Smarter Workzones |
the first project of its type in the
United States. The US Department of
Transportation handed out eight
automated driving system
demonstration grants in total but the
workzone grant was the largest and it
is with good reason that PennDOT’s
grant application was successful.
Over the last decade, workzone
crashes have notably increased in
Pennsylvania, reaching 2,075 in
2016. At the same time, the state’s
prestigious academic institutions
are deeply entrenched in the
development and testing of
automated vehicles (AVs) with
Carnegie Mellon having been
researching the technology for
the past 30 years.
Keeping an eye on their progress,
PennDOT has noted how poor AVs
perform in workzones, with
human intervention regularly
required, which has led
many to avoid
investigating
them altogether.
With this new project,
PennDOT is keen to
change this sorry state
of affairs. “It is a four
year grant and we will
be working with partners
looking at a variety of
methods to see if there is a
way we can have an automated
Robot roll-out
Chinese developers are hoping to reduce the risk to humans doing surveys
in workzones to zero, by removing them from the picture completely
An autonomous vehicle
in development in China
is being billed as the
first of its kind in the world.
The Guimu Robot is designed
to inspect the quality of road
surfaces. It is capable of
detecting cracks, pot-holes,
cables, moisture, loose material
and sedimentation, and can
create 3D models of pavement.
The machine also features
intelligent obstacle avoidance
with both soft and hard
emergency stop functionality.
Relying on sophisticated
data processing and computeraided
analysis, the robot
automatically generates
accurate reports of the
condition of the asphalt and
kerb. The robot will be remotely
monitored from a control room
and results will be possible to
view in real time.
By completely automating
the task of road inspection,
Vision Zero, at least in this
small niche, looks like it could
be achieved soon.
vehicle safely operate in a workzone
that it has never encountered before –
so no pre-mapping”, explains
PennDOT director of transformational
technology, Mark Kopko. “Obviously,
as more AVs are deployed in the
future such a scenario will be
a regular occurrence so that’s
what we’re working towards.”
Three ways to assess
In order to maximise the
chances of success, the
team have broken down
the project into three initial
areas to focus research.
The first is connectivity,
the intention here is to be
technologically agnostic so
both DSRC and Cellular-V2X
communication will be tested
during the project.
AVs so often rely on high
definition mapping but with
workzones often being temporal
and transient, ensuring maps of
the areas are accurate will form
a second area of research.
A third area will address
limitations that sensors have on
detecting some workzone related
objects due to the type of material
or even paint colour. To this end, the
project will assess the feasibility of
developing coatings that will allow
workers, equipment or vehicles to
stand out more.
Kopko says, “While our ultimate
goal is to make sure AVs can safely
operate in a workzone, we don’t have
specific goals for each of these areas
because we don’t know which one’s
going to be the solution and that’s
the way we’ve designed it to be.
Above: The new
Guimu robot bears
a resemblance to
Traffic’s prediction of
the future in 2016
1,844 The number of US road
workers who lost their lives
doing their jobs between
2003 and 2017
022 Traffic Technology International March/April 2020
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