[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 246 (Tuesday, December 23, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67107-67113]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33348]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration
Federal Transit Administration
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration


Intelligent Vehicle Initiative; Request for Information

Agencies: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Transit 
Administration (FTA), and National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice; request for information.

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SUMMARY: The USDOT is seeking comments from all sources (public, 
private, governmental, academic, professional, public interest groups, 
and other interested parties) on the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative 
(IVI). The IVI is being established as a major new component of the 
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Program. The intent of the IVI 
is to improve significantly the safety and efficiency of motor vehicle 
operations by reducing the probability of motor vehicle crashes. To 
accomplish this, the IVI will accelerate the development, availability, 
and use of driving assistance and control intervention systems to 
reduce deaths, injuries, property damage, and the societal loss that 
result from motor vehicle crashes. These systems would help drivers 
process information, make decisions, and operate vehicles more 
effectively. These systems would

[[Page 67108]]

include provisions for warning drivers, recommending control actions, 
intervening with driver control, and introducing temporary or partial 
automated control of the vehicle in hazardous situations. The IVI 
systems also would improve mobility and highway efficiency through the 
application of selected motorist information services. Sensing, 
processing, and communications technologies would be installed in 
passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses, and may be complemented by 
highway infrastructure technology. These integrated technologies would 
be linked to automated actuators and controls as well as in-vehicle 
driver interfaces that adhere to well-founded human factors 
requirements. The purpose of this document is to solicit comments on 
the approach, to obtain expressions of interest in the participation, 
and to request responses to specific questions provided in this 
document. This is neither a request for proposals nor an invitation for 
bids.

DATES: Comments on this announcement should be submitted on or before 
January 30, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Responses to this announcement must be mailed directly to 
the Federal Highway Administration, Intelligent Transportation Systems 
Joint Program Office, HVH-1, Room 3400, Washington D.C. 20590. See 
Supplementary Information section for electronic access and filing 
addresses.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For FHWA: Mr. Ray Resendes, ITS Joint 
Program Office, (202) 366-2182; Mr. George Ostensen, (703) 285-2021; or 
Ms. Rose McMurray, (202) 366-2742. For NHTSA: Dr. Joseph Kanianthra, 
(202) 366-5662. For FTA: Mr. Walter Kulyk, (202) 366-5991. All are 
located at the United States Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 7:45 a.m. to 
4:15 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access and Filing Addresses

    You may submit comments and data by sending electronic mail (E-
mail) to: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5426352d393b3a307a263127313a30312714323c23357a303b207a333b22"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="87f5e6feeae8e9e3a9f5e2f4e2e9e3e2f4c7e1eff0e6a9e3e8f3a9e0e8f1">[email protected]</span></a>.
    E-mail responses are encouraged. Your comments on these important 
issues are greatly appreciated, but the USDOT will not be able to 
acknowledge responses.

Background

    Within the ITS Program, the USDOT has conducted research and 
development to improve driving safety and efficiency. These include the 
Driver Vehicle Interface, Collision Avoidance, Automated Highway 
Systems, and Motor Carrier Research Programs. The IVI will take 
advantage of these maturing USDOT programs and the synergism inherent 
in their close coordination. The IVI will unite these programs into a 
common framework focusing on multi-functional integration of proven 
systems using autonomous vehicle-based technology complemented by 
highway-based technologies. The mix of desirable and cost-effective 
technologies may vary among passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses.
    During the past few months, the staffs of the FHWA, the NHTSA, and 
the FTA have met to review the ongoing and planned research and 
development programs of these three agencies that may contribute to the 
IVI. These agencies have identified areas of common interest, synergies 
among ongoing projects, compatibilities among passenger vehicles, 
trucks, and buses, and opportunities for joint participation. Following 
these interagency discussions, the USDOT decided that this progress 
should be shared with all interested public and private sector 
stakeholders and comment should be sought.
    Given the differing interests and priorities of various 
stakeholders, the USDOT recognizes that to formulate and develop an IVI 
program, it is desirable to have the joint participation of these 
groups for information purposes. Therefore, the USDOT proposes the 
establishment of a working group that would provide information to the 
USDOT so that the agency can adequately define and implement the IVI 
program. The working group would be administered by, and report 
findings to, the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS 
America).
    Motor vehicle crashes and other incidents exact high penalties in 
fatalities, injuries, and economic costs resulting from emergency and 
health care, property damage, and highway congestion. The NHTSA 
estimates that the financial burden of these crashes exceeds $150 
billion per year. If highway safety is to be improved significantly, 
the number of highway crashes must be cut.
    The objectives of the IVI program are to advance the state of 
availability of in-vehicle systems to: (1) Improve highway safety by 
reducing the number and severity of crashes, and (2) improve highway 
efficiency, mobility, and productivity, and environmental quality by 
increasing traffic throughput, lowering vehicle operating costs, and 
achieving more predictable travel times. These objectives would be 
realized by facilitating and accelerating the early availability, use, 
and acceptance of effective driving assistance, control intervention, 
and motorist information capabilities. Achievement of the safety-
related benefits is the highest IVI program priority.
    It is envisioned that the IVI program would include cooperative 
efforts with partners from the motor vehicle industry to develop 
advanced systems, integrate them into vehicles and appropriate 
infrastructure, and evaluate performance in real-world conditions. The 
IVI program would also develop and validate performance specifications 
and design guidelines for systems that would improve significantly the 
safety of motor vehicle operations.
    Jointly with industry and other stakeholders, the USDOT would 
establish measurable objectives and milestones for IVI systems 
applicable to passenger vehicles, commercial trucks, and both intercity 
and transit buses.
    The IVI is a multi-agency USDOT research, development, and 
evaluation program. It is intended that the IVI program would extend 
and expand current partnerships with the private sector and other 
stakeholders. It would merge all vehicle-focused ITS activities under 
one program. The IVI would emphasize the significant and continuing 
role of the driver in highway safety. It would cover applications for 
passenger vehicles, light trucks, vans, sport and utility vehicles, 
commercial trucks, transit and intercity buses, and specialized 
vehicles, such as, emergency and enforcement vehicles, highway 
maintenance vehicles and snow plows, on all types of highways.
    The IVI safety features would include capabilities to warn drivers 
of hazardous situations, recommend safe remedial vehicle control 
actions, assist drivers in avoiding highway collisions, and in some 
cases, intervene with partial or temporary control. Hazardous 
situations may arise due to any combination of driver, vehicle, or 
highway-related problems. The IVI safety features would rely heavily on 
advanced electronic and communication capability and would supplement 
the capabilities of motor vehicle drivers to operate vehicles safely. 
Also, the IVI may include vehicles with selected motorist information, 
navigation, adverse weather information and traveler assistance 
features to reduce the complexity of driving and to improve travel 
mobility. It is expected that the IVI system capabilities would be 
tailored to specific types of vehicles,

[[Page 67109]]

such as passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses.
    An effort has been initiated within the USDOT to define and 
coordinate the Department's ongoing vehicle-related safety research. 
This effort includes the identification of areas of common interest, 
synergies among ongoing projects, compatibilities among vehicle types, 
and opportunities for joint participation. The work associated with the 
initial effort is nearing completion. During the course of this work, 
it has become clear that suggestions from the public and private 
sectors on program content and direction would be helpful. In 
recognition of this opportunity, the USDOT proposes the establishment 
of a working group that would offer information so that the agency can 
adequately define the IVI program.
    In order to fulfill the program requirements, the IVI must identify 
and conduct the necessary research to ensure that the driver warning, 
driver assistance, driver intervention, and travel information systems 
work effectively and reliably in both independent and integrated modes, 
that they operate in a consistent and efficient manner and are easily 
understood by drivers, and that drivers accept and use the systems.
    Ongoing and recently completed work on crash avoidance, in-vehicle 
information systems, automated highway systems, and motor carrier 
issues would provide a strong foundation for the IVI research. Research 
would continue throughout the IVI program. This research would address 
areas such as human factors, sensor performance, conditions where 
warnings are needed and conditions where warnings would be a nuisance, 
modeling, evaluation methods, and other in-vehicle and highway-based 
technologies. The IVI would include assessment of driver acceptance. A 
mix of analytic, test track, and on-road research, and testing is 
anticipated. Following testing in an experimental environment, fleets 
of equipped vehicles would be evaluated in on-road operational settings 
at various stages of the program. The USDOT would aggressively pursue 
partnerships and other cooperative arrangements with the motor vehicle, 
trucking, and bus industries and their suppliers, States and other 
government organizations, academic institutions, and other interested 
parties to fulfill the program requirements.
    The USDOT developed a roadmap of how the IVI program would proceed. 
A diagram of the roadmap is shown at the end of this document.
    This roadmap represents an attempt to illustrate the broad IVI 
program elements and the sequence in which these program elements would 
be accomplished. The duration of the IVI program runs from left to 
right and it is not drawn to scale. The major boxes in the roadmap 
include the following:
    1. Crosscutting activities represent groups of actions that 
influence and guide all the major program elements. They include such 
topics as: Architecture and standards development; research, 
development, and testing in human factors, communications, and 
technology; acquisition, expansion, and validation of evaluation tools 
such as simulation models; development and execution of an outreach 
plan to ensure joint participation of industry and other stakeholders; 
development and implementation of field operation evaluation plans; 
and, program planning and administration covering IVI program 
definition and oversight, and any other crosscutting functions and 
responsibilities not covered elsewhere. The technical issues for many 
individual services are expected to be independent of the vehicle 
platforms and when this occurs such issues would be studied together.
    2. Development of services would cover the research, development, 
testing, and evaluation of individual crash avoidance and efficiency-
enhancing systems, such as those listed under the caption ``Candidate 
Services'' in this document.
    3. Selection of services for integration represents the activities 
necessary to select specific IVI services (and systems to fulfill those 
services) and the mix of services that should be included in integrated 
packages of multiple IVI services. Selection involves extensive work on 
estimating the benefits and costs, as well as anticipated user 
acceptance of integrated systems that provide a combination of 
services.
    4. The integrated system design and development step covers the 
research, development, and prototype testing necessary to fulfill the 
requirements for fully describing IVI capabilities, as well as system 
and subsystem specifications for the construction of the vehicles and 
the infrastructure modifications necessary for field operational tests 
of integrated systems.
    5. The operational tests and evaluations activity, as expected, 
implements the plans for field tests in real-world settings on actual 
highways, executes a complete evaluation of the integrated IVI services 
subjected to the operational tests, develops deployment plans, 
establishes performance thresholds based on objective test performance, 
and develops recommendations.
    6. Product deployment refers to the actions by motor vehicle 
manufacturers and their suppliers to make and offer IVI systems to 
highway users in production motor vehicles. It is anticipated that the 
IVI systems, after operational tests demonstrate the benefits of their 
integrated services, would be adopted by the manufacturers as part of 
their standard product line. Product development also includes actions 
by State, regional, and local governments to install infrastructure-
based IVI system components on their highway systems. This activity is 
indicated as the final step and the ultimate objective of the IVI 
program.

Candidate Services

    The USDOT has concluded that the following services are prime 
candidates for improvement through application of advanced in-vehicle 
technology. It is expected that during the course of the IVI program, 
the mix of individual IVI services selected for integration may vary 
among passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses. Please note that these 
services include some existing or slightly modified ITS user services. 
The following categories of advanced technologies are identified as 
candidate IVI services because they: (1) Improve safety; (2) may impact 
safety; (3) provide platform-specific functions; or (4) provide 
supporting capabilities for other future services.

Safety Services

1. Rear End Collision Avoidance

    This feature would sense the presence and speed of vehicles and 
objects in front of the equipped vehicle and would provide warnings and 
limited control of the vehicle speed (coasting, downshifting, or 
braking) to minimize risk of collisions with vehicles and objects in 
the vehicle's lane of travel. It is expected that the first 
implementation of this service would be through autonomous in-vehicle 
systems. These systems would monitor the motion and location of 
vehicles and other objects in front of the vehicle and would advise the 
driver, through an appropriate driver-vehicle interface, of imminent 
rear-end crashes. These systems may share some elements of, and are 
expected to complement the performance of, adaptive cruise control 
systems which are expected to precede collision avoidance systems as a 
commercial product. Later versions of these systems may include 
automatic braking in the event of an impending

[[Page 67110]]

crash. The performance of these systems may be enhanced through future 
combination with other systems, such as other collision avoidance 
systems, route guidance-navigation systems with enhanced map data 
bases, and cooperative communication with the highway infrastructure to 
set adaptive cruise control systems at safe speeds.

2. Road Departure Collision Avoidance

    This feature would provide warning and control assistance to the 
driver through lane or road edge tracking and by determining the safe 
speed for road geometry in front of the vehicle. It is expected that 
the first implementation of this service would be through autonomous 
in-vehicle systems. These systems would monitor the lane position, 
motion relative to the road edge, and vehicle speed relative to road 
geometry and road conditions and would advise the driver, through an 
appropriate driver-vehicle interface, of imminent unintentional road 
departure. Later versions of these systems may include cooperative 
communication with the highway infrastructure to automatically provide 
safe speeds for upcoming road geometry and conditions. The performance 
of these systems may be enhanced through future combination with other 
systems; such as other collision avoidance systems, drowsy driver 
advisory systems, and route guidance-navigation systems with enhanced 
map data bases.

3. Lane Change and Merge Collision Avoidance

    It is expected that the first implementation of this service would 
be through in-vehicle systems which may be augmented with vehicle-to-
vehicle communications. These systems would monitor the lane position, 
relative speed and position of vehicles, including motorcycles, beside 
and to the rear of the vehicle and would advise the driver during the 
decision-phase of a lane-change maneuver, through an appropriate 
driver-vehicle interface, of the potential for a collision. Later 
versions of these systems may provide additional advice of an imminent 
crash to the driver during the action-phase of the lane change or 
entry-exit maneuver. The performance of these systems may be enhanced 
through future combination with other systems; such as other collision 
avoidance systems and roadside communication and sensing systems.

4. Intersection Collision Avoidance

    It is expected that the first implementation of this service would 
be through in-vehicle systems which are augmented by information from 
enhanced map data bases or from cooperative communication with the 
highway infrastructure. These systems would monitor position relative 
to intersection geometry, relative speed and position of other vehicles 
in the vicinity of the intersection and would advise the driver, 
through an appropriate driver-vehicle interface, of appropriate action 
to avoid a violation of right-of-way or to avoid an impending 
collision. Complexities of providing this service include the need to 
sense the position and motion of vehicles and determining the intent of 
these vehicles to turn, slow down, stop, or violate right-of-way. A 
fully autonomous in-vehicle system would probably not be capable of 
providing this service.

5. Railroad Crossing Collision Avoidance

    This feature would provide in vehicle warnings to drivers when they 
approach a railroad crossing that is unsafe to enter due to approaching 
or present rail traffic. Initial implementation of this feature is 
anticipated for buses and trucks carrying hazardous cargo. This 
service, which would share many onboard vehicle components with 
intersection collision avoidance systems, is dependent on 
communications and the deployment of infrastructure components.

6. Vision Enhancement

    It is expected that the first implementation of this service would 
be through autonomous in-vehicle systems. These systems would use 
infrared radiation from pedestrians and roadside features to provide 
the driver with an enhanced view of the road-ahead. Later versions of 
these systems may include additional information from improvements in 
the highway infrastructure, such as infrared reflective lane edge 
markings.

7. Location-Specific Alert and Warning

    This feature would provide intelligent in-vehicle warning 
information by integrating vehicle speed and pertinent vehicle dynamics 
information with knowledge of road geometry (from a map database or 
beacon input). Later versions would include information about 
environmental and road surface conditions to provide the driver with 
warnings, such as excessive speed for curves or alerts on upcoming 
traffic signs and signalized intersections. This feature may include 
the ability, at unusually complex and hazardous highway locations, to 
provide in-vehicle warnings which replicate one or more types of 
roadside signs. These capabilities would be integrated with other in-
vehicle navigation and route guidance features with collision avoidance 
warning.

8. Automatic Collision Notification

    It is expected that the first implementation of this service would 
be through in-vehicle systems which are augmented by communication 
links to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP). These systems would 
monitor position of the vehicle and severity of the crash. This 
information would be transmitted automatically to the appropriate PSAP 
for the location of the crash. These systems may also be combined with 
manually activated systems for requesting roadside assistance.

9. Smart Restraints and Occupant Protection Systems

    This feature would provide advance warning of impending (forward or 
side) crashes and would pre-deploy the appropriate occupant protection 
systems in a vehicle prior to the impact to obtain maximum protection 
for the vehicle occupants. If reliable under all potential impact 
situations, this might permit slower deployment speeds for the air 
bags, allow pre-tensioned or load limited belt systems or smart head 
protection systems and ultimately more protection for the vehicle 
occupants.

Safety Impacting Services

10. Navigation/Routing

    This feature would provide location and route guidance input to the 
driver and would support the various collision avoidance capabilities 
with road geometry and location data. It would also provide the 
necessary capability to filter traffic information to select those 
messages that are applicable to the vehicle location and route of 
travel. It would also offer the capability to recommend optimal routing 
based on driver preferences. More advanced versions of this service may 
integrate real-time traffic conditions into the calculations of optimal 
routes. For paratransit applications this would assist passenger demand 
and record keeping.

11. Real Time Traffic and Traveler Information

    These IVI systems would have capabilities to access in-vehicle 
databases and receive travel-related information from the 
infrastructure (roadside or wide-area transmissions). Information 
categories would include items, such as vehicle location and route 
guidance instructions, motorist and traveler services information, 
safety and advisory information, and other

[[Page 67111]]

real-time updates on conditions, such as congestion, work zones, 
environmental, and road surface conditions. This feature would provide 
an integrated approach to the presentation of information to the driver 
for safety warnings and other advisories related to the driving task. 
More advanced system capabilities would include the ability to react to 
dynamic information on environmental and road condition thereby 
augmenting information contained in the static map databases.

12. Driver Comfort and Convenience

    This service is included in the IVI program to ensure that the 
increasing number of comfort and convenience features in vehicles, such 
as cellular telephones and fax machines, do not distract the driver or 
increase the complexity of the driving task. This service would 
integrate these features into the driver vehicle interface to permit 
prioritization of information sources and reduce distractions. Real-
time dispatching for fleet operations is included in this category.

Platform Specific Services--Commercial Vehicle

13. Vehicle Stability Warning and Assistance

    An early version of this service would assist drivers in 
maintaining safe speeds on curves by measuring the rollover stability 
properties of a typical heavy vehicle as it is operated on the roadway, 
and by providing the driver with a graphical depiction of the vehicle's 
loading condition relative to its rollover propensity. More advanced 
services would employ an active brake control system coupled with 
electronic brake system technology and infrastructure provided 
information to selectively apply brakes to stabilize the vehicle and, 
thus, reduce the incidence of rear trailer rollover in double- and 
triple-trailer combination vehicles during crash avoidance or other 
emergency steering maneuvers.

14. Driver Condition Warning

    This service would provide a driver monitoring and warning 
capability to alert the driver to problems, such as drowsiness or other 
types of impairments. It is expected that the first implementation of 
this service would be on commercial and transit vehicles.

15. Vehicle Diagnostics

    The vehicle diagnostic information service would be an extension of 
current vehicle monitoring and self-diagnostic capabilities, such as 
oil pressure and coolant temperature gauges. This service would monitor 
vehicle safety-related functions. Examples of conditions monitored 
include braking system integrity, tire pressure, sensor and actuator 
performance, and the communication system. This information is intended 
to be useful to the driver, as well as to assist and support fleet 
maintenance and management functions.

16. Cargo Identification

    This service would focus on heavy vehicle operations, especially 
hazardous material transportation. This feature would identify and 
monitor key safety parameters of the cargo, such as temperature, and 
pressure. The driver would be warned if any unsafe conditions existed.

17. Automated Transactions

    This feature would implement capabilities for electronic 
transactions, such as electronic toll collection, parking fee payment, 
transit fare payment and additional commercial vehicle-related 
functions, such as credentials and permit verification, using such 
technology as transponders and ``smart cards.''

18. Safety Event Recorder

    This feature would record selected driver and vehicle parameters to 
support the reconstruction of conditions leading to a critical safety 
event. Data from this recorder could provide input to the crash 
notification subsystem for transmission of collision data to the 
emergency service provider.

Platform Specific Services--Transit Vehicles

19. Obstacle/Pedestrian Detection

    This service would warn the driver when pedestrians, vehicles, or 
obstacles are in close proximity to the driver's intended path. This 
could be accomplished with on-board sensors or infrastructure-based 
sensors communicating to vehicles.

20. Tight Maneuver/Precision Docking

    This service would position the bus or commercial vehicle very 
precisely relative to the curb or loading platform. The driver would 
maneuver the bus into the loading area and then turn it over to 
automation. Sensors would continually determine the lateral distance to 
the curb, front and rear, and the longitudinal distance to the end of 
the vehicle loading area. The driver would be able to override at any 
time by operating brakes or steering, and would be expected to monitor 
the situation and take emergency action if necessary (for example, if a 
pedestrian steps in front of the vehicle). When the vehicle is properly 
docked, it would stop and revert to manual control. In freight or bus 
terminals this service could increase facility throughput as well as 
safety.

21. Transit Passenger Monitoring

    This service would assist the driver in detecting any passenger 
activities that may affect the safety or security of the vehicle's 
operation.

22. Transit Passenger Information

    This service would provide transit passengers with real-time 
transit network information during travel. The emphasis within the IVI 
program would be to reduce the non-driving task workload of the driver 
by providing alternative means for passengers to access location and 
transit service information.

Platform Specific Services--Special Vehicle

23. Fully Automated Control at Certain Facilities

    This service would enhance efficiency and productivity by providing 
automated movement of vehicles in dedicated facilities. Initial 
applications may include automated bus movement in maintenance areas 
and automated container movement within a terminal area. The transit 
bus application could be a preliminary use of automation in a low-
speed, controlled environment. The automated container movement 
application would consist of using vehicle automation technologies to 
move containers within rail-, truck-, or ship-yards or other 
centralized facilities.

Supporting Services

24. Low Friction Warning and Control Assist

    This service would initially warn the driver of reduced traction, 
but in advanced configuration, would also provide control assist 
capabilities to assist the driver in regaining control of the vehicle. 
Sensors on-board the vehicle would detect when the tire-to-road surface 
coefficient of friction is reduced due to water, ice, or road surface 
condition.

25. Longitudinal Control

    Longitudinal control would range from normal cruise control to 
advanced cooperative cruise control and applications which permit full 
automatic braking. Intelligent cruise control senses the presence and 
relative velocity of moving vehicles ahead of the equipped vehicle, and 
adjusts the speed of travel to maintain a safe separation between 
vehicles. Vehicle speed is adjusted either by allowing the vehicle

[[Page 67112]]

to coast or by transmission downshifting. More advanced longitudinal 
control systems would be capable of detecting a vehicle ahead in the 
same lane, which may be traveling at any speed or may be fully stopped. 
A full range of braking capability and operating speeds would be 
available to the equipped vehicle, including stop-and-go traffic 
operations. This service can be provided by autonomous in-vehicle 
systems or with assistance from vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-
infrastructure cooperation.

26. Lateral Control

    This service would sense the center of the lane and continually 
actuate the steering to keep the vehicle in the center of its lane. For 
the service to dependably detect the lane boundaries, some 
infrastructure cooperation may be required, such as accurately painted 
lane marker stripes, embedded magnetic nails, or radar-reflective 
stripes. The driver would be able to assume control at any time.

Purpose of Comment Solicitation

    This document solicits comments on the IVI, expressions of interest 
to participate with a proposed working group to provide the USDOT with 
information so that the agency can adequately define and implement the 
IVI program, and comments on other questions or issues regarding this 
topic. It must be emphasized that the working group is being 
established for the purpose of providing information to ITS America so 
the USDOT can formulate the IVI program. The USDOT could potentially 
enter into partnerships with members of the working group.

IVI Issues

    Important issues related to the IVI are facing the USDOT and 
others, in both the public and private sectors. Responses to the 
following questions are requested to help the DOT as it finalizes the 
organization of the IVI program. As appropriate, please reference 
experiences you may have had that address the issues.
    1. Would you or your organization be interested in participating in 
the working group, or in cooperative research and development for the 
IVI program? If yes, in what way? If not, what would encourage you to 
participate?
    2. (a) Does the sequence of steps outlined in the roadmap provide a 
meaningful description of the system integration process? Are there 
other elements that need to be added to the roadmap? What criteria 
should be used in the selection of systems to be integrated? What steps 
need to be taken to ensure compatible deployment timetables for the 
infrastructure and in-vehicle parts of cooperative systems?
     (b) Each of the listed services is currently the subject of a 
development program within the USDOT, or is already a fully developed 
service. Are there services that should be added or deleted from this 
list?
     (c) The USDOT believes that it is feasible to develop systems to 
provide the listed services in the near term. Are there other longer-
term services that the USDOT should be considering?
    3. What new areas of research and development would be required to 
support the IVI program?
    4. What are the critical issues that need to be addressed and the 
activities that should be initiated to hasten the deployment of 
advanced technology systems for providing each of the listed services?
    5. What data are currently available to quantify the expected 
benefits, user acceptance, and costs of systems that can provide the 
listed services? What approaches can be used to obtain new estimates of 
those benefits, user acceptance, and costs?

(23 U.S.C. 307 note and 315; secs. 6051-6059, Pub. L. 102-240, 105 
Stat. 1914, 2189 as amended by sec. 404, Pub. L. 102-388, 106 Stat. 
1564, and sec. 338, Pub. L. 104-59, 109 Stat. 603, 604; and 49 CFR 
1.48)

    Issued: December 11, 1997.
Ricardo Martinez,
Administrator for National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

    Issued: December 11, 1997.
Gordon J. Linton,
Federal Transit Administrator.

    Issued: December 11, 1997.
Kenneth R. Wykle,
Federal Highway Administrator.

BILLING CODE 4910-24-P

[[Page 67113]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN23DE97.000



[FR Doc. 97-33348 Filed 12-22-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-22-C


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