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ITS Update

Joint
Program Office for Intelligent Transportation Systems

Week of July 28, 1997

WEEK AHEAD (Week of August 4, 1997)

- At the Land Transportation Surface Subcommittee Meeting (NAFTA) held
in late July, CAPUFE -- the Mexican toll authorities -- mentioned their
intentions to release an RFP for an electronic toll system that would have
set the country=s standard. Concerns
raised by a U.S. company that Mexico was about to adopt the European CEN
standard for DSRC prompted U.S. Embassy officials to ask for a delay in
the release of the RFP. The Mexicans have put their effort on hold. On
August 5, the U.S. DOT will send a delegation to Mexico to discuss the
standards work occurring in the United States.

- The National AHS Consortium Technical Feasibility Demonstration--
A host of activities will be occurring in regard to the Automated Highway
Systems Demonstration >97
from August 7-10, 1997, in San Diego, California. This event is a result
of a specific goal in ISTEA to perform a demonstration of AHS in 1997.
The event demonstrates the technical feasibility of AHS technologies and
their near-term applications to substantially improve highway safety and
efficiency. Earlier in the year, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
Chairman John Chafee visited the I-15 lanes and Atest
rode@ an AHS vehicle. AHS has
been making considerable headline news and stories have appeared major
newspapers and magazines. A range of policy makers and opinion leaders
will be attending the event. Christine Johnson will be attending. The activities
include the following:

- The live vehicle demonstrations will occur on a 7.6 mile stretch
of express lanes on I-15 near San Diego. Open to industry professionals
August 7-9 and to the general public on August 10. Passengers of the Demo
>97 scenario rides will be
some of the first people in the world to experience the range of AHS technologies
in a real-time/real-world setting -- from Adriver
assist@ modes to fully automated
highway travel.

- Indoor/Outdoor Exposition Center, located at Miramar College,
will include an Expo Hall, the NAHSC Education Center, a Demonstration
Presentation Center and a track for mini-demonstrations of automated vehicle
technologies. Key exhibitors (in over 180,000 square feet of outdoor area)
will showcase their latest products and demonstrate advanced vehicle control
systems in action. The Expo Hall itself will house a multitude of exhibits
(in 33,000 square feet of space). A half-mile, mini-demonstration track
is located adjacent to the Center. Attendees can receive a first-hand experience
riding in automated vehicles. Leading companies in the development of AHS
and ITS technologies plan to demonstrate automatic steering control, lane
departure warning and automated maintenance and construction equipment.
The NAHSC will host an Education Center (4,000 square feet of space) where
visitors can receive answers to their questions about AHS and see how the
technologies can resolve transportation problems.

- There will be a Demonstration Presentation Center where large monitors
will provide a live video feed of test vehicles operating on the HOV demonstration
lanes. There, pre-recorded video of the testing area can be viewed; Consortium
members will provide presentations on AHS technologies; and test demonstrations
can be watched live on large monitors.

- Public Education Day is Sunday, August 10, a first-hand opportunity
to see the public=s response
to ITS/AVCS technologies in action.

- Core participants of the public-private NAHSC include: Bechtel, CALTRANS,
Carnegie Mellon University, Delco Electronics, General Motors, Hughes,
Lockheed Martin, Parsons Brinckerhoff, University of California PATH. The
NAHSC Demo Associate partners include: American Honda Motor, Inc.; Eaton
Vorad Technologies; Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority; the Ohio State
University, Center for ITS; the Toyota Motor Corporation and more than
100 other Associate and Outreach participants.

- On August 6, Christine Johnson will also be attending a session at
the SAE Future Transportation Technology Conference titled, ATransportation
for the 21st Century.@ On August
7, she will participate in the ITS America Coordinating Council Meeting
and Retreat at the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley in San Diego, California.
The ITS America Board Meeting will be held the following week on Tuesday,
August 12, 1997.

- On August 6, the Architecture Conformance Policy Group will meet to
discuss continuing efforts, the regional framework draft White Paper, and
other issues. This effort is being coordinated by Shelley Lynch and Mac
Lister of the JPO.

- On August 5-6, an Intelligent Vehicle Initiative Workshop will be held
to continue work on addressing various issues and moving forward on a draft
Business Plan. Ray Resendes of the JPO is coordinating this effort.

- Materials to the FHWA and FTA Field -- The week of August 4,
an update to the telecommunications resource guide will be distributed.
It contains an update to the telecommunications shared resources guidance
document aimed at wireless communications and how states can and have dealt
with this timely issue. In addition, a report will go out on a new technology,
now commonly available, which enables wide bandwidth signals, such as video,
to be transmitted over standard telephone lines. This could be beneficial
to transportation agencies that are installing video cameras without the
necessity of leasing or owning fiber optic cables. Bill Jones of the JPO
is directing this effort.

WEEK IN REVIEW (Week of July 28, 1997)

- From July 31-August 1, the Council of Standards Organizations will
meet in Washington, D.C. at ITS America headquarters. The purpose of the
meeting is to coordinate crosscutting issues and to conduct strategic planning
efforts. Mike Schagrin of the JPO is the co-chair.

- On July 30, the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative Quarterly Review meeting
was held at headquarters. This is the first such review for the group.
An IVI Retreat was held June 23-24, 1997 in Virginia and focused on team
building, program definition, and defining the roles and relationships
of the group members in this effort (FHWA, FTA and NHTSA).

- On July 29, the Commercial Vehicle Operations Quarterly Review meeting
was held at headquarters. Status updates on current issues were presented
and a variety of issues were discussed. Mike Onder of the ITS JPO coordinated
the meeting.

- From July 28-30 in Washington, D.C., an International Workshop on developing
data dictionaries will be held. This is an international coordination activity
to support ITS applications and will host representatives from Europe,
Japan and Australia. Mike Schagrin of the JPO attended.

- On July 28, the Department filed its comments with the Federal Communications
Commission strongly in favor of the ITS America petition to allocate spectrum
use for Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC). The Department noted
that the goal for a permanent allocation is necessary to ensure national
compatibility and reliability, which in turn are critical to the widespread
deployment of DSRC services. The next stage in this process is underway,
i.e. the review of other comments on this issue that have been submitted
to the FCC. The deadline for filing of reply comments is August 18. George
Beronio is spearheading this effort for the JPO.

- From July 28-30, 1997, the pilot Integration Course was held in Arlington,
Virginia. Representatives from the FHWA and FTA field attended. The target
is to make this course available in August to Federal DOT staff and to
the staffs of State and local transit properties.

- On July 28, Public Technologies, Inc., (PTI) and the Office of Traffic
Management and ITS Applications hosted a brainstorming session to identify
areas where public safety and transportation functions overlap, to examine
how ITS can benefit public safety operations at the local level, and to
seek ways to coordinate these efforts at the Federal, State and local levels.
The participants included members of PTI=s
Urban Consortium Transportation Task Force, representatives from the Department
of Transportation Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, the FHWA Office
of Traffic Management and ITS Applications, the FHWA Office of Technology
Applications, the National Institute of Justice (Department of Justice),
and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

- From July 23­24, the Quarterly Model Deployment Initiative (MDI)
Review was held in Seattle, Washington. It involved representatives from
the four metropolitan intelligent transportation infrastructure initiatives
(Seattle, San Antonio, Phoenix, and the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut
area), the FHWA and FTA field, and headquarters. Mac Lister of the JPO
presented a draft metropolitan ITS concept and implementation plan. Lee
Simmons of the JPO attended to the architecture effort which is currently
focused on interoperability issues. Joe Peters of the JPO conducted discussions
on evaluation methodology for the sites. The ITS JPO staff coordinated
their efforts with headquarters staff from FHWA (led by Toni Wilbur) and
FTA (led by Dennis Symes).

- On July 23-24, at the Quarterly Model Deployment Workshop, the draft
National Evaluation Strategy, which sets the framework for the evaluation
effort, was distributed to the MMDI program offices. It is due back August
15, 1997. Joe Peters of the JPO is spearheading this effort.