GM Awards Major Research Grant To Virginia Tech for Collision Warning and Telematics Studies
IVsource.net
16 June 2001

GM and Virginia Tech's Transportation Institute recently signed the largest privately-funded research deal in the history of the Institute.

General Motors Corporation (GM) recently awarded the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) a long-term research and product testing agreement -- backed by a budget that could reach $4.8 million -- to examine various aspects of driver-vehicle interfaces for both collision warning and telematics systems.

The agreement provides a framework for conducting a number of individual projects over a three-year period that will heavily utilize the Virginia Smart Road (see related IVsource article) and the Transportation Institute's fleet of instrumented vehicles.  The agreement grew from a long-standing research relationship between GM and Blacksburg, Viginia-based VTTI, and was sealed by the promise of using the Smart Road research facility.  Projects conducted under the agreement will support various elements of GM's Safety, Human Factors, and Research activities.

"GM and Virginia Tech have a long history of industry-leading research in the area of driver vehicle interface performance," said Richard Deering, manager, crash avoidance and system development, General Motors.  "This agreement furthers our relationship.  We want to use the Virginia Smart Road to do a great deal of important testing to optimize the performance of various collision warning systems and to learn more about how drivers can safely use telematic systems."

Dr. Jon Hankey, leader of the Institute's Advanced Product Test and Evaluation Group and Dr. Tom Dingus, Institute director and long-time driving safety researcher, will serve as the project principal investigators.

Although the Transportation Institute, as the largest research center at state-operated Virginia Tech, has conducted significant prior research sponsored by private companies, this agreement constitutes the largest such agreement in the history of the organization.  "This alliance is very important for the Institute and the Smart Road," stated Dr. Dingus.  "It provides a long-term base of funding that complements our funding from public sources and helps to ensure the continued success of the Smart Road for years to come."

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