California Center Opens for Commercialization of ITS / IVI Services
IVsource.net
31 August 2000

According to Hamed Benouar, CCIT Director, the center will open its doors in late November or early December.  Since launching the initiative last spring, they've been busy lining up a number of technology projects to be housed in this new facility.  At least several major IV players have shown interest in becoming members, including vehicle manufacturers.  Initial members will be announced soon, Benouar says.

The center deals with the three major areas of ITS --  Traveler Information, Transportation Management Systems, and Vehicle Control and Information Systems.  The projects that will be promoted and housed through the center are those that are closest to commercialization.  The concept: the university will foot the bill for the required research on taking technology from the lab to commercialization, and a collaboration with the public and private sector for follow-on research is intended to establish the new products and services in the marketplace. 

The Center is actively seeking members, who will gain access to PATH experts, research results, state highway data, and regular briefings on ongoing research.  The Center can also help by incubating "spin-offs," by providing R&D support and intellectual rights agreements, for example.

The Center is currently focused on organizational items: negotiation with potential partners and members, selection of a management structure (Board of Directors/Advisory Board), and the like.  Project activities include meetings with Information Service Providers (ISPs) to discuss data needs, and how to facilitate both quantity and quality of data to the ISPs such that they provide better traveler information to the public.  In this case, the Center's role may include enhancing and distributing traffic loop data from the Caltrans districts to ISPs.  Another key project to be housed at CCIT is technology development to support car sharing services for the public.

The Center is well placed to bring intelligent vehicle applications to the commercial marketplace -- both for industrial uses and for mass consumption by the public, via the automakers.  While no announcements have been made yet, it is expected that IV projects will make up a portion of the Center's project portfolio.
 

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... For more information, contact Hamed Benouar, CCIT Director, at benouar@nt.path.berkeley.edu or access the PATH website at www.path.berkeley.edu.
 

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