Traveler Information Applications: How Can VII Improve the Quality of Travel? TRB Session 644: Using VII Data, Part 1 Ben McKeever, US DOT, ITS Joint Program Office January 16, 2008

2 The Critical Need for VII In 2006 for the United States: 2.6 million traffic crashes 42,000 fatalities 4.2 billion hours of travel delay 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel $80 billion cost of urban congestion Texas Transportation Institute, 2007

3 Agenda Current state of traveler information What VII provides and enables Current VII activities related to traveler information Conclusion/next steps

4 Traveler Information Today – The Good Public sector progress –511 widely deployed –38% of freeway miles have detection (USDOT, 2006) –56% of fixed route buses with AVL (USDOT, 2006) Private sector progress –New technologies for collection and dissemination –Real time traffic and navigation more prominent –Consumer interest is growing and prices are dropping Public-Private Partnerships are emerging

5 Traveler Information Today – The Bad Most metro areas still lacking quality traffic data High O&M costs effect reliability of public sector data –As a result, data is not trusted –Inadequate funding for O&M Real time data on arterials is almost non-existent New technologies are slow to be deployed Limited data/applications for other modes (e.g. transit, parking)

6 VII Can Revolutionize Traveler Information Complete network visibility (all roads, all modes) Data Collection –low latency/real time –high granularity and reliability Data Dissemination –Brings data into the vehicle –Can impact driver behavior en-route –Can optimize network performance

7 Types of Data VII Can Provide Anonymous “probe” messages from vehicle to infrastructure –Location, heading, speed, stop events, hard breaking events, weather conditions, vehicle diagnostics –2-5% penetration rate needed for accurate data –Transit vehicles VII Advisory messages from infrastructure to vehicles –En-route alerts, travel times, dynamic routing, hazard warnings (e.g. icy road), parking info, transit arrival times or delays Weather Sensing

8 Types of Applications VII Can Enable Pre trip planning/routing for all modes En-route routing around incidents Transit arrival times, advisories and connection information “Killer Apps” from the private sector –Off-board navigation using real time data on all roads –Door-to-door driving times –Real time map updates –Parking availability/reservations

9 Current VII Activities for Traveler Information Michigan Development and Test Environment (DTE) and Data Use Analysis and Processing (DUAP) VII California Testbed New York ITS World Congress VII Demonstration

10 Michigan DTE and DUAP Michigan DTE supports testing of public and private sector traveler information applications DUAP project demonstrates public sector uses of VII data –Incident detection –Travel advisories –Road and weather conditions –Winter maintenance –Asset management

11 VII California Testbed Leverages real world existing ITS for VII demonstrations –Integration of existing data sources with VII probe data –Complimentary uses of existing 511 system and VII –VII tolling applications Congestion Initiative project will demonstrate additional VII applications –Dynamic pricing –Parking Information –Transit information to buses (tentative)

12 New York ITS World Congress Demonstration and After Demonstrate numerous VII applications (including probe data collection, travel advisories, travel times, tolling, etc.) in Manhattan and Long Island Support for subsequent development of congestion-mitigation and road pricing related applications (post-World Congress)

13 Conclusion Current Traveler Information Systems are not adequately addressing the need for accurate, real time data on all roads and all modes VII provides a wealth of data that could revolutionize the traveler information industry VII enables numerous traveler information applications not currently available or mature –Dynamic routing around incidents in real time –Off-board navigation based on real time traffic conditions –Door-to-door driving times with best alternative –Multi-modal traveler information (transit arrival times and delays, parking availability/reservations)

14 Next Steps SafeTrip-21 and ITS World Congress Demonstration in 2008 Monitor results of POC testing of traveler information applications Look for pre-VII early winners (e.g. I-95 Corridor Coalition probe data project) Leverage Congestion Initiative projects in New York and San Francisco Monitor cutting edge technology for VII and Traveler Information