USA TODAY US Edition

READY OR NOT, STATES GEAR UP FOR SELF-DRIVING REVOLUTION

Bright paint lines on roads, other upgrades prove to be critical as the new wave begins

- Marco della Cava @marcodella­cava Contributi­ng: Chris Woodyard and Nathan Bomey, USA TODAY; Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press; Emma Ea Ambrose, (Lafayette, Ind.) Journal & Courier; Ryan Randazzo, The Arizona Republic; Jason Hidalgo, Reno GazetteJou­rnal; L

Self-driving vehicles are synonymous with sophistica­ted sensors producing terabytes of data being analyzed by powerful computers. But it seems the success of this transporta­tion revolution hinges on a decidedly low-tech material: paint.

That’s because when it comes to getting the nation’s infrastruc­ture ready for autonomous traffic, the most critical upgrade amounts to making sure the lines on our 4 million miles of roads are solid, bright and preferably white so they can be picked up by computer vision gear.

“The (self-driving car companies) actually said make sure you have really good paint lines,” says Kirk Steudle, director of Michigan’s Department of Transporta­tion. “So, where there are lines, we have to make sure they’re really good.”

If only things were that simple. A USA TODAY Network survey of nearly a dozen states hoping to lead the way in self-driving cars and trucks reveals varying degrees of readiness as officials balance anticipati­ng a huge shift in mobility with a reluctance to spend limited infrastruc­ture funds on the wrong improvemen­ts.

That one-foot-in, one-foot-out stance is echoed in guidelines recently published by the Governors Highway Safety Associatio­n.

In doling out advice for state officials on the coming age of selfdrivin­g cars, the recommenda­tions balance action (“Be a player in your state”) with caution (“Be flexible, this is a new game”).

While some states such as California, Michigan, Arizona and Ohio are eagerly welcoming selfdrivin­g vehicle tests and beginning to make upgrades to roads to accommodat­e robot-driven vehicles, others are taking a more measured approach given the nascent state of the industry.

“I want to see the manufactur­ers succeed, because my ultimate goal is to ensure public safety on the road,” says Mark Kopko, manager of advanced vehicle technology for Pennsylvan­ia’s DOT.

TWIN POTHOLES AHEAD

Two factors make it difficult for states, however eager, to dive headlong into concrete infrastruc­ture improvemen­ts, whether that’s painting lane stripes or embedding sensors in roads and traffic signals.

The first is a lack of national vision for autonomous vehicles. During his fall campaign, Presi- dent Trump promised to spend upwards of $1 trillion on infrastruc­ture needs. But so far there is no road map for securing such funds or determinin­g how they’ll be deployed or whether self-driving-car-related work will be included.

The Obama administra­tion set out proposed guidelines for how companies can effectivel­y selfregula­te. Transporta­tion Secretary Elaine Chao said this month in Detroit that the Trump administra­tion is “reviewing and updating this policy to incorporat­e feedback and improvemen­ts recommende­d by numerous stakeholde­rs.”

In addition, a group of senators on June 13 released a framework for federal legislatio­n they hope to introduce in Congress in the coming weeks that would overhaul federal motor vehicle regulation­s.

The second factor causing some states to pump the brakes is the sense that tech companies such as Uber and Google’s Waymo, and automakers such as Ford Motor, General Motors and others, are developing self-driving cars that will have sensors and mapping systems that won’t rely on roadway upgrades.

“We are working very closely with a lot of cities, states and the federal government, but we need to make sure the technology is able to work in the current environmen­t,” GM President Dan Ammann said in February. “So we’re not depending on an improvemen­t in infrastruc­ture.”

Ken Washington, Ford’s vice president of research and advanced engineerin­g, says smart roadways would make self-driving cars even more capable, but “you can’t count on that being there, which is why our technical approach is to build the capability completely on the vehicle.”

AS CHALLENGIN­G AS THE LEAP FROM HORSES TO CARS

That strategy leaves many statelevel officials in a bit of a quandary.

“I think this is as challengin­g a position as it was when we went from horses to cars,” Tennessee DOT Commission­er John Schroer says. “I don’t want to be known as the commission­er that built roads that 10 years later were obsolete.”

Neverthele­ss, in an effort not to miss out on this huge transporta­tion shift and its financial and quality-oflife benefits, Tennessee is echoing a few other states in installing fiber-optic lines in roads that can send electronic warnings to cars about hazards ahead and other informatio­n considered important to making selfdrivin­g cars aware of their surroundin­gs.

These vehicle-to-infrastruc­ture systems and systems that allow cars to alert each other of their relative position to avoid collisions are an effort to double and triple the redundancy of the technologi­cal systems that make it possible for a computer to drive humans through the real world.

Cadillac is first out of the gate with a model packed with vehi- cle-to-vehicle sensors, the 2017 CTS sedan.

In Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, officials are busy weighing investment­s in fiber-optic lines, smart traffic signals and other sensors. Manufactur­ers “are going to be building these vehicles and putting them on the roads, whether we’re ready for them or not,” says Joe McGuinness, commission­er of Indiana’s DOT.

Ohio is already digging deep. Fiber-optic cables snake alongside 241 miles of the state’s tolled Ohio Turnpike, while 4-foot-tall short-range sensors are being erected on 60 miles of freeway around Cleveland and Akron. Soon, 40 turnpike maintenanc­e vehicles will be outfitted with sensors.

Two states that have been very accommodat­ing to self-driving car companies are Arizona and Nevada, the former currently hosting both Uber and Waymo’s fleets.

Trucking is seen as a prime candidate for self-driving tech. Long-haul routes are typically done at a fixed speed, which is particular­ly easy for self-driving software to handle. Many states are experiment­ing with “platooning,” which involves using tech to allow a small convoy of autonomous trucks to travel in close formation, which cuts back on fuel use.

What’s more, experts say that if every vehicle on the road had sophistica­ted autonomous vehicle technology on board, highway officials could make lanes narrower and pack more cars on the road without expensive lane-expansion projects. Platooning all vehicles would also maximize existing highway real estate.

Good weather also makes life easier for self-driving cars, so it’s little surprise companies are testing in parts of the country where the sun shines often.

The city of Phoenix is not only running a new autonomous vehicle ride-hailing passenger program with hundreds of Waymo’s self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans, but it is also testing connected-vehicle tech at a location north of town where emergency vehicles approachin­g an intersecti­on at the same time will be notified by in-car tech which has the right of way.

At the University of Nevada at Reno, researcher­s are working on LiDAR sensors (which detect images and help AVs “see”) that would be able to scan metrics from passing unconnecte­d vehicles in order to enhance safety at intersecti­ons, which are where a large percentage of accidents take place.

The state’s DOT also is launching a statewide initiative called the One Nevada Transporta­tion Plan, which will assess the state’s infrastruc­ture needs on a variety of fronts.

One Nevada’s mission is to “envision what Nevada transporta­tion will look like over the next 20 years,” NDOT spokespers­on Meg Ragonese says. “We know some of those needs will relate to emerging technology such as autonomous and connected vehicles.”

MILES OF GRAVEL ROADS

Even in states committed to making infrastruc­ture investment­s, the road ahead could be long. Consider Michigan, home of the automakers, where business leaders and lawmakers are very aggressive about ensuring the state once again becomes known as the birthplace of a transporta­tion renaissanc­e.

But for all the state’s progress on this front — welcoming state policies, innovative engineerin­g, self-driving-car-dedicated test tracks — some hurdles loom large. For starters, only half of Michigan’s 122,000 miles of roads are paved. The rest are gravel. While Michigan’s summers are glorious, its winter road conditions are treacherou­s and last for months.

It is in this very real world, a world built around roadway infrastruc­ture that often harks back to the dawn of the highway system itself, that autonomous vehicles will have to prove their worth before being embraced by a nation that, for better and for worse, is used to driving itself.

The only way for the nation’s infrastruc­ture to effectivel­y cope with self-driving cars is continued and frequent dialogue among the key constituen­ts: cities, states, federal officials and the manufactur­ers, says Michael Replogle, New York City’s DOT deputy commission­er for policy.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced that Audi is the first company to be granted the right to test self-driving cars in his state.

“With this action, we are taking a careful yet balanced approach to incorporat­ing autonomous vehicles on our roads to reduce dangerous driving habits, decrease the number of accidents and save lives on New York roadways,” Cuomo said in a statement.

That’s a good move, Replogle says: “The only way of effectivel­y addressing these (planning) challenges is to make sure we have a seat at the table in defining the rules for automated vehicles.”

“I don’t want to be known as the commission­er that built roads that 10 years later were obsolete.” Tennessee’s John Schroer

 ?? JOSE JUAREZ, AP ?? GM employees Kayla Green, left, and Crystal Caddell show off a self-driving Chevrolet Bolt EV in Lake Orion, Mich.
JOSE JUAREZ, AP GM employees Kayla Green, left, and Crystal Caddell show off a self-driving Chevrolet Bolt EV in Lake Orion, Mich.
 ?? AP ?? Google self-driving cars await their next journey outside the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. Roads will need to be improved for such vehicles to be used nationwide.
AP Google self-driving cars await their next journey outside the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. Roads will need to be improved for such vehicles to be used nationwide.

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