ATSSA Signal Nov/Dec 2018

American Traffic Safety Services Association 28 Innovation & New Programs As the leader in the roadway safety industry, ATSSA recently co-moderated a session titled, “Infrastructure Readi- ness, Reading the Road Ahead,” during the 2018 Automated Vehicle Symposium (AVS), which was held in San Francisco, California, in early July. The session ad- dressed the ways in which U.S. infra- structure will best accommodate Con- nected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs). The session was broken into two differ- ent topic areas, the first being how road- way infrastructure is read by CAV sys- tems, and the second relating to possible failure modes that existing machine vi- sion systems encountered. During the session, Transpo Group’s Di- rector of Safety and Mobility Solutions and ATSSA member Scott Kuznicki stressed the importance of consistent use and the standardization of traffic control devices (TCDs). According to Kuznicki, variations of TCDs from state to state would lead to inconsistent sup- port of CAVs and the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), and that road classification systems are needed to ensure CAVs are driving on roads that can accommodate them. The secondary component of the pre- sentation discussed possible failure modes that machine vision systems en- counter. The failures of these machine vision systems have multiple causes, in- cluding inconsistencies in roadway in- frastructure or blockages of the Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor, which prohibits the sensor from scan- ning the roadway. ADAS rely heavily on these LIDAR sys- tems, radar, and computer camera vi- sion sensors to read roadway infrastruc- ture and traffic control devices that surround CAVs and guide the vehicles on roadways. Leo McCloskey of Echo- dyne noted that TCDs could potentially ATSSA leads conversation at AVS 2018 Ken Smith, a corporate scientist with 3M, spoke during ATSSA’s session on the readiness of roadway infrastruc- ture in preparation for future development and implementation of CAV technology. ATSSA’s Director of New Programs Brian Watson hosted a session at the Automated Vehicles Symposium titled, “Reading the Road Ahead: Traffic Control Devices and Machine Vision Interactions.” U.S. DOT Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao addresses attendees at AVS 2018.