Pa., other states to team up on self-driving-vehicle work
Michigan, Ohio have similar climates, traffic
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan will use their similar climates, commercial truck traffic and ongoing research on selfdriving and connected vehicles to work together.
The states announced Tuesday they have formed the Smart Belt Coalition to share information as technology advances. Initially, the coalition will work on a strategic plan focusing on connected and automated applications in work zones; testing commercial freight opportunities such as platooning (connecting several tractor-trailers with one human driver); and managing incidents to provide better information for emergency responders and other agencies.
The strategic plan could be finished in a few months and followed by memorandums of understanding among the states formalizing the plan. The coalition also could lead to adoption of similar regulations in each state to govern the growth and use of technology in transportation-related issues.
The states have been having discussions about a joint effort for nearly a year, said Erin Waters-Trassat, a spokeswoman for PennDOT. The main goal is to
“bring some uniformity” to how each state approaches the issues, she said.
The coalition will include the transportation departments and related entities in each state and universities involved in transportation research. That means the state Turnpike Commission and Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania; the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, Ohio State University and the Transportation Research Center near Columbus; and the University of Michigan.
In the Pittsburgh area, Uber is testing self-driving vehicles and CMU is a leader in developing smart traffic signals and equipment to allow vehicles to “talk” to each other on the road, in addition to developing its own a self-driving vehicle. Pennsylvania also has developed an Autonomous Vehicle Policy that was proposed in December and is in the process of being finalized.
The Transportation Research Center, which has close ties to Ohio State, is the largest vehicle research center in the country. In addition to being located near the car-manufacturing center of Detroit, the University of Michigan has close ties to the federal Department of Transportation.