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February 22, 2021
The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s regular digest of transportation technologies and emerging travel trends from Northern Virginia and across the globe
In addition to our regular digest of emerging trends and innovative technologies in transportation, we bring you highlights from the second Transportation Technology Committee Meeting of the year.
Before we dive in to this edition of Driven by InNoVation, we're excited to announce the 6th Annual Northern Virginia Transportation Roundtable, hosted by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) and the Intelligent Transportation Society of Virginia (ITS-VA), will be held virtually for the first time, on Wednesday March 10, 2021, from 8 a.m. to noon. The event is "sold out" once again this year!
But don't worry...we have you covered! Due to the level of interest in the Roundtable, we have decided to live-stream the event on NVTA’s YouTube Channel. In addition to the expert panel discussions on “Smart Future” and “Resilient Future”, there will be interactive polling opportunities in which you can still participate while watching the live-stream.
We hope you can join us!
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COVID-19 Impacts on Transportation
The pandemic has significantly impacted almost every industry, including transit, with ridership falling by 62% on average, across the United States in 2020. One of the most popular attempts to mitigate riders’ concerns and bolster safety has been integration of contactless payment options. According to reports, at least 12 of the 37 grants distributed last month by the Federal Transit Administration will be dedicated to contactless payment systems. |
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Transportation Technology Committee Continues Transportation Technology Strategic Plan Discussions
The NVTA Executive Director's Transportation Technology Committee (TTC) convened virtually once again on February 10 th, due to COVID-19 precautions.
Keith Jasper, the NVTA Planning and Programming Principal, introduced the final component of the Transportation Technology Strategic Plan (TTSP), an Action Plan that will detail tangible steps that can be taken to achieve the goals of the TTSP, through actions that are traceable to at least on strategy and have definable measures of success. Trigger points will also be identified for each action, some of which are internal (i.e. adoption of a new iteration of TransAction, Northern Virginia's long-range transportation plan), while others may be external (i.e. federal/state legislation or market penetration thresholds).
Mackenzie (Jarvis) Love, NVTA Regional Transportation Planner, provided an overview of the structure proposed for the draft of the Action Plan, which includes a series of Strategy-Specific Summaries and a Consolidated Actions Table. The final section of the Action Plan will explore next steps, including an Update Cycle and Process that call for the TTSP to be reviewed for a possible annual update. However, some occurrences may trigger an update cycle, such as adoption TransAction, adoption or enactment of Federal/Commonwealth laws, or relevant actions of NVTA member jurisdictions.
Draft TTSP core materials (which were shared with the TTC in January, 2021) are currently being presented to additional NVTA Committees for their initial review in their February meeting cycle.
- Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) – Met on Wednesday, February 17th
- Planning Coordination and Advisory Committee (PCAC) – Meets 6:30pm on Wednesday, February 24th
- Planning and Programming Committee (PPC) – Meets 5:00pm on Monday, March 1st
The proposed structure and content for the Action Plan were well received by the Committee, with Jana Lynott, Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, AARP, expressing support for the structure and a desire to provide additional feedback. Cathy McGhee, Director of Innovation and Research, Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), complimented the content of TTSP related materials thus far, saying they intersect nicely with several concurrent VDOT efforts.
David Snyder, Chairman, TTC, Vice Chair of the Authority, and Council Member, City of Falls Church, noted that this work is also taking place in the context of changes at the federal level that will affect every agency. He went on to say that affordability, accessibility and equity will continue to be fundamental in adapting to these changes, and while that will be a challenging undertaking, NVTA is up to it.
Monica Backmon, NVTA Executive Director, reminded the TTC that the TTSP is related to other NVTA initiatives, including TransAction, which will provide additional opportunities for feedback.
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View the full meeting: The Transportation Technology Committee, chaired by Authority Vice Chair David Snyder, Council Member City of Falls Church, and co-chaired by Authority member Jeanette Rishell, Mayor, City of Manassas Park, met virtually on February 10, 2021.
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Innovative Transportation Technologies
Source: Brookfield Properties
Autonomous shuttle linking part of Capital Riverfront with Barracks Row, Capitol Hill. A Boston-based autonomous shuttle service has come to Washington, D.C. and is now offering service connecting part of the District's Capital Riverfront to Barracks Row and Capitol Hill. Brookfield Properties, developer of The Yards, is offering the service at no charge for both residents and visitors to The Yards. What makes the autonomous shuttle unique, is users can use an Opti-Ride app that can schedule rides in advance. The Yards is the first location at which the reservations app is being offered.
Source: Waymo
Self-driving car firms reveal 2020 testing data: Cruise and Waymo improve, Apple stalls. California is home to a significant concentration of Autonomous Vehicle testing and any permitted operator must report regularly to the state on the status of their programs. In 2020 two such entities, Waymo and Cruise, reported more miles driven and fewer disengagements (instances in which a human driver has to take over control for some reason). The same cannot be said for Apple, which drove fewer miles and had more frequent disengagements than in 2019.
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Photo by Carl Nenzen Loven on Unsplash
A real-time signal from bicycles can reduce the number of serious accidents with cars. Bosh, Shimano and TNO recently conducted a simulation study in which they found that real-time communications between bicycles and cars can reduce crashes that result in injury or death of a person on a bike. One such promising technology is “ Autonomous Emergency Braking” (AEB). TNO is also working on an “intelligent bike” that would integrate technology to support this type communication by collecting data from an array of sensors.
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Upcoming Meetings and Events
Stay on top of the latest in transportation by signing up for our e-newsletters. NVTA Update will keep you in the loop on all the happenings at the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and the Driven by InNoVation e-newsletter will take a look at the latest transportation technology trends across the globe.
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