Industry Snippets: January 2001
IVsource.net
2 February 2001

Our regular round-up of the action in the intelligent vehicles arena:  3M Magnetic Tape Still Available; Rural Vehicle-Highway Cooperative Systems Study Funded; Driver Distraction Concerns May Boost the Development of "Super-Aware" Vehicle; Dutch Plan Lane Departure Warning Assistant Pilot; Virginia May Establish Automated Highway Exhibit at Science Museum; ACC Moving Steadily Into the Traffic Mix.

3M Magnetic Tape Still Available

Heinrich Bantli of 3M tells IVsource that there have been several inquiries as to whether 3M will continue to sell magnetic road marking tape, in the wake of their pull-out from marketing lane awareness systems.  Well, officially, the answer is no, they won't -- but there is plenty of tape in stock and they would be quite content to unload it to the right buyer.  OK, any buyer.  There is also the possibility of 3M doing some contract manufacturing of the tape -- only they have the "recipe" for this roadway tape approach to magnetic marking, which can be used not only on the pavement, but in and under the pavement as well -- but the volume of the order would have to be fairly large.  The company also affirms that they will continue to support evaluation of magnetic guidance in the Minnesota IVI Specialty Vehicle operational field test, and will continue to support other existing customers as well.

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Rural Vehicle-Highway Cooperative Systems Study Funded

Caltrans has informed the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University that their proposal for a Rural Fleet Application Case Study has been approved for funding.  The intent of the project is to analyze and recommend applications of Vehicle-Highway Cooperative Systems in a rural environment.  The emphasis is on potential advanced technology-based solutions that can assist fleet operations and that would ultimately increase safety and improve operations for northern California's transportation system.  Examples of fleet types to be targeted are  trucking, transit, law enforcement, and emergency vehicles, as well as vehicles that operate and maintain utilities like power, communications, or transportation facilities.

The research will examine principally the two-lane rural highway system.  Results of the project, which is expected to begin later this year, will lay the groundwork for actual testing and deployment of promising system approaches.  For further information, contact Lisa Ballard of WTI at lballard@coe.montana.edu.

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Driver Distraction Concerns May Boost Development of "Super-Aware" Vehicle

As the hubbub surrounding driver distraction caused by cell phones and telematics devices continues to ramp up, vehicle manufacturers and telematics suppliers are taking pains to ensure they are wearing the "white hats" so as to keep regulatory approaches to the problem at bay.  The key to telematics safety, of course, is to avoid overloading the driver -- but what does that mean?  Fiddling with your e-mail on a vast open stretch of motorway on a sunny afternoon presents a radically different set of workload issues compared to doing the same on an icy night at rush hour.

An  approach mentioned with increasing frequency is to equip the vehicle with sufficient intelligence to understand the scenario outside the car -- traffic, weather, whatever -- to assess in-the-moment workload and adjust the operating parameters of telematics devices accordingly.  For instance, if the driver is executing a lane change in dense traffic, the cell phone delays the ring on an incoming call; or, a telematics screen goes blank when traffic conditions are difficult.  Obviously, there are a wealth of customer and technical issues to work out with such an approach, but it is clear that implementing these capabilities will require external sensors (radar, vision) and advances in "scene understanding" software to allow these assessments of driving complexity to be made.  As the bounds of these technologies begin to overlap the 'perception needs' envisioned within the IV world for active safety systems and driver assistance systems, there is bound to be some synergy.  Hopefully we'll begin to see possible acceleration of product availability in both fields.

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Dutch Plan Lane Departure Warning Assistant Pilot

As part of a much broader strategy for Automated Guided Vehicles, the Dutch DOT has approved a pilot program to evaluate a Lane Departure Warning Assistant.  The pilot is expected to start in 2001, with a primary focus on equipping heavy trucks to enhance safety.  While not yet funded, an Autonomous Speed Assistant is proposed for '02 - '04, and an External Speed Assistant pilot for '02 - '07.  The field of Advanced Driver Assistance plays heavily within the National Transport Structure Plan recently published by the Dutch Government.

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Virginia May Establish Automated Highway Exhibit at Science Museum

According to sources at Virginia Polytechnic University, plans are underway for a major exhibit at Virginia's State Science Museum in Richmond, which would include a scale-model of an operating automated highway system and displays to illustrate the benefits and supporting technologies.   Sounds like we could have a reprise, 60 years later, of the General Motors scale-model AHS within the Futurama exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair, which is widely credited with originally launching the whole idea into the mass consciousness.

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ACC Moving Steadily into the Traffic Mix

Sources at Jaguar Cars estimate that about 500 vehicles equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control have been sold to date.  Presumably most of these have been in Europe, but an encounter with these smart prowlers on North American roads can't be too far off.

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