Abstract
Transportation policy studies and improved planning are essential for furthering goals of the University Transportation Centers and the US Department of Transportation. This project is intended to build upon long-standing and successful activities in these areas. Three tasks are envisioned.
First, we will produce a policy brief on safety and ownership characteristics of battery electric vehicles (BEV). The safety concerns will build upon the previous year’s research on BEV safety with respect to fires, vehicle weight and stopping distance. The ownership characteristics, focusing on equity issues, will come from the National Household Transportation Survey (NHTS, 2023). The latest NHTS is for 2022 (released in 2023) so is recent enough to have a sample of BEV and includes extensive demographic data such as household income, numbers of vehicles and race. PennDOT and Duquesne Light Company are heavily involved with charger implementations and will serve as deployment partners.
Second, we will initiate analysis of fatality risks for vulnerable road users using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS 2023). Data is released annually with considerable detail on crash characteristics and environment. As an example of risks, a disproportionate number of pedestrian fatalities occur at night and this is a national issue, as recently described in a NY Times article, Why Are So Many American Pedestrians Dying at Night? These risks will then be compared with automated and connected vehicle capabilities to identify potential risk reductions from these new technologies. A recent CMU policy brief produced in part by the project team summarizes these capabilities (Martelero 2022). This task is focused upon developing a professional paper that could form the basis of a policy brief.
Third, project participants will continue to work with Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC) in the planning for Pennsylvania Safety Transportation and Research Track (PennSTART), a safety, training and research facility for autonomous vehicle testing and emergency responders. The results of both tasks 1 and 2 can help inform appropriate test scenarios for Penn Start.
PennSTART capital expenditures will be used for project match. Carnegie Mellon researchers include Chris Hendrickson (Hamerschlag University Professor of Engineering Emeritus), Corey Harper (Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering), Karen Lightman (Interim Director of Safety21 UTC) and Heather Cain (Research Administrator Civil and Environmental Engineering).
References
Fatality Analysis Reporting System, (2023), NHTSA, (https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars).
Nikolas Martelaro, Sarah E. Fox, Jodi Forlizzi, Raj Rajkumar, Chris Hendrickson, Stan Caldwell, (2022), ‘How to Make Sense of Bus Transit Automation,’ Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21 Policy Brief, https://www.cmu.edu/traffic21/research-and-policy-papers/traffic21-policy-brief-22.1---apr-14-002.pdf
National Household Travel Survey (2022), FHWA, (https://nhts.ornl.gov/).
Description
Timeline
Strategic Description / RD&T
This project addresses critical issues identified in the US DOS RD&T Strategic Plan (FY 2022-2026) Building a Better Transportation Future for All on page 16: (1) Vehicle and aircraft safety, automation and connectivity (f) Safety infrastructure countermeasures, and (3) Safety risk analysis methods. The project focuses upon the safety and intelligent systems goals of the Safety 21 University Transportation Center.
Deployment Plan
Quarter 1 – Develop a policy brief on battery electric vehicle safety. Interact with PennSTART on BEV testing.
Quarter 2 – Publish and distribute policy brief on BEV safety. Identify risk factors for vulnerable road users. Interact with Penn Start on testing for vulnerable road users.
Quarter 3 – Develop paper on risk factors for vulnerable road users. Continue to interact with PennSTART on testing programs.
Quarter 4 – Revise professional papers as needed from reviews. Continue to interact with PennSTART on testing programs.
Expected Outcomes/Impacts
This project will have a variety of outcomes and impacts:
1. The literature and policy attention to battery electric vehicle safety is scant. This professional paper and policy brief from this project will be a major increment. As the number of battery electric vehicles grow, safety concerns are likely to become important for prospective owners and for policy makers.
2. Risk factors for vulnerable road users can form the basis for infrastructure changes and training courses for vulnerable road users. Identification of automated and connected vehicle capabilities to reduce these risks can inform policy towards cav.
3. Aiding the implementation of PennSTART could help transform the state of use for automated and connected vehicles as well as emergency personnel training.
Expected Outputs
We anticipate several professional papers (on BEV safety, BEV ownership characteristics, and risk factors for vulnerable roadway users), a policy brief, and presentations at professional conferences such as the Transportation Research Board. PennSTART will begin construction and partial operation during the course of this project.
TRID
A Transport Research International Documentation (TRID) search for research projects was conducted for each of the project tasks.
First, a TRID search using the keywords ‘Battery Electric Vehicle Safety’ was conducted for research projects since 2010. Eight relevant projects were identified. Two are current Safety21 UTC projects from the current team; as stated above, results of this work will be used in the proposed project. One additional Safety21 UTC project addresses safety standards for PennSTART. Other relevant complementary projects include a TCRP proposed project on Battery Electric Bus safety, a NHTS responder and crash investigation project, a LSU UTC project on fault detection, an UMTRI project on test track operation and a U.Maryland UTC project on BEV commuting and air emissions from 2015. A search on BEV ownership characteristics only found one relevant project, the U.Maryland UTC project mentioned above.
Second, a TRID search using the keywords ‘vulnerable road users fatalities’ found seventeen active or completed projects in the area. However, none of these projects focused upon automated and connected vehicle capabilities.
Finally, a TRID search using the keywords ‘automated connected vehicle test track’ found a FHWA ITS project on freight vehicles. PennSTART is already collaborating with this group.
Records of the searches and identified projects are included as supplemental information. We conclude that our proposed project is substantially different from existing research projects.
Individuals Involved
| Email |
Name |
Affiliation |
Role |
Position |
| hcain@andrew.cmu.edu |
Cain, Heather |
CIT-CEE |
Other |
Staff - Business Manager |
| cdharper@andrew.cmu.edu |
Harper, Corey |
Carnegie Mellon University |
Co-PI |
Faculty - Untenured, Tenure Track |
| cth@cmu.edu |
Hendrickson, Chris |
Carnegie Mellon Heinz College |
PI |
Faculty - Tenured |
| kh3m@andrew.cmu.edu |
Lightman, Karen |
Metro21 |
Co-PI |
Other |
Budget
Amount of UTC Funds Awarded
$95000.00
Total Project Budget (from all funding sources)
$200000.00
Documents
Match Sources
No match sources!
Partners
| Name |
Type |
| RIDC |
Deployment & Equity Partner Deployment & Equity Partner |
| PADOT |
Deployment Partner Deployment Partner |
| Duquesne Light C |
Deployment Partner Deployment Partner |
