) 30% in accident-caused congestion (24 mile veh-hr/yr)
Reduction in economic losses due to congestion:
$120 mile/year due to natural congestion $240 mile/year due to accident-caused congestion
(2) Fuel-reduction effect
Consumption at present: 1,084,605 xgallons/day A 23% reduction would translate into $80 million/year.
(3) Accident-reduction effect (1995)
Real estate losses: 59,281 cases - $1,396 per accident
Injuries: 27,157 persons - $14,095 per accident Deaths: 487 persons - accident $831,919 per accident
A 25% reduction in accidents would translate into $220 million/year
(4) Total reduction effect: $660 million/year
Mr. Ron de Leon's Explanation:
(a) The truck distribution center is located in southern California (I-10/Highway 60). Dedicated truck lanes have been created mainly around this center. Although at present such lanes total only 100 miles in length, it is planned that they will be fully introduced within the next 5 years.
(b) A signal-processing system employing optical-fiber cables has been installed mainly in Southern California, the TMC system will be used in the West Coast, and a global positioning system (GPS) will be used in the mountain region.
(c) The AHS priority is as follows: first, buses and trucks (public and commercial); next, special vehicle (snowplows, etc.); last, passenger cars.
(d) Specifically, Gillis Bus (U.S. company) is engaged jointly with MHTRA of France in developing the Iris Bus Optical-Guidance System to reduce accidents involving buses. |
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Conclusion:
During this trip, I had the opportunity to visit leading R&D; organizations in the field of AHS development in the United States. I found that, compared to last year, those organizations are more actively conducting R&D; in cooperation with private businesses and regional transportation bureaus to develop and implement technologies that can be applied in actual roads. I also found that the growth of many transportation-related venture businesses are due to the fact that raw traffic data is being disclosed to the public through various media, promoting the growth of businesses based on data analysis and application. In addition, although at present there are few specialists in the area of ITS/AHS in the United States, I was impressed that many training programs are available there, suggesting that this will become a major force within the next two to three years. It is urgently necessary for the AHS program in Japan to plan and promote a milestone for its ultimate goal of automated cruising. |
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