2019 Global Symposium

2019 Global Symposium on Connected and Automated Vehicles and Infrastructure

City skyline with animated vehicles, buses, and pedestrians.

Driven by the rapid development of connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies, we are on the cusp of a new revolution in transportation safety and mobility on a scale not seen since the introduction of automobiles a century ago. As CAV technologies continue their steady advance towards deployment, many questions remain, whose answers are critical.

The 2019 Global Symposium for Connected and Automated Vehicles and Infrastructure will focus on overarching research issues related to CAV research, technology, testing and deployments, policy, as well as education, training, and workforce development.

The Symposium is sponsored by the U.S. Depart of Transportation’s Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT) at the University of Michigan. CCAT partners include:

  • The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)
  • Purdue University
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • University of Akron
  • Central State University
  • Washtenaw Community College

DAY ONE AGENDA (FEBRUARY 26)

Time (ET)Panel
7:30 – 8:30 AMContinental Breakfast
8:30 – 8:45 AMWelcome, Opening Remarks
Dr. Henry Liu, Director, Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT)
8:45 – 9:30 AMKeynote Speaker
Marcy Klevorn, Executive Vice President of Mobility, Ford Motor Company
9:30 – 10:30 AMPanel 1: International Panel on Connected and Automated Vehicles

This panel will explore connected and automated vehicle testing and deployments in the U.S. and abroad. The panel will discuss both DSRC and CV2X; development and deployment of automated vehicles, level 3 and above; and AV testing.

Moderator: Scott Belcher, President & CEO, SFB Consulting
Panelists:
Dr. Jim Sayer, Director, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)
Sue Bai, Principal Engineer, Honda R&D Americas, Inc.
Andreas Mai, CEO & Founder, ecomo.world LLC
Vince Park, Senior Director of Engineering, Qualcomm
10:30 – 11:00 AMBreak
11:00 – 12:00 PMResearch Topic 1: CAV Testing Scenario Design and Implementation using Naturalistic Driving Data and Augmented Reality

Testing and evaluation is a critical step in the development and deployment of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), and yet there is no systematic way to design representative scenarios for validating CAV systems. This presentation will detail how to generate testing scenario libraries for CAV evaluation systematically by mining and examining crash and naturalistic driving databases. Additionally, CAV testing in closed test facilities with an augmented reality environment is also discussed.

Dr. Yiheng Feng, Associate Research Scientist, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)

Panel 2: Smart Cities Prepare for the Future of Mobility

This panel will explore how cities are preparing for a truly smart, livable, economically vibrant future by discussing three key themes: (1) performance and resilience; (2) vision and leadership; and (3) service and inclusion.

Moderator: Jeff Hood, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Panelists:
Vig Krishnamurthy, Senior Manager — City Solutions, Ford Motor Company Smart Mobility
Raymond Hess, Transportation Manager, City of Ann Arbor
John Peracchio, General Manager — Mobility Solutions & Strategy, Conduent, Former Mobility Lead, Governor Snyder Administration
Dr. John Abraham, Director of Traffic and Operations, Macomb County Department of Roads
Alisyn Malek, Co-Founder, May Mobility
12:00 – 1:00 PMLunch
1:00 – 2:00 PMResearch Topic 2: Purdue Driving Simulator

Having conducted a wide range of CCAT research using the Purdue driving simulator, this topic will explore drivers’ response to different types of real-time traffic information; rationale and methods used in investigating the effect of different AV driver introductory materials on trust, acceptance, and takeover performance for Level 3 automation; and plans to investigate the effects of different road designs on user acceptance of AVs and their willingness to purchase L4 AVs.

Dr. Dustin Souders, Human Factors Researcher, Purdue University

Panel 3: Leadership, Education, and Professional Development

Education and professional development are critical to the successful deployment of connected and automated vehicle technologies in the industry. The need exists for both engineers as well as skilled technicians in the product development process. This panel will focus on how Washtenaw Community College is providing career pathway solutions for talent that meet industry demanded skills and competencies.

Moderator: Al Lecz, Director of the Advanced Transportation Center, Washtenaw Community College
Panelists:
Dr. Michelle Mueller, Vice President of Economic, Community, and College Development, Washtenaw Community College
Dr. Kimberly Hurns, Vice President for Instruction, Washtenaw Community College
Hideki Hada, Executive Engineer — Technical Strategy for Advanced Safety, Toyota Motor NA
Rosa Lechartier, WCC Student
Zachyre Van Buren, WCC Student
Emily Hatsigeorgiou, WCC Student
2:00 – 2:30 PMBreak
2:30 – 3:15 PMSmart Cities Presentation
Eugene W. Grant, Mayor, Seat Pleasant, Maryland
3:15 – 4:15 PMSmart Cities Student Contest Presentations and Awards
4:15 – 4:30 PMWrap-Up
Dr. Henry Liu, Director, Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT)
4:30 – 6:00 PMReception and Strolling Dinner

DAY TWO AGENDA (FEBRUARY 27)

Time (ET)Panel
7:30 – 8:30 AMContinental Breakfast
8:30 – 8:45 AMWelcome, Opening Remarks
Dr. Rose Bellanca, President & CEO, Washtenaw Community College
8:45 – 9:30 AMKeynote Speaker
Shailen Bhatt, CEO, Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA)
9:30 – 10:45 AMKeynote and Panel Discussion Shaping the Future of Mobility with Connected and Automated
Vehicles


Moderator: Dr. S. Jack Hu, Vice President for Research, University of Michigan
Featuring: Dr. Lawrence Burns, Former Professor of Engineering Practice, University of Michigan
Dr. Burns will share his perspectives on how the “age of automobility” will likely play out over the next five to ten years and what this might mean for consumers, industry, researchers, and society.
Panelists:
Dr. Kumares Sinha, Edgar B. and Hedwig M. Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, Purdue University
Dr. Huei Peng, Director, Mcity, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan
10:45 – 11:00 AMBreak
11:00 – 12:00 PMResearch Topic 1A: Efficient and Fast Algorithms for Real-Time Management of Connected Vehicles

Future transportation management systems can exploit advances in approximation theory and scientific computing to produce analytics and inform control actions in a real-time fashion. Towards this goal, we aim to address two challenges: (1) data flood and (2) expensive simulation models.

Dr. Hadi Meidani, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Research Topic 1B: Autonomous Freight Transportation: Some Opportunities and Challenges

This talk discusses some opportunities and challenges associated with the emerging freight delivery systems based on autonomous trucks and drones. Topics include spatial formation and temporal scheduling of truck platoons for line-haul shipments, as well as optimal layout of transshipments for last-mile deliveries. We discuss how autonomous truck platooning with properly
planned lateral displacements can increase shipment capacity and fuel efficiency without significantly accelerating the damage accumulation within pavement structures. We also show how to minimize the last-mile delivery cost by drones, with or without considering mid-air congestion and continuous traffic equilibrium.

Dr. Yanfeng Ouyang, George Krambles Endowed Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Panel 1: Policy and Social Justice

Connected, automated and shared mobility solutions have the greatest potential to positively impact the lives of those living in historically underserved communities, senior citizens, and the economically challenged. The absence of public transportation or personal vehicle ownership leaves thousands without access to healthcare, education, and social interactions reducing their quality of life and often exacerbating economic hardships. U-M is at the forefront of transportation as an issue of social justice. How, and who, are benefiting from a shared economy – and how do we create balance?

Moderator: Dr. Tierra Bills, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan
Panelists:
Alex Karner, Assistant Professor and Hampton K. and Margret Frye Snell Endowed Chair in Transportation, University of Texas at Austin
Chris Borroni-Bird, Founder, Afreecar LLC
Richard Ezike, New Mobility and Equity Fellow, Union of Concerned Scientists
James Fishelson, Mobility Research Supervisor, Ford Motor Company
12:00 – 1:00 PMLunch
1:00 – 2:00 PMResearch Topic 2A: Improving the Operational Efficiency of a Major-Minor Intersection in Mixed Traffic Flow with Connected Vehicles

This project explores a potential application of the
connected vehicle technology to improve the efficiency at an intersection of major-minor streets. When connected vehicles are mixed with conventional vehicles, speed adjustment by connected vehicles may be able to create adequate gaps in the traffic stream to allow minor street vehicles to enter the intersection without the need for a dedicated timing phase to improve signal operation. In the 1st part of the project, gap characteristics were analyzed and simulation models built for simple cases. In this presentation, we will discuss our continued effort that includes additional modeling analyses for more complex cases, successful trial test of the control logic with integrated system hardware and software, and site survey and preparation for the field test.

Dr. Ping Yi, Professor of Civil Engineering, Akron University

Research Topic 2B: Time-Resolved Roadway Resistance Study for Connected Vehicles

Despite the advancement in CAV technologies in recent years, there is still a significant need for studying the active safety features of vehicles and their interactions with the pavement. Factors affecting emergency braking and rolling resistance, such as tire-surface friction, braking system, and environmental conditions, vary from one situation to another; therefore, the conventional estimation method based on predefined parameters cannot sufficiently support the data need of the advanced safety features. The presentation discusses a time-resolved braking distance estimation concept to explore the impact of pavement surface, roadway slope, tire condition, and vehicle braking system as the conditions change. It was found that calculating braking distance based on generated driving power and active driving resistance forces may help increase the data accuracy while reducing the data needs to improve vehicle safety.

Dr. Ethan Shajie, Adjunct Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Akron
Dr. Ping Yi, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Akron

Panel 2: Federal Research on Automated Vehicles

Cooperative automation allows automated vehicles to
communicate with other vehicles and the infrastructure to coordinate movements and increase efficiency and safety. The U.S. Department of Transportation is conducting research to measure the benefits of augmenting automated vehicle capabilities with connected vehicle technologies to enable cooperative automation.

Moderator: Kevin Dopart, Program Manager for Connected Vehicle Safety and Automation, U.S. Department of Transportation
Panelists:
Taylor Lochrane, FHWA, U.S. DOT
Rachel James, FHWA, U.S. DOT
Roy Goudy, Nissan
Kevin Dopart, ITS JPO, U.S. DOT for Gene McHale, FHWA
2:00 – 3:00 PMResearch Topic 3: Incorporating Air Pollution Information into CAV Systems

Preliminary efforts on incorporating air pollution
data obtained from traffic-congested areas along the freeways will be presented. Our plans to develop a system to obtain this data from the traffic counts based on the passage of trucks and cars using pollutants that would fall under NAAQS and greenhouse gases will be discussed. Ideas on how this data may be used in CAV systems to alert vehicles approaching congested areas and to seek alternative routes will be presented and feedback solicited from the consortium.

Dr. Krishna Kumar Nedunuri, Professor of Environmental Engineering, Central State University
Dr. Ramanitharan Kandiah, Professor of Environmental Engineering & Chair, Central State University

Panel 3: Your Turn to Drive – Human Factors Issues During Transition from Automatic to Manual Vehicle Control

This panel will present a scenario where an automated vehicle system encounters a situation it can’t handle and makes a request for the human operator to take control. Panelists will examine issues concerning system design, driver-vehicle interface design, regulatory and testing issues, and forensic investigation topics.

Moderator: Dr. Susan Chrysler, Senior Researcher, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
Panelists:
John Campbell, Senior Managing Scientist, Exponent
John Lenneman, Senior Principal Engineer, Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) Toyota
Dr. Shan Bao, Associate Research Scientist, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)
Chris Monk, Division Chief of Human Factors Research, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
3:00 – 3:30 PMWrap-Up
Dr. Henry Liu, Director, Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT)