Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Automation Systems Group Holds Kickoff
IVsource.net
25 January 2001

Eleven state DOTs in the US have banded together to investigate cooperative vehicle-highway systems.  They held their first meeting last December and laid out initial plans.

As the key activity currently within California's Phoenix Project, the Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Automation System (CVHAS) pooled-fund study has drawn together eleven states in the US to jointly pursue research in cooperative vehicle-highway systems.  The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is participating, as are the states of Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Utah, and Washington.  Each  state has committed to ponying up $25,000 annually for four years.  Additional state members are still being sought.

Greg Larson, Chief of the New Technology Branch within Caltrans, is chair of the group, with Tim Wolfe, ITS Director for Arizona DOT, serving as vice-chair.  The CVHAS kickoff meeting was held on December 7-8 in Berkeley, California, with Florida, Illinois, Washington, Montana, Utah, Minnesota, Arizona, and California represented, in addition to FHWA.  The University of California's PATH program (Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways) was also represented.

At the meeting, the history of Automated Highway Systems and the status of the US Intelligent Vehicle Initiative were discussed.  The group, many of whom were new to this field, then toured the PATH facilities and took a number of demonstration rides in the Buick LeSabres which had been automated for Demo '97.  When the group eventually got down to work, they discussed the mission and goals of the cooperative project and then developed a draft workplan.

A process for soliciting research ideas, prioritizing, and administering contracts was ultimately agreed upon.  It was decided that, in order to get things rolling, activities in 2001 will be accelerated -- a schedule for submitting research ideas and for selecting projects was defined.  In future years, the program development process will be more structured and will revolve around two annual meetings in conjunction with the Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting in January and ITS America's Annual Meeting (early summer):  project solicitation will occur after TRB, and actual selection of projects will occur at the ITS America meeting.  The group will also sponsor open sessions at these times to educate people on the current status of CVHAS efforts.  The plan further calls for group participation in international intelligent vehicle demos in the US, such as California's anticipated Demo 2002. 

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