Implement Additional Sensors for Accurate Pedestrian Detection to Improve Effectiveness of Personal Safety Message Alerts at Midblock Crossings.
Ohio’s Pilot Deployment of Connected Vehicle (CV) Technology Produced Lessons Learned on User Training, Sensor and Power Supply, Standardization, and Future CV System Upgrades.
Dublin
Marysville
U.S. 33 Smart Mobility Corridor Program Final Report
Summary Information
Connected Vehicle (CV) technology offers a wide variety of vehicle applications, roadside infrastructure, on-board units (OBU), and associated systems utilizing Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications. This study reported the safety and mobility impacts of the CV technology deployment project throughout a 33-mile-long test corridor along US 33 in Ohio. The CV deployment involved installing 100 roadside units and 200 OBU in a mixed fleet of vehicles, and incorporating five CV safety applications, namely the Lane Closure Warning (LNCLW), Reduced Speed Zone Warning (RSZW), Curve Speed Warning (CSW), Pedestrian Conflict Warning (PCW), and Red-Light Violation Warning (RLVW) applications. The project was funded by the U.S.DOT, as well as the state and local governments in 2016. The project deployment spanned a period from January 2018 to May 2023. This study also conducted an online user survey to drivers of equipped public fleet vehicles in July 2023 among the users in the City of Marysville, the City of Dublin, and Union County, in Ohio. The survey had 75 responses.
- Implement additional sensors for accurate pedestrian detection to improve effectiveness of personal safety message alerts at midblock crossings. This study noted that without active sensors or analytic systems to provide proper detection of vulnerable road users, the roadside integrator would assume a location in the middle of each lane of the crosswalk each time the pedestrian crossing beacon was pressed.
- Recognize the crucial role of user training and equipment comprehension for a successful technology deployment. User survey results obtained in this study indicated that the project’s overall effectiveness was limited by lack of user training on the onboard alert system.
- Have contingency plans to cover any unforeseen ongoing costs related to the technology deployment. This study pointed out that data management costs, including storage and maintenance, roadside unit management software subscription fees for keeping the systems up to date, and the necessary on-going subscription costs for the Security Credential Management System (SCMS) for maintaining secure communication, all contributed to the project's overall expenses.
- Make sure necessary power infrastructure is in place to support continuous roadside unit coverage. In this study, for example, the spacing of the power poles posed challenges in meeting the desired power requirements due to limited power sources and voltage drop between sites, making it difficult to supply the standard 120/240 volts needed for the roadside units.
- Seek consistency and standardization with the CV technology application functionality across industry and infrastructure owners and operators. Recognizing the importance of this lesson, this study led national activities to try to develop standard operating specifications for applications, starting with the five applications deployed in this project.
- Have a proper network architecture to sufficiently provide the platform to conduct cloud updates for OBU firmware or certificate top offs for the SCMS system. This study noted that this would be somewhat complicated and costly to do due to the presence of multiple networks.
- Keep up with required CV system upgrades. This study suggested installing a percentage of devices with the latest technology each year, while retaining older technology until it was deemed to be obsolete or replaced by newer more functional devices.
