Utah DOT to Expand ‘Connected Vehicle’ Program

Results from a five-year ‘connected vehicle’ program in Utah are prompting the state’s transportation agency to expand its efforts, reports Skip Descant in GovTech.

The project, developed in collaboration with Panasonic, “has deployed about 490 “roadside units” (RSUs), which communicate with onboard units — technology installed on public-sector vehicles, which can vary from light-duty cars and trucks to city buses and snowplows.” The program uses data from roughly 190 participating vehicles to understand mobility patterns and, ultimately, improve road safety.

Descant explains that “The [Panasonic] Cirrus system, which collects and analyzes connected vehicle data, looks for trends and areas that might raise concern.” This can help DOTs use the data to take actionable steps to make roads safer and city services more efficient.

One way to use the system is smart transit signal priority, which can change traffic signals to streamline travel for transit buses or alert officials to snowed-in roads. “In other words, the idea is to take this data and be able to use it to intervene, potentially altering a snow-plow route as needed, or updating messages on digital highway signage.”