2019 Fiscal Year

ANNUAL REPORT 2019 FISCAL YEAR Advancing Transportation Through Innovation ANNUAL REPORT 2019 FISCAL YEAR TABLE OF CONTENTS Mission & Vision 03 Message from the Director 05 Facilities & Institute Infrastructure 07 Project Highlights 13 Centers, Groups, & Initiatives 41 Sponsors, Clients, & Partners 51 Outreach & Community Engagement 59 Presentations, Honors, Awards, & Services 63 Publications 79 Stakeholders 91 01 02 The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) conducts research to save lives, save time, save money, and protect the environment. Researchers and students from multiple fields are continuously developing the techniques and technologies to solve transportation challenges from vehicular, driver, infrastructure, and MISSION environmental perspectives. As one of seven premier research institutes & VISION created by Virginia Tech to answer national challenges, VTTI has effected significant change in public policies for driver, passenger, and pedestrian safety and is advancing the design of vehicles and infrastructure to increase safety and reduce environmental impacts. 03 04 Enhancing Transportation Through Research For more than 30 years, VTTI has been at the critical juncture of the development and the deployment of transportation initiatives. Our researchers have evaluated the efficacy of pavement materials, lighting design, mobility alternatives, and vehicle design. At each opportunity, we endeavor to determine how these aspects interrelate to human use prior to their implementation in the broader transportation system. Essentially, our goal for more than three decades has been to help our sponsors, clients, and partners from the public and private sectors determine through objective, data-driven research how the transportation community can be made not only more efficient but, above all, safer. To meet this goal, it is imperative for this institute to look ahead, to anticipate the evolutionary needs of the transportation system. And in no area has the transportation system so drastically changed than in the incorporation of advanced-vehicle technology. An increasing number of production-level vehicles are being rolled out with increasing levels of connectivity and such automated driving systems (ADSs) as lane-keep assist, automatic emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control. With such rapid advancement comes the inevitable question: “When will we all have self-driving cars?” It’s a logical question, and I have no doubt that, when widely deployed, such cars will positively affect safety, mobility, and efficiency. But, our goal at VTTI is to help those invested in the deployment of these advanced technologies ensure their development is performed thoughtfully and responsibly, that it meets the needs of users, and that no unintended consequences occur. Taking such an approach is absolutely necessary, because the MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR technology will develop for some time, and premature deployment will lead to not only lives lost, but an unnecessary “retrenching” that could delay deployment for a number of years, resulting in even more lives lost. That is why we devote our professional lives to working across the public and private sectors to conduct studies and provide research data necessary to the safe development and deployment of advanced-vehicle technologies. TOM DINGUS Toward this end, we are working with members in our Automated Mobility Partnership (AMP) to promote the development of tools, techniques, and data resources—including ph.d., chfp our naturalistic driving studies—to support the development and evaluation of ADS. We are working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to modify the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) relative to the proper design of vehicles that may not have manually operated driving controls, such as steering wheels or brakes, or even (in some cases) onboard occupants. We are working with nearly 40 other organizations under a NHTSA contract to consider electronics safe reliability, cybersecurity, vehicle automation, and related human factors. We are providing hands- on opportunities for next-generation engineers, researchers, and designers through our new InternHUB initiative, which fosters collaborations between industry partners, VTTI researchers, and leading students from Virginia Tech. Director of VTTI These are but a handful of examples of the work being conducted at VTTI by an industry- President of VTT, LLC leading team of research faculty, staff, and students. To learn more about what we have Endowed Professor of Engineering at Virginia Tech accomplished during Fiscal Year 2019, please continue reading. 05 06 SURFACE STREET HIGHWAY SECTION VTTI has an infrastructure worth more than $120 million that includes multiple test beds used extensively for real-world, impactful transportation research across both broad and edge-and-corner scenarios; more than 120,000 square feet of building space in Blacksburg and FACILITIES Alton, Va.; and more than 100 owned and leased institute infrastructure instrumented vehicles, including connected- automated light and heavy vehicles. VTTI also recently purchased an autonomous micro-transit shuttle that has been instrumented and deployed for a variety of automation research projects. LIVE ROADWAY CONNECTOR RURAL ROADWAY EXPANSION 07 08 FACILITIES 01. Test Beds test tracks of the Smart Roads while bringing experience in on-road safety research to THE 15,000-SQUARE-FOOT AUTOMATION Headquartered at VTTI, the Virginia the total length of the highway section to provide efficient solutions to automated- Smart Road is a controlled-access facility 2.5 miles; 3) The Rural Roadway (Phase 1 HUB INCLUDES A FIVE-BAY GARAGE, A vehicle testing. The VAC was developed opening Fall 2019, Phase II opening Summer in answer to the Virginia governor’s 2015 managed by the institute and owned and MACHINE AND WELDING WORKSHOP, AND maintained by the Virginia Department 2020), which will be the first of its kind to proclamation declaring Virginia “open for of Transportation (VDOT). The road is facilitate advanced-vehicle testing on a AN EXTENSIVE TOOL SET business” in the realm of automated vehicles. built to Federal Highway Administration controlled rural roadway environment, with The proclamation allows the testing of any hilly, winding roads; short site distances; and automated vehicle on Virginia roads under the specifications and features seven roadside The Virginia Smart Roads are designed to equipment units and two mobile roadside infrastructure built to 1965 standards; and 4) guidance of VTTI. The Virginia Department The Automation Hub, located on-site at the complement the public testing capabilities of Motor Vehicles will support research equipment sites that facilitate connected- offered by the Virginia Connected and vehicle communications; an optical fiber Virginia Smart Roads and facilitating short efforts performed by VTTI in accordance turnaround projects focused on advanced- Automated Corridors. In 2014, VTTI partnered with the proclamation. With assistance communication system; Ethernet fiber with VDOT to unveil the Virginia Connected transceivers and Ethernet switches; a vehicle testing in collaboration with VTTI from the Commonwealth of Virginia, the researchers, industry leaders, and Virginia Corridors (VCC), which comprise the Smart VAC will advance the development, testing, connected-vehicle-compatible intersection Road and Interstates 66 and 495, as well controller model; varying pavement sections Tech students, among others. and deployment of automated-vehicle as U.S. 29 and U.S. 50 (i.e., one of the most technology, with the ultimate goal of helping and in-pavement sensors; 75 weather- congested corridors in the U.S.). The VCC making towers capable of producing snow, virginia smart roads stakeholders create robust automated and is facilitating the real-world development autonomous vehicles. rain, and fog; a differential GPS base station and deployment of connected-vehicle for precise vehicle locating; a signalized HIGHWAY (2.5 MILES LONG) technology via dedicated short-range Faculty and students associated with the intersection with complete signal phase ability to create rain, snow, fog, and ice communications and cellular technology. USDOT-awarded Safety through Disruption and timing control; a wireless mesh network Using more than 60 roadside equipment units National University Transportation Center variable control system; and variable pole (RSEs) located along the corridors, VDOT (Safe-D National UTC)—a consortium led by spacing designed to replicate more than 90% and researchers from multiple institutes VTTI with partners Texas A&M Transportation of national highway lighting systems. across the Commonwealth are implementing Institute and San Diego State University— SURFACE STREET SECTION connected applications that include traveler have access to the Virginia Smart Roads In 2017, the institute held a ribbon cutting/ reconfigurable urban test bed groundbreaking ceremony with partners information, lane closure alerts, and work and the VAC/VCC to perform research into VDOT and Virginia Tech to unveil four zone and incident management. disruptive technologies, such as automated unique expansion projects, each building and connected vehicles, big data analytics, VTTI partnered with VDOT, Transurban, the and transportation as a service. Current UTC upon the Smart Road testing capabilities Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, and and now collectively known as the Virginia RURAL ROADWAY EXPANSION

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