The USDOT Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration (VII) Program is now known as Connected Vehicle and it represents an exciting, new paradigm for surface transportation — one which reflects a new spirit of cooperation among surface transportation stakeholders and a new concept for the integration of vehicles and the surface transportation system. Connected Vehicle presents opportunities to take the next great step forward toward improving the safety, mobility, commercial opportunities, and the environmental impact of surface transportation.
Connected Vehicle and VII
Vehicle Infrastructure Integration is a USDOT Program that is now incorporated under and basically being referred to as Connected Vehicle.
Connected Vehicle is a concept that describes vehicles ‘connected’, perhaps continuously, but always wirelessly, to other vehicles and the outside world to affect a value added application or service. The notion includes any wireless communication protocol that may connect a vehicle to a piece of infrastructure or equipment outside of that vehicle, be it a DSRC OBE to a RSE, or a carry-in device or cellular phone to a cellular tower or GPS satellite.
Alternatively, VII was a more focused concept, whereby the ‘connection’ is between a vehicle and some roadside infrastructure, and occurs at an isolated point in time, a discrete place and often for a distinct purpose to enable a particular application or service to occur – very quickly and securely. These attributes require a specialized protocol, namely 5.9GHz DSRC. This limited in range, specialized, high-performance quality is why DSRC technology is featured prominently in VII and is also the main protocol being tested in USDOT’s Safety Pilot Program.
OmniAir’s Role in the Program
OmniAir and its members are actively participating in the above programs in significant ways:
Key Protocol: 5.9GHz DSRC Device Standards Compliance Certification Program
In June 2006, OmniAir began a 5-year Cooperative Agreement with USDOT to develop a 5.9GHz DSRC focused Device Standards-Compliance Certification Program. A guiding principle at OmniAir is the belief is that a single interpretation of ’standards-compliant’ helps advance interoperability best.
For more, see the OmniAir Certification Committee page.
Connected Vehicle Deployment
A successful nationwide deployment of a Connected Vehicle system needs to recognize and take advantage of the forces that will naturally shape the situation. Combining applications in unconventional ways and investigating an alternative to embedded on-board vehicle technology may lead to eventual full deployment more quickly. This is more of a tactical approach to deployment, which takes into account program realities, and alters the approach while staying supporting of the general strategy.
For more on Tactical Deployment, visit here.
Connected Vehicle Transactions Concept of Operations
This task was originally assigned by USDOT in 2007 and was called the ‘VII Tolling & Payments Concept of Operations. The task was re-scoped in 2009 into the Connected Vehicle Payments ConOps and finally just in 2010, the deliverable is now called the Connected Vehicle Transactions Concept of Operations describes the requirements for a national, secure, and non-repudiable transaction management scheme for the ‘connected’ vehicle as it would exist in a multi-stakeholder ecosystem.