The 2014 Automated Vehicle Symposium is coming up in San Francisco this month (July 15-17^th). Some of the organizers and panelists of the show have provided insights into several of the breakout sessions that will be held. Driverless Transportation will be sharing some of those insights throughout the next two weeks. For more information about the event and the individual sessions, click here.

Title: Near-term Connected/Automated Technology Deployment Opportunities.

A brief overview of the session:
Automated vehicles by themselves can deliver many but not all of the benefits possible through automation.  Automation assisted by connection to other vehicles and the infrastructure and by roadway features such as managed lanes may be needed to unlock the full potential inherent in automation. Connected automation systems that include a role for an engaged driver can provide many benefits in the nearer-term, as part of the decades-long transition to a fully automated highway system. This breakout session will focus on ways to advance the development of an automated and connected highway system that will support increasingly capable vehicles and deliver safety and highway system operational benefits both in advance of and in addition to the benefits associated with fully automated vehicles.

According to Ginger Goodin, Senior Research Engineer for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and one of the organizers of the breakout session, one of the goals of this session is to focus on defining what the near term deployment opportunities are, how can the safety and the benefits of fully automated vehicles be advanced, what does the near term look like and how do we get to the long term.

The session will focus on three forces and groups that play a role in accelerating early deployment and realizing safety and congestion benefits in the near-term.

1. The first force is technology, and the OEMs and suppliers that will be developing it. What are the connected technologies that are on the horizon that can deliver benefits over the next several decades?
2. The second are the innovators from the infrastructure side. Basically finding out who the owners and operators are and what are the barriers that will need to be overcome.
3. The third force is determining what the value proposition is for both private and public sectors.

Ginger got involved in the first TRB Road Vehicle Automation workshop in 2012 where she presented on managed lanes. Her background as a researcher is in the area of road pricing, and she was previously the Chair of the TRB Managed Lanes Committee.  Her involvement in TRB connected her with the first workshop organizers.  Since then, she and other workshop organizers have conducted research on policy implications of automated vehicles, supporting policy makers involved in infrastructure at the state and local government levels.

There are seventeen speakers in this breakout session that include individuals from federal, state and local governments, the private sector, the military, and economic development. A list of all of the speakers can be found here.

Attendees of this session can expect lively discussion with thought provoking questions. This is an opportunity to be part of the visioning process of where do we go from here. Ginger hopes for a diverse group of people to attend as she feels the best discussions arise when you have people from different backgrounds.