2020 FISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT Advancing Transportation Through Innovation ANNUAL REPORT 2020 FISCAL YEAR TABLE OF CONTENTS Mission & Vision 03 Message from the Director 05 Facilities & Institute Infrastructure 07 Project Highlights 13 Centers, Groups, & Initiatives 47 Sponsors, Clients, & Partners 57 Outreach, Community Engagement, & Media 65 Presentations, Honors, Awards, & Services 71 Publications 83 Stakeholders 101 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 Keep moving forward 2020 has been a tough fiscal year, given COVID-19 and its impact on our ability to conduct research that is largely based on human interactions. But now, not only are we safely resuming operations to lead critical transportation research efforts, we are seeing award numbers surpass those of previous years. Externally sponsored awards at VTTI exceeded $50 million in just over a year. Achieving this milestone, particularly in the midst of a global pandemic, is a testament to the extraordinary talent, hard work, and determination of our team of researchers. Major research advancements for fiscal year 2020 include: $15 million U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Automated Driving System Demonstration Grants VTTI received two $7.5 million grants from the USDOT to advance automated driving system research. The Automated Driving System Demonstration Grants program provides federal funding to projects that test methods for safely incorporating automated driving systems on U.S. roads. This funding is supporting research on managing mixed fleets and safely operating automated driving systems in challenging dynamic scenarios. Virginia Smart Roads Expansions The institute continued to expand the Virginia Smart Roads, which provide advanced vehicle testing capabilities on every road type (highway, surface, and rural) found in the United States. The final component of this effort, the Rural Roadway Expansion, will be complete by the fall. The Rural Roadway is designed to recreate the challenges of driving on rural roads and will be the first test bed of its kind built with automation and other MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR advanced testing in mind. Automated Mobility Partnership (AMP) Program VTTI continued to advance AMP, a large, private industry, multi-sponsor initiative led by the institute and directed by industry steering committee members. AMP provides its members with access to a variety of real-world driving data and a suite of support tools TOM DINGUS focused on the development and evaluation of automated driving technologies. Drivers’ Knowledge and Correct Use of New Technology Features in Vehicles Sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, VTTI is partnering with ph.d., chfp Dunlap & Associates to study ways to maximize the safety and fatigue-reducing benefits of automated systems for older drivers. Refining Testable Cases and Scenarios Concepts Recently awarded, this project will develop and refine methods for evaluating models of SAE level 3 through 5 automated driving systems. Safety Implications of Potential Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Sensor Degradation Awarded last fall, the goal of this study is to understand the safety implications of sensor degradation in advanced driver assistance systems over a vehicle’s lifetime. While we recognize our year-end accomplishments, we are also planning for the future Director of VTTI and strictly following public health and university guidelines. Despite the challenging President of VTT, LLC realities that we all now face, our institute is looking forward to getting back to significant growth and helping the Virginia Tech research enterprise. We will continue to identify Endowed Professor of Engineering at Virginia Tech new solutions to transportation issues. 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 traffic and the closed test tracks of the Smart road safety research to provide efficient Roads while bringing the total length of the THE 15,000-SQUARE-FOOT AUTOMATION solutions to automated-vehicle testing. The Headquartered at VTTI, the Virginia Smart highway section to 2.5 miles; 3) The Rural HUB INCLUDES A FIVE-BAY GARAGE, A VAC was developed in answer to the Virginia Road is a controlled-access facility managed Roadway (Phase 1 opened Fall 2019, Phase II is governor’s 2015 proclamation declaring by the institute and owned and maintained opening in Fall 2020), which will be the first of MACHINE AND WELDING WORKSHOP, AND Virginia “open for business” in the realm of by the Virginia Department of Transportation its kind to facilitate advanced-vehicle testing AN EXTENSIVE TOOL SET automated vehicles. The proclamation allows (VDOT). The road is built to Federal on a controlled rural roadway environment, the testing of any automated vehicle on Highway Administration specificationswith hilly, winding roads; short site distances; Virginia roads under the guidance of VTTI. and features seven roadside equipment and infrastructure built to 1965 standards; The Virginia Smart Roads are designed to The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (RSE) units and two mobile roadside and 4) The Automation Hub (open now), complement the public testing capabilities will support research efforts performed by equipment sites that facilitate connected- located on-site at the Virginia Smart Roads offered by the Virginia Connected and VTTI in accordance with the proclamation. vehicle communications; an optical fiber and facilitating short turnaround projects Automated Corridors. In 2014, VTTI With assistance from the Commonwealth communication system; Ethernet fiber focused on advanced-vehicle testing in partnered with VDOT to unveil the Virginia of Virginia, the VAC will advance the transceivers and Ethernet switches; a collaboration with VTTI researchers, industry Connected Corridors (VCC), which comprise development, testing, and deployment of connected-vehicle-compatible intersection leaders, and Virginia Tech students, among the Smart Road and Interstates 66 and 495, automated-vehicle technology, with the controller model; varying pavement sections others. as well as U.S. 29 and U.S. 50 (one of the most ultimate goal of helping stakeholders create and in-pavement sensors; 75 weather- congested corridors in the U.S.). The VCC is robust automated and autonomous vehicles. making towers capable of producing snow, facilitating the real-world development and rain, and fog; a differential GPS base station virginia smart roads deployment of connected-vehicle technology Faculty and students associated with for precise vehicle locating; a signalized via dedicated short-range communications the U.S. Department of Transportation- intersection with complete signal phase and cellular technology. Using more than awarded Safety through Disruption National HIGHWAY (2.5 MILES LONG) 60 RSEs located along the corridors, VDOT University Transportation Center (Safe-D and timing control; a wireless mesh network ability to create rain, snow, fog, and ice variable control system; and variable pole and researchers from multiple institutes National UTC)—a consortium led by VTTI spacing designed to replicate more than 90% across the Commonwealth are implementing with partners Texas A&M Transportation of national highway lighting systems. connected applications that include traveler Institute and San Diego State University— information, lane closure alerts, and work have access to the Virginia Smart Roads In 2017, the institute held a ribbon cutting/ SURFACE STREET SECTION zone and incident management. and the VAC/VCC to perform research into groundbreaking ceremony with partners reconfigurable urban test bed disruptive technologies, such as automated VDOT and Virginia Tech to unveil four unique In 2015, VTTI partnered with VDOT, and connected vehicles, big data analytics, expansion projects, each building upon the Transurban, the Virginia Department and transportation as a service. Current UTC Smart Road testing capabilities and now of Motor Vehicles, and HERE (a high- projects include assessing the impacts of collectively known as the Virginia Smart RURAL ROADWAY EXPANSION definition mapping business) to unveil the connected-vehicle technology on automated- Roads: 1) The Surface Street (open now), first of its kind to test advanced vehicles