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Wireless vehicle-to-infrastructure project with Volvo Trucks

In the Advanced Projects Area, ITRE has completed work jointly sponsored by FMCSA and the I-95 Corridor Coalition. The roject addressed the feasibility of establishing a wireless inspection capability for commercial motor vehicles. The work is relevant to FMCSA and FHWA efforts in the areas of wireless communications and VII (i.e., Vehicle Infrastructure Integration). The present work was a team effort. Other members of the project team were the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Volvo Trucks North America, and Volvo Technology America. The work resulted in a successful operational demonstration of the use of WiFi (802.11) to transmit information from a vehicle traveling at highway speeds to a roadside 'reader.' The data message set consisted of driver and carrier information stored on a smartcard (simulated TWIC).

An onboard biometric device was able to sample the driver's fingerprint and compare it to the fingerprint stored on the simulated TWIC. Evidence of a 'match' or 'non-match' was communicated to the roadside along with the photograph of the driver along with other driver and carrier data. The onboard system also transmitted real time information on brake status from the vehicle's data bus. Prototype in-vehicle and roadside graphic displays were created to monitor the interrogation and data exchange process. The demonstration project was also used to effectively engage enforcement personnel (from NCSHP) for the purpose of familiarizing them with the potential for this technology as well as to solicit their inputs on the composition of an eventual safety and security data message set.

The final report (PDF:2.3MB) submitted to the I- 95 Corridor Coalition is available here for review. The team is presently working on a TSA sponsored project to extend these findings and to develop/demonstrate an operational capability for a self-contained (onboard) geofencing capability as well as a capability for automatic vehicle shutdown and message notification. CVSA is the lead on the TSA effort.