Latest on California Phoenix: Potential Partners Reviewing New Business Plan
IVsource.net
15 July 2000

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Caltrans strongly believes that AHS offers the promise of much higher capacity highway lanes and, therefore, the potential to reduce traffic congestion and boost safety ... while reducing at the same time the need for expensive new highways and the environmental impacts of stop-and-go driving.

Life After NAHSC

Caltrans and PATH were core participants in the National Automated Highway System Consortium (NAHSC), whose mission was to develop a prototype automated highway system for the United States and to demonstrate AHS technologies by 1997. Many consider Demo ’97 -- hosted by Caltrans in San Diego -- to have been one of the best demonstrations of transportation technologies in US history. However, despite that success and completion of significant AHS research, the USDOT ended its participation in the NAHSC in early 1998 and, without a primary source of funding, the NAHSC closed its doors.

While the USDOT has now redirected the focus of its advanced vehicle control and safety system research into the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI) with an exclusive focus on near-term safety systems, Caltrans maintains that there remains a real need for, and interest in, AHS development -- not only in California, but elsewhere in the United States and around the world.

Accordingly, Caltrans and PATH seek to use The Phoenix Project as a means to partner with governments and research institutes worldwide, in pursuit of AHS research, development, and deployment. And in the same way that the project’s namesake, the mythological bird, set itself and its nest afire and rose revitalized and improved from the ashes, Caltrans sees The Phoenix Project revitalizing AHS interests in California and the US, merging them with international interests, and forming a new and better AHS program.

Mission, Vision, Goals Defined

Caltrans believes that, in order to gain the congestion relief benefits of AHS, diverse public and private organizations will need to be not only collaborative but well coordinated. Since there is no mechanism for effecting this coordination currently, Phoenix is intended to fill that gap.

After exploratory meetings during 1998-99 with potential partners, Caltrans used the input they received to develop a revised Phoenix Project business plan, which is now being reviewed by key players. As stated in the Plan, The Phoenix Project’s mission is "to assist research, development, testing, demonstration and deployment of advanced vehicle-highway automation systems leading to the congestion relief made possible by Automated Highway Systems." They maintain a vision of "accepted, institutionalized and mainstreamed national and international Automated Highway Systems, actively contributing to congestion relief."

Five program goals have been defined, as follows:

1. Establishment of a national/international public-private sector organization capable of pursuing AHS from research and development to full deployment

2. Development of a fully-tested prototype AHS that can serve as the basis for a deployable system

3. Development of AHS field operational tests on operating facilities

4. Incorporation of AHS into transportation plans

5. Establishment of linkages among funding partners, research organizations and the involved stakeholders

The Phoenix Approach to AHS

Based on a wide consensus among stakeholders, the Phoenix approach is based on a "building-block" approach to AHS, using the results of research by private industry, Caltrans/PATH, the NAHSC and the USDOT’s Intelligent Vehicle Initiative as its foundation. It emphasizes the development of vehicle and vehicle-highway improvements that contribute directly toward achieving the long-term goal of congestion relief by implementing full vehicle automation on dedicated highway lanes. While vehicle automation can be achieved with autonomous vehicle systems in mixed traffic (non dedicated lanes), such vehicles would offer only convenience -- and not congestion relief -- to occupants of those vehicles. Only with automated vehicles operated cooperatively on dedicated lanes can the full mobility vision be realized.

Strategies for Moving Forward

Phoenix project managers understand that, in order to meet its goals, Phoenix needs to be able to attract and sustain the interest of key transportation stakeholders. It must also address the needs and concerns of a range of parties: infrastructure providers, vehicle developers, and system users. Balance must be maintained as well among the short, medium, and long term-oriented activities.

Key Roles Defined Outside of R&D

Based on feedback from an Organizing Workshop held in May 1998 in Los Angeles, additional Phoenix roles have been defined as providing vision, coordinating, partnering, public relations, and advising. Such activities would complement R&D and other activities underway by member organizations around the world.

Activities related to "providing vision" would include creating a vivid picture of the future of AHS, defining goals as the programs evolve worldwide, and defining deployment strategies, primarily to sustain interest in the concept and enhance credibility.

The "coordinating" role would include an information clearinghouse, facilitation of "speaking with a consistent voice" by researchers, organization of international meetings, providing a forum for identifying needed standards, and to coordinate independent R&D.

The "partnering" role would link system developers with implementers and/or testers, create joint projects, and work towards building a broad consensus.

The Project would incorporate "public information and public relations" as a key role, making an effort to package the new ideas to make them marketable and appealing to the direct stakeholders, political leaders, and general public. This likely will include a web presence, newsletters, market research, needs assessment, organization of public demonstrations, and encouragement of investments in AHS.

"Advisory" functions would include technology transfer, development of performance standards (in concert with Standards Development Organizations), identifying public incentive opportunities, and providing input to the US National ITS Architecture as it evolves. Generally, the Project staff would act as an international source of advice and expertise on AHS.

Focused Market Slant Has Emerged

The Project seeks to differentiate itself from other related programs and organizations by emphasizing development of vehicle-highway cooperative systems, since these are currently the only systems under development that are seen by proponents as credible candidates to address transportation’s most problematic safety, mobility, and environmental challenges. Project managers envision interaction with the US Congress, USDOT, and state agencies to cultivate public sector support. At the industry level, Phoenix endeavors to become a "solutions provider" by bringing together the organizations necessary to create cooperative systems. The concentration will be on development of near-term solutions, in a building-block fashion, that lead to the long-term goals.

Envisioning a New, Independent Organization

John West, formerly Manager of the Caltrans New Technology and Research Program, has served as Interim Director of The Phoenix Project since its inception. He is assisted by a management team consisting of Caltrans staff and PATH officials.

While Phoenix has been an informal alliance since its beginnings, the intent is to eventually move to corporate, non-profit organization status. This organization would include a Board of Directors, an Executive Director, some full time staff, and an Advisory Board. The organization’s staff and office space would be separated from Caltrans/PATH to emphasize its role as an independent entity. (Phoenix now has offices in the Caltrans office complex in Sacramento, California and at the Richmond Field Station of the University of California at Berkeley).

Estimates for start-up costs range around $250K, with approximately the same amount needed annually to maintain operations. Project officials are seeking to raise capital through research funding contributions from individual states and US regional transportation planning agencies, and through membership fees from private companies and international participants. As USDOT further develops their policy, they would also be approached for funding participation.

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Build on the work that has been and is still being done on pieces of the system by other people and avoid duplicating those efforts.

Seek targets of opportunity to combine vehicle and infrastructure elements and services in ways that would not otherwise be possible without the cooperative actions of the diverse stakeholders who should be participating in Phoenix.

Encourage commercial product spin-offs to sustain the interest of the private sector.

Define a deployment staging "roadmap" in which each development stage produces benefits that will exceed the costs, so that there will be positive interest by key decision makers to invest in AHS development.

Apply a systems approach, so that all systems and services will fit together compatibly within an architectural framework -- one developed early in the process.

Seek synergies across "vehicle platforms", particularly in cases in which services for one platform can establish infrastructure elements that can facilitate the advance of services on other platforms having larger vehicle populations.

Maintain the visibility of the goal of developing true Automated Highway Systems on dedicated lanes, and try to ensure that program activities contribute toward reaching that goal, rather than diverging on tangents.

... contact Greg Larson of Caltrans at greg_larson@dot.ca.gov.

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