SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

Cooperative Vehicle Systems

Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII)

Autonomous Ground Vehicles

Probe Data and ATMS Integration

Heavy-Duty Probe Data System

Multiagent Systems Engineering

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Since the early 1990s, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has been involved in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). In that time we have seen remarkable advancements in the communications system technology and the software systems that have made highways smarter. Additionally, automobile manufacturers have made great strides in vehicle safety systems. Advances in these systems have saved countless lives.

Recently, there has been a strong push by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), European Commission, and others to connect the intelligent highway with the smart car. The Intelligent Vehicle Systems Section at SwRI was formed within the Intelligent Transportation Systems Department to address the need for research and development in the following areas:

• Cooperative vehicle systems

• Vehicle infrastructure integration (VII)

• Vehicular autonomy

Cooperative Vehicle Systems

Cooperative vehicle systems represent the marriage of the intelligent vehicle and the intelligent highway and are expected to enhance public safety and improve the mobility of the overall transportation system. SwRI is internally funding cooperative vehicle systems research, exploring how vehicles and roadside units will communicate, determining what data will be important, and how traffic management centers, automobile manufacturers, and the public will use the data. Several of these programs are:

• Integrating dynamic vehicle probe data into an advanced traffic management system

• Maintaining device anonymity while disseminating information in a 3D plane

• Development of a heavy-duty probe data system

Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII)

SwRI is developing the standards conformance test methods focused on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) P1609.2-4 dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) standards for the OmniAir Consortium Inc. to support OmniAir's DSRC device certification program. OmniAir Consortium Inc., a nonprofit public-private consortium, is under a five-year cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration to develop a certification program deemed essential to the forward progress of the VII initiative.

Vehicular Autonomy

SwRI is currently investigating and developing sensor/computing/mobile technologies to augment vehicle platforms and provide autonomous vehicle capabilities to improve safety in urban and traffic environments. SwRI envisions the fully automated highway and the fully automated vehicle as the future of ground-based transportation systems.

• Southwest Safe Transport Initiative (SSTI)

For more information about intelligent vehicle systems capabilities at SwRI or how you can contract with SwRI, please contact Ryan D. Lamm at rlamm@swri.org or (210) 522-5350.

| Intelligent Transportation Systems Department | Automation and Data Systems Division | SwRI Home |

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a multidisciplinary, independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical sciences research and development organization with 11 technical divisions.

September 30, 2008