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                        Research
                        Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
                        Research and Technology Portfolio


            
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                R&T Portfolio: Connected and Automated Vehicles
    

    
    
    
      The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) research advances development of CAV technology, and supports deployment of advancements. In addition to developing and testing new technology, FHWA’s research also includes analyzing how to incorporate CAVs into the transportation system. In addition, FHWA supports State and local governments’ CAV research and pilot projects.

Program Objectives:

Advance knowledge of Connected Vehicle (CV) and Automated Vehicle (AV) systems.
	Collect benefits and costs and implementation lessons learned information from high priority CV and AV applications.
	Support State and local, and transit agency integrating CV environment deployments.
	Define the Federal role in facilitating and encouraging deployment of automated systems.

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        **Data for CAVs**
        Data exchanges between roadway operators and automated driving systems (ADS) are needed for safe and efficient ADS operation. FHWA is taking a systems perspective regarding the data needs of ADS and roadways to identify and define data needs for different integration scenarios.

Spotlight Project: Work Zone Data Exchange

The Work Zone Data Exchange aims to deploy work zone data into vehicles to help human drivers and ADS navigate work zones more safely. The project uses a community-based standards development process to develop a data specification to harmonize work zone data for third-party use.
  


      **Updating the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) for CAVs**
        The MUTCD for streets and highways is the national standard for roadway design. FHWA research investigates how the MUTCD and maintenance practices could be adapted to accommodate ADS.

Spotlight Project: Updating MUTCD for Highway Automation

"Cover of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices."

FHWA is pursuing an update of the MUTCD to reflect advances in traffic control device technology, and will lay the groundwork for supporting ADS and the infrastructure of the future. The current update would be the first major MUTCD update in a decade.

Image source: FHWA.
  


      **Enabling Technology**
        The Enabling Technology research activity area supports the development of tools and products that infrastructure owner operators (IOOs) will deploy to support testing, evaluation, and (eventually) deployment of CAVs. One area of focus of this research is improving modeling capabilities to include operation of CAVs in mixed traffic.

**Spotlight Project: Developing an Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation Framework for V2I and CAV Environment**

"CV Device Deployment Status illustration showing an RSU unit on a pole, a human figure holding a device, and a OBU unit suspended from a ceiling."

Current analysis, modeling, and simulation (AMS) tools are not well-suited for evaluating CAV applications because of their inability to incorporate communication and automated features, as well as their inability to predict planning-level impacts of CAV deployment. The project will create a foundational framework for the development of AMS tool capabilities and engage in a small-scale V2I AMS case study using this framework to encourage future development activities.

Image source: USDOT.
  


      **Cooperative Automated Vehicles**
        Cooperative automation is the concept of sharing vehicle maneuvers and trajectory with other AVs to improve efficiency and safety in abnormal operating conditions. FHWA and Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office are working with automotive original equipment manufacturers to jointly develop, prototype, test, and evaluate cooperative automation of driving automation systems.

Spotlight Project: CARMA

"CARMA logo"

In October 2018, FHWA launched CARMASM to enable collaboration for research and development of cooperative driving automation. CARMA is an Open Source software platform created to support industry collaboration and expand on existing automation capabilities and advance AV technology. FHWA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration retrofitted vehicles with CARMA-enabled ADS to test and evaluate the software.

Image source: FHWA.
  


      **Next Generation Traffic Management Systems**
        Rapid Advancement in technology may result in outdated traffic management system (TMS) technology unable to keep pace with vehicle technology changes. FHWA is developing a process that will allow State and local agencies to plan, develop, and deploy a next generation TMS to meet the demands of CAVs.

Spotlight Project: Next Generation SIMulation (NGSIM)

"Illustration of next generation SIMulation indicating a car moving between two others in a stream of traffic."

The NGSIM project aims to develop a core of open behavioral algorithms in support of traffic simulation with a primary focus on microscopic modeling, including supporting documentation and validation datasets that describe the interactions of multimodal travelers, vehicles, and highway systems, and interactions presented to them from traffic control devices, delineating, congestion, and other features of the environment.

Image source: FHWA.Contact Us

**Office of Operations Research and Development**
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, VA 22101
United States

**Office of Operations**
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington, DC  20590
United States

Related Links

ITS JPO Automation Research
	FHWA Operations R&D Program
	FHWA Office of Operations

    
          Last updated: Tuesday, June 7, 2022 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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