Heartland Freight Technology Plan
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HEARTLAND FREIGHT TECHNOLOGY PLAN Freight Technology Assessment and Harmonization Technical Memorandum FINAL October 1, 2020 Prepared by TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 10 PROJECT BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................ 10 SCOPE AND PURPOSE ............................................................................................................. 10 FREIGHT TECHNOLOGY MONITORING ......................................................................... 12 FREIGHT TECHNOLOGIES WATCH LIST ................................................................................ 14 Freight Technology Categories ..................................................................................................... 14 Automated ............................................................................................................................................ 15 Big Data ................................................................................................................................................. 15 Data, Information and Communication ..................................................................................... 15 Digital Supply Chain .......................................................................................................................... 16 Energy .................................................................................................................................................... 16 Enforcement and Inspection .......................................................................................................... 17 Intermodalism ..................................................................................................................................... 17 Safety ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 ASSESS TECHNOLOGY TIMEFRAME/MATURITY .................................................................. 18 Key Stakeholder Engagement ....................................................................................................... 21 Economic Implications for Technology Investment – Task 2 Findings Revisited ........ 22 ASSESS TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS ........................................................................................... 24 Identifying Technologies with Public Benefit ........................................................................... 25 Benefits Assessment .......................................................................................................................... 26 Further Discussion of Freight Technology Characteristics .................................................. 28 MAINTAIN FREIGHT TECHNOLOGY WATCH LIST ............................................................... 35 REPEAT CADENCE-DRIVEN ASSESSMENT PROCESS ........................................................... 37 HARMONIZATION ........................................................................................................... 38 HARMONIZATION AND COORDINATION ............................................................................ 38 Harmonizing Policy and Practice .................................................................................................. 39 Coordinating Technology – Regional ......................................................................................... 40 Coordinating Technology – Long Distance .............................................................................. 42 SWOT ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................. 44 HEARTLAND FREIGHT TECHNOLOGY PLAN 3 Emerging Technology Technical Memo – FINAL STRENGTHS ............................................................................................................................. 44 WEAKNESSES ........................................................................................................................... 46 OPPORTUNITIES ...................................................................................................................... 48 THREATS .................................................................................................................................. 49 FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................... 51 RECOMMENDATION: ORGANIZE FOR SUCCESS .................................................................. 51 RECOMMENDATION: STRATEGIC ACTION ........................................................................... 56 RECOMMENDATION: ADVANCED DRIVER ASSISTANCE SYSTEMS PROGRAM SUPPORT 57 RECOMMENDATION: ELECTRIFICATION PROGRAM SUPPORT ......................................... 59 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................... 63 APPENDIX A – EMERGING TECHNOLOGY INVENTORY ...................................................... 63 APPENDIX B – TECHNOLOGY MATURITY ASSESSMENT ..................................................... 69 APPENDIX C – EMERGING TECHNOLOGY SURVEY SUMMARY .......................................... 72 HEARTLAND FREIGHT TECHNOLOGY PLAN 4 Emerging Technology Technical Memo – FINAL EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report presents findings on the assessment, management, and regional harmonization of emerging freight technology and concludes Task 3 in the development of the Heartland Freight Technology Plan (HFTP). The Heartland Region consists of the states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and the counties of Illinois near St. Louis. The findings herein reflect interviews and a survey of stakeholders, secondary research, and a two-day virtual workshop conducted with over 50 regional stakeholders in May 2020. The report includes a review of the relevant technologies, evaluation of their maturity and benefits, and ways to keep the evaluation up to date. It describes current practice and challenges in coordination of technology plans and policies among public agencies in the Heartland, and analyzes regional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in this regard. It concludes with recommendations for how Heartland agencies can organize to attain benefits and reduce deficiencies and presents two options for technology programs. The programs combine action in urban and rural areas, address strategic needs and support service in the Heartland’s principal markets, incorporate constituent appeal, and pursue material benefits from consequential technology in the near and medium term. The final recommendations fall under three main categories: regional organization, and the support of both Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) programs and electrification programs. Highlights of these recommendations, detailed later in the report, are as follows: Regional Organization Organization of a regional approach to technology is warranted, beneficial, and best done in cooperation with the private sector. Seven considerations guide this approach: • Practical Scale: the region should walk before it runs, reflecting its resources, its level of collaborative experience across sectors, and need for focused action. • Scalability: technology will continue to evolve; organizational capabilities and procedures must grow with it. • Form: establish a core team with responsibility for strategy and programs, supported by working groups drawn from member agencies responsible for implementation. The team initially will be the consortium itself but may come to reside with a multi- state organization. Use formal agreement to ensure that part-time personnel have clear direction on their commitments to the project. • Champion: options for identifying a program champion include assessment of consortium members themselves or of others within their agencies and seeking a private sector champion from among the region’s Freight Advisory Committees (FACs) to pair with the consortium chairperson. HEARTLAND FREIGHT TECHNOLOGY PLAN 5 Emerging Technology Technical Memo – FINAL • Funding: funding for fixed costs should come from sources that can be committed for multiple years; federal state planning and research funds might be such a source. Variable costs could be applied for within existing agency programs (e.g., Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) for electrification) and through competitive grants. • Jump-Start: precedents make clear the value of an initial infusion of funds to jump- start the program. Economic stimulus funds could be a near-term source. • External Partners: advance external partnerships through engagement of Heartland FACs regionally, use of intermediaries to protect private data, and consideration of academic institutions as bridge organizations between the public and private sector Advanced Driver Assistance Systems ADAS programs are in the early stage of adoption. Because they provide immediate benefits and are part of the suite of technologies that lead to automated vehicles, they are practical and forward-looking. They are a safety technology that reduces cost for motor carriers and addresses a chief concern of voters in a way they can understand. A strategic purpose of