Clemson University engineers propose 'connected vehicle' systems

Published: May 16, 2011

Integrated Intelligence Vehicle Platform image by: Christine Prado

GREENVILLE — Joachim Taiber hears the call of the open road. He wants your car to hear it, too.

Taiber, a Clemson University engineering professor, envisions the day when cars and drivers and highways all speak the same language; an interconnected world where wireless devices make driving safer, more efficient and more convenient.

With students from a variety of academic disciplines — automotive, computer and civil engineering, as well as the business school — Taiber and colleagues Richard Brooks, K.C. Wang, Jim Martin and Ronnie Chowdhury have entered the U.S. Department of Transportation's "Connected Vehicle Technology Challenge," a national competition to generate ideas for the next generation of cars and highways.

"The electrical engineering students brought in the network expertise, the computing school students knew how to develop the software platform, the civil engineers analyzed the integration into traffic management and road system infrastructure," said Taiber, a research professor based at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville. "We also involved an MBA student to support the business model development."

The result is a proposal that describes how cars can use dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) technology — wireless channels designed specifically for automotive use — to share information with highway databases, emergency personnel, global positioning satellites and a host of businesses, from fuel sales to food service.

"The technology is already there. What's necessary is the will and the resources to put it all together," Taiber said. "That is what our entry in the Connected Vehicle Challenge proposes."

DSRC technology can be used for things like toll booths, where it allows cars to pay tolls electronically without the driver having to stop, roll down the window and toss coins into a basket or hand bills to an attendant.

The transportation department challenged entrepreneurs, inventors, businesses and schools to submit proposals on how that technology could be used in new and novel ways.

Of the more than six dozen entries, most described specific technical applications. The Clemson team took it one step further. In addition to describing the use of the technology, they sought a way to pay for it.

"Much of this technology has been around a while," Taiber said. "Take anti-collision systems, for example. They merely require the capability of cars to communicate, car-to-car, like airplanes already do. We have that technology ready for deployment now so that if you are about to make an ill-advised left-hand turn, it would prevent a crash.

"We can increase safety in this way. The issue is the cost," he said. "To employ DSRC technology on a wide scale, you need radios and transmitters in the cars, in the highways and in the emergency response agencies. That would cost billions of dollars. What we are suggesting is a proposal for advanced safety features without the need for more taxes to fund it."

That's where mobile commerce comes in. The Clemson proposal makes room for e-commerce to help fund the network. The computer system can gauge a vehicle's energy supply and calculate exactly when and where it will need to be fueled. The DSRC system not only serve up the nearest restaurant drive through, it'll also pay for it like a toll both. The system can stream a movie for the kids wirelessly. Each e-commerce application in the DSRC system provides a potential funding source.

"The system can be used to browse businesses local to your current location or nearby your destination. The system allows for an electronic payment using DSRC, similar to the way current DSRC systems collect electronic tolls from moving vehicles," said Lee Tupper, a Clemson doctoral student in civil engineering. "This is a service the platform can provide to any business with a drive-through that would like to subscribe to it. This is also another opportunity for the DOT (Department of Transportation) to incorporate private businesses and services into the platform as a way to generate alternative funding sources."

Alternative funding sources are especially important to transportation departments as the traditional source of funding — fuel taxes — declines, Taiber said.

"DOTs will tell you their revenue is shrinking as vehicles become more fuel efficient. Roads are primarily funded out of the gasoline tax," he said. "As electric vehicles become more and more commonplace, how do you fund your infrastructure with a gasoline tax?"

Such questions are among the reasons a Congressional Budget Office report in March supported the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven rather than on fuel consumed.

A variety of such proposals have been floated in Washington, but the Clemson students' model is distinctive for tying private commerce opportunities directly to public infrastructure.

"DSRC technology has been known for years, but it hasn't been adopted because of the cost. No one was willing to invest in the infrastructure," Taiber said. "In the DOT challenge, we felt we needed not only to address the technology, but how to implement the technology. What does it help if you have a new feature if the network is never built?"

The Connected Vehicle Technology Challenge concludes May 31. In addition to awards presented by the transportation department judges, the DOT presents a separate award to the winner of a public vote online. The DOT Web site for the challenge is connectedvehicle.challenge.gov.

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