December 4, 2018
Written by Adam Frost
Read Original Article at Traffic Technology Magazine
One of the US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Connected Vehicle Pilot projects has successfully demonstrated connected vehicle technology application in transit vehicles for the first time.
Last week in Florida, the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) and the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) demonstrated connected vehicle technology in HART transit vehicles for the first time.
The live demonstrations were a milestone for the THEA Connected Vehicle Pilot, which has now deployed the potentially lifesaving technology in 1,000 cars, 10 buses and eight streetcars to improve safety and mobility in downtown Tampa. The connected vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology enables vehicles to communicate wirelessly with each other (V2V), with traffic signals, crosswalks and other infrastructure (V2I), and with pedestrians (V2P).
In a series of controlled demonstrations, onboard equipment successfully alerted drivers to potential collisions between a car and a TECO Line streetcar; between a car and a HART bus; and between a car and a pedestrian.
The THEA Connected Vehicle Pilot is sponsored by the USDOT, which participated in the demonstrations along with officials from the Florida Division of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The three separate demonstrations comprised:
“The connected vehicle pilot is great for Tampa because this is new, innovative technology,” said Bob Frey, THEA’s director of planning and innovations. “If you see what is going on around the world with autonomy, connectivity and smart cities, it’s all coming, and Tampa is going to be among the first. We have a base infrastructure in place that we can build on, and that gives us an advantage.”