Volvo Technology North America announced Wednesday, June 10, that it has been selected by the New York State Department of Transportation to lead the development and demonstration of an advanced Commercial Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (CVII) program. A contract awarding this program to Volvo Technology is being finalized by the state.
The goal of national Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) — which uses high-speed high-capacity wireless technology — is to enhance highway user safety by allowing “smart” vehicles and highway infrastructure to communicate information to the driver. VII technology can provide a wide range of communications to the driver, including safety warnings of potential hazards and general traveler information. For commercial vehicles, such high-speed wireless communications also can be used to improve vehicle productivity and contribute to improved fuel efficiency and reduced carbon emissions.
The Volvo-led effort for the State of New York, funded by the I-95 Corridor Coalition in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, is the first VII program devoted exclusively to developing and demonstrating the technology for commercial vehicles, according to the company. The program will demonstrate VII applications for commercial vehicles along key transportation corridors in the greater New York City region. Test corridors, utilizing 5.9 GHz dedicated short-range communications, include 13 miles of the New York State Thruway Authority’s I-87 Spring Valley Corridor and 42 miles of NYSDOT’s I-495 Long Island Expressway.
The Volvo-led program will test enhanced vehicle security, demonstrating driver identification and verification using TWIC (Transportation Worker Identification Credential) and biometric readers to restrict vehicle operation to authorized drivers only. The program also will test the ability to gather real-time information about important vehicle safety components such as brake condition.
The CVII team is led by Volvo Technology North America and includes Booz Allen Hamilton, Kapsch TrafficCom, Cambridge Systematics, Southwest Research Institute and Fitzgerald & Halliday. A program advisory team will include representatives from federal, regional and state transportation agencies, as well as industry representatives including the New York State Motor Truck Association.
