Download or read book Arizona Intelligent Vehicle Research Program written by Stephen R. Owen and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report documents Phase Two, the third full year of a continuing research program by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to study vehicle and infrastructure-based Intelligent Transportation Systems technologies. Phase Two of Arizona's Intelligent Vehicle Research Program focused on the critical 2000-2001 winter season. Phase One of the research project was basically a partnership with California to test the Caltrans-PATH advanced snowplow in Arizona. One defining element of Phase Two was the search for a satisfactory new system that could be acquired by ADOT and installed on one of the State's snowplows for long-term testing. The final result of the search, in early 2001, was that the Arizona Transportation Research Center (ATRC) and the Flagstaff District concluded an agreement to purchase one of the 3M Company's Lane Awareness Systems, as well as five miles of 3M tape to guide the vehicle. The second major new factor in Phase Two of this research was the need for formal, unbiased reporting and analysis of the training and evaluation results for the 3M and Caltrans driver-assistance concepts. The ATRC therefore contracted with Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff to monitor the training and testing, to survey stakeholders, to provide evaluation results, and to make recommendations for the future. The ADOT research also was independently supported by the 3M Company, through their own evaluation program contract with the University of Iowa. Despite their prior lack of mountain road snowplow expertise, U-Iowa's driver surveys were of great benefit to ADOT, the ATRC and the NAU evaluation effort. This project faced a number of unexpected setbacks in the Phase Two winter of 2000-2001. Nevertheless, tests and training proceeded at Flagstaff with both systems. The project team developed creative solutions to many obstacles, and pushed ahead. As a result, a great deal was learned from Phase Two, as Arizona developed the first test program in the West with dedicated real-world high-altitude test sites for both the Caltrans and the 3M systems, only 30 miles apart.