NSF CPS Research on Control of Vehicular Traffic Flow via Low Density Autonomous Vehicles Exhibited at the 2018 Washington, D.C. Auto Show
View WJLA News Channel 7 Interview with Dan Work (VU ISIS):
http://wjla.com/news/local/study-shows-more-americans-comfortable-with-self-driving-cars
January 24, 2018
View a video overview on the 2018 DC Auto Show's Moblitiy Talks: https://vimeo.com/257898243
View the NSF video on the research project: https://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.jsp?med_id=133554
The NSF-funded Cyber-Physical Systems research project on Control of Vehicular Traffic Flow via Low Density Autonomous Vehicles, was exhibited at the 2018 Washington, DC Auto Show’s Public Policy/Media Days from January 24-25, 2018 at the Washington, DC Convention Center. VU ISIS’s Dan Work and collaborating investigators Benedetto Piccoli (Rutgers), and Benjamin Seibold (Temple) were on hand to demonstrate the simulation. (Roman Lysecky-Arizona was not able to attend.) The Public Policy/Media Days were inaugurated as part of the 2017 Washington Auto Show, The Auto Show opened to the public on January 26 and will go through February 4, 2018.
Additional VU/ISIS staff supporting the exhibit were Raphael Stern and William Barbour, VU graduate students who are assisting the research project; and Frankie King and Emily Wehby who supported the coordination of the exhibit. NSF was represented by Lisa-Joy Zigorski (NSF External Affairs) who was also onsite to support this exhibit.
This was the second NSF CPS research project exhibited at the Washington Auto Show’s Public Policy/Media Days, but the first that focused on the public good associated with the introduction of autonomous vehicles into traffic streams. Visitors received an in-depth simulation experience to get a sense of how the science works before it is deployed into a technology. The first NSF supported project featured was CMU’s Autonomous Transportation Center project, led by Dr. Raj Rajkumar’s (CMU). It was, in fact, the only AV onsite that year, 2017. Members of the media and Congressional staff were given rides on Capitol Hill during rush hour.was demonstrated.
This year, numerous visitors stopped by the exhibit to be briefed about the research as well as to view the experiments through a virtual reality experience. Several took the handouts and some requested more information about the project to share broadly with members of their organizations. The local Channel 7 station WJLA (ABC network) interviewed Dr. Work about the research. Please see the following link to the video clip of this interview: http://wjla.com/news/local/study-shows-more-americans-comfortable-with-self-driving-cars.
Among several Mobility Talks that took place over January 23 and 25, two U.S. Senate field hearings were convened at the Convention Center that were very relevant to CPS transportation, energy, and manufacturing research. On January 25, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a Full Committee field hearing, which was chaired by Chairman John Thune on "Driving Automotive Innovation and Federal Policies". Witnesses were Randy Avent, President of Florida Polytechnic University; Tim Kentley-Klay, CEO and Founder, Zoox, Inc.; Brian Krzanich, CEO of the Intel Corporation; Mike Mansuetti, President of Robert Bosch North America, Robert Bosch LLC; and Luke Schneider, President of Audi Mobility U.S.
On January 25, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a Full Committee Field Hearing chaired by Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) on "The Road to Tomorrow: Energy Innovation in Automotive Technologies". Witnesses included Mohammad Khaleel, associate laboratory director in the Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Carla Bailo, president and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research; Mihai Dorobantu, director of technology planning and government affairs at the Eaton Vehicle Group; Britta Gross, director of advanced vehicle commercialization for General Motors; Robert Wimmer, director of energy and environmental research at Toyota.
Hopefully in future years, more CPS research projects can be exhibited, and CPS experts can participate as speakers in the Mobility Talk sessions.