Rebels With a Cause: Talkin' 'Bout a Road Revolution

This article describes the efforts being made by California Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) as sponsored by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in addition to their partners in the private and academic sectors. One such academic associate is the California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH), which is located at the University of California, Berkeley. The VII California testbed that has been developed spans 60 miles of roadway, which includes freeways and arterials, uses a network of dedicated short range communication (DSRC) roadside terminals in conjunction with on-board equipment for light-duty and transit vehicles. A number of public sector uses for VII California have been identified by MTC and Caltrans, including providing transit information to travelers, metering and traffic control for freeway ramps, tolling, intersection safety including signal violation or dilemma zone warnings, and curve overspeed warnings. The article closes with a discussion of using the testbed for proof of concept testing.