Senior Reporter
Proposed Rule for Light V2V Program Expected in 2016
“This is a project that has been going on for about 10 years, and we’re finally getting to a point where it’s starting to take shape and be ready for deployment,” Robert Kreeb, chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Intelligent Technologies Research Division, said of the light connected-vehicle program, also known as the vehicle-to-vehicle program.
The heavy vehicle-to-vehicle program, which is piggybacking off light vehicle V2V research, is likewise progressing but faces technology challenges, Kreeb told attendees at a Feb. 16 session of American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council annual conference here.
“We have more than 30,000 U.S. traffic fatalities [each year] and billions of dollars in lost property damage,” Kreeb said. “I think we have a technology here that will help reduce some of those statistics.”
Like several other conference presenters, Kreeb said he could not get a flight into Nashville due to a significant snowstorm that caused widespread travel cancellations. He gave his V2V update from Washington, D.C., via an audio connection.
DOT research indicates that safety applications using V2V technology can address a large majority of crashes involving two or more vehicles.
“In approximately 70% to 80% of all the heavy-duty multivehicle crashes, the technology could help,” Kreeb said. It won’t help with single-vehicle crashes, he said.
With vehicle sensors broadcasting “safety messages” 10 times a second, cars and trucks are able to capture and transmit such factors as a vehicle’s speed, heading, location, acceleration and brake status, creating a 360-degree situational awareness, according to Kreeb.
The idea is for the systems to identify risks and provide drivers with warnings to avoid other vehicles in common crash types such as rear-ending, while changing lanes and at intersections.
The system is expected to contain several layers of security and privacy protection, a critical component to ensure that vehicles can rely on messages sent from other vehicles.
Kreeb said the V2V safety applications, the result of joint industry, government and academic research, have been proved by everyday drivers under real-world and controlled test conditions.
The heavy-vehicle project has been anchored by Daimler Trucks, Freightliner, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Battelle, Volvo Group and Meritor Wabco.
Kreeb said that over the past year, more than 80 trucks in Classes 3-8 have been equipped with vehicle awareness devices and tested.
Several heavy-truck research projects are in progress, attempting to develop performance criteria, testing procedures, safety-benefit estimates and specialized basic safety messages for vehicles, he said.
Despite the progress, the heavy-vehicle program has experienced challenges, primarily with tractors towing one, two or three trailers, Kreeb said.
Messages sent out on light vehicles come from a single “body square footprint.” But with trucks, it’s one, two or three with trailers.
Tractor-trailers going around a curve can sometimes transmit “false negatives,” a signal that might looks like a vehicle approaching in an oncoming lane.
“This is a significant challenge,” Kreeb said.
“It sounds simple, but how does a tractor know what it’s towing?” he asked.
“Vehicles need to trust their messages,” he said. “Otherwise, the system just collapses. If there are false messages being sent, all of a sudden people don’t trust the data.”
