December 2000
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December 2000 |
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Industry Snippets:
December 2000 |
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ITS America President John Collins surprised many with his decision to leave the organization to start his own consulting firm -- Transport Law and Strategy -- but then shortly re-emerged as the new VP for ITS and Telematics at Traffic.com. He had led ITSA for 2 1/2 years prior to his resignation on December 15. (See more at ITSA's web site: www.itsa.org/itsnews.nsf/key/469E?OpenDocument). Dave Hensing, recently retired from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, (AASHTO) has taken over the reins as Interim President while the Board begins a search process for a new leader. [story updated 1/9 with input from IVsource subscriber Ivy Renga]. In other personnel news there, David Stone has joined ITSA as program specialist for commercial vehicle operations, safety, human factors, advanced vehicle control and safety systems, and intermodalism. David comes from Motient Corporation (formerly American Mobile Satellite Corporation). [Top] USDOT
Light Vehicle IVI Solicitation Due Out Soon Responding to
Congressional direction in the FY2001 Appropriations Bill, the US Department
of Transportation is preparing to release a Request for Applications (RFA)
under their Intelligent Vehicle Initiative program to conduct testing of
active safety systems for light vehicles. Sources
say the RFA can be expected to be published sometime in January.
USDOT officials aren't saying whether the solicitation will be open to
offerors' ideas for test-ready systems, or whether the government will be
limiting its testing to particular system types.
Based on previous IVI program approaches, it is likely that the
government will require each proposing team to have a vehicle manufacturer on
board. [Top] RoboJeep
Roaming Dutch Roads and Fields Bart van Arem of the Dutch research organization TNO reported at Demo 2000 that his organization has developed a robotic vehicle testbed called RoboJeep. It’s a Jeep, all right, equipped with a suite of technologies to allow it to navigate autonomously in unstructured outdoor environments -- similar to approaches being taken in the US (Demo III) and in Germany. The objectives of the project are to develop key technologies and know-how in robotics (focusing on obstacle detection, navigation strategy, and combining real and virtual environments) -- and to demonstrate these technologies. [Top] Dutch
Connekt Program Forming Partnerships The Connekt program for Automated Vehicle Guidance in the Netherlands is focused on stimulating promising developments in this field, backed by government funding. They are currently open for proposals of pilots, demonstrations, and innovative ideas. Focal areas include stop-and-go ACC, electronic coupling of vehicles, safety on rural and urban roads, and automatic vehicles in urban traffic. Contact Bart van Arem of Dutch TNO for further information, at b.vanarem@inro.tno.nl). [Top] Caltrans
Looking Beyond Demo 2002 Caltrans officials,
already engaged in planning Demo 2002 to showcase the benefits of vehicle
automation for trucks and transit buses, are now talking about a major demo in
2005 focusing on passenger car systems. The
feeling is that this will be the right time to introduce the public more
thoroughly to automated vehicle operations. Activities
for Demo 2002 are rolling ahead -- Freightliner
won the bid process for supplying trucks and
will be delivering five Class 8 tractors. [Top] Nissan,
BMW, Mercedes Benz Studying ACC Interactions Nissan has teamed with BMW and Mercedes Benz to examine the effects (if any) of strings of vehicles equipped with ACC systems from different manufacturers. The project was instigated by Hiroshi Tsuda of Nissan. The intent is to look to the day when a significant percentage of vehicles are equipped with ACC -- still several years away -- and examine interactions. Results from the study could help product development engineers tune their systems and possibly influence global standards. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute is the academic partner in the effort, with Dr. Paul Fancher as the lead. The ACC String Performance Study was kicked-off in November and will last 18 months. This is the first phase of a possible two part study; current partners hope to have a broader set of automakers involved in part two. [Top] Automated
Bus Transit Set for Implementation in '01 Project engineers with the Toyota IMTS tell IVsource that the system will be operational in summer 2001 (late July) at Awaji Island amusement park. The system uses vehicle-vehicle communications, video imaging, radar, and magnetic roadway marker tracking to operate bus "platoons" -- multiple buses operating at about 10 m (32 ft) headways under automated control (only the first bus in the string is driven by a human operator). Operating on exclusive lanes, such a system allows for very high passenger throughput, while at the same time allowing the vehicles to split up to follow individual routes. This is expected to be the first implementation worldwide of vehicle-highway automation on conventional transit buses. [Top] Mitsubishi
Puts Lane Departure Avoidance on the Market Mitsubishi, known for pioneering new IV products, tells IVsource that they are now selling lane departure avoidance systems in Japan. The system uses image processing and nudges the steering wheel (or, as they put it, applying "weak connective directional torque") when an unintended lane departure is detected. The wheel nudge serves the dual purpose of keeping the vehicle on the road and alerting the driver to the problem. Mitsubishi was the first to introduce Adaptive Cruise Control, way back in ...1995? DaimlerChrysler has a 34% share in the company, so presumably DC can take advantage of such product introductions in Japan to assess advanced systems prior to introduction in Europe. [Top] Autonomous
Mining Trucks Rumbling Down Under Unmanned autonomous mining trucks are in operation at mines in Queensland, Australia, according to Lauchlan McIntosh, president of ITS Australia. While many of us within the IV community have been talking about doing this sort of thing for years, the Aussies quietly just started doing it -- with help from Japanese heavy equipment maker Komatsu. These mine hauling trucks operate on open roads among other vehicles and pedestrians, using triple-redundant sensing and control systems. Mine operators are finding significant savings in both tire replacement and reduced labor costs. Caterpillar and other competitors have similar developments in the works. [Top] USDOT
Estimates IV Market Penetration Rates At the December meeting of the International Task Force on Vehicle-Highway Automation, Bob Ferlis of USDOT/FHWA described a study they have performed that estimates penetration of IV functions into the US vehicle fleet over the next 30 years. Results show penetration reaching 30% by 2020 and rising above 50% in 2025. "This rate of penetration has implications for where we can go and how we can get there," he said. Some industry observers feel that these government estimates are actually quite conservative.
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Copyright 2001: IVsource.net and Richard Bishop Consulting (RBC). All Rights Reserved. |
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December 2000 |
