Traveler Information Applications: How Can VII Improve the Quality of Travel?

TRB Session 644: Using VII Data, Part 1Ben McKeever, US DOT, ITS Joint Program OfficeJanuary 16, 2008

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The Critical Need for VII

In 2006 for the United States:

• 2.6 million traffic crashes

• 42,000 fatalities

• 4.2 billion hours of travel delay

• 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel

• $80 billion cost of urban congestion

Texas Transportation Institute, 2007

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Agenda

• Current state of traveler information• What VII provides and enables• Current VII activities related to traveler information• Conclusion/next steps

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Traveler Information Today – The Good

• Public sector progress– 511 widely deployed– 38% of freeway miles have

detection (USDOT, 2006)– 56% of fixed route buses with

AVL (USDOT, 2006)• Private sector progress

– New technologies for collection and dissemination

– Real time traffic and navigation more prominent

– Consumer interest is growing and prices are dropping

• Public-Private Partnerships are emerging

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Traveler Information Today – The Bad

• Most metro areas still lacking quality traffic data

• High O&M costs effect reliability of public sector data – As a result, data is not trusted – Inadequate funding for O&M

• Real time data on arterials is almost non-existent

• New technologies are slow to be deployed

• Limited data/applications for other modes (e.g. transit, parking)

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VII Can Revolutionize Traveler Information

• Complete network visibility (all roads, all modes)

• Data Collection – low latency/real time– high granularity and

reliability• Data Dissemination

– Brings data into the vehicle– Can impact driver behavior

en-route– Can optimize network

performance

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Types of Data VII Can Provide

• Anonymous “probe” messages from vehicle to infrastructure– Location, heading, speed, stop events,

hard breaking events, weather conditions, vehicle diagnostics

– 2-5% penetration rate needed for accurate data

– Transit vehicles• VII Advisory messages from

infrastructure to vehicles– En-route alerts, travel times, dynamic

routing, hazard warnings (e.g. icy road), parking info, transit arrival times or delays

Weather Sensing

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Types of Applications VII Can Enable

• Pre trip planning/routing for all modes

• En-route routing around incidents• Transit arrival times, advisories and

connection information• “Killer Apps” from the private sector

– Off-board navigation using real time data on all roads

– Door-to-door driving times– Real time map updates – Parking availability/reservations

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Current VII Activities for Traveler Information

• Michigan Development and Test Environment (DTE) and Data Use Analysis and Processing (DUAP)

• VII California Testbed• New York ITS World Congress VII Demonstration

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Michigan DTE and DUAP

• Michigan DTE supports testing of public and private sector traveler information applications

• DUAP project demonstrates public sector uses of VII data – Incident detection– Travel advisories– Road and weather conditions– Winter maintenance– Asset management

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VII California Testbed

• Leverages real world existing ITS for VII demonstrations– Integration of existing data sources with

VII probe data– Complimentary uses of existing 511

system and VII– VII tolling applications

• Congestion Initiative project will demonstrate additional VII applications– Dynamic pricing– Parking Information– Transit information to buses (tentative)

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New York ITS World Congress Demonstration and After

• Demonstrate numerous VII applications (including probe data collection, travel advisories, travel times, tolling, etc.) in Manhattan and Long Island

• Support for subsequent development of congestion-mitigation and road pricing related applications (post-World Congress)

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Conclusion

• Current Traveler Information Systems are not adequately addressing the need for accurate, real time data on all roads and all modes

• VII provides a wealth of data that could revolutionize the traveler information industry

• VII enables numerous traveler information applications not currently available or mature– Dynamic routing around incidents in real time– Off-board navigation based on real time traffic conditions – Door-to-door driving times with best alternative– Multi-modal traveler information (transit arrival times and delays,

parking availability/reservations)

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Next Steps

• SafeTrip-21 and ITS World Congress Demonstration in 2008• Monitor results of POC testing of traveler information

applications• Look for pre-VII early winners (e.g. I-95 Corridor Coalition

probe data project)• Leverage Congestion Initiative projects in New York and San

Francisco• Monitor cutting edge technology for VII and Traveler

Information