Thursday, 23 August 2018
Austroads has published a report that sets out the strategic context for the supply of road operator data for use by Connected and Automated Vehicles in Australia.
While Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) will rely heavily on data from their sensors for vehicle controls, this will be complemented by external data sources.
Road operator data that may be of use to CAVs includes data from traffic signals and Managed Motorways systems, data on roadworks, incidents and special events, and data on traffic restrictions such as speed limits.
The research found that for the foreseeable future, where the driving actions of a CAV operating in automated mode have an immediate safety impact (including speed limits, traffic signals, closed lanes), the CAV will need to accurately respond to the same stimuli as human drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. Even if road signs, lines and traffic signals are complemented by methods to assist interpretation by CAVs, the signs, lines and signals would remain the authoritative regulatory devices.
Road operator data identified as high priority for CAVs include:
- live feeds from traffic management systems for variable speed limits and lane closures
- live feeds of traffic signal phase and timing data (such as SPaT messaging)
- data for emergency road closures (fire, flood, etc) and temporary conditions associated with works, events and incidents
- advance notification of new and changed roads (that may not have been mapped)
- coordinate with actions already occurring on speed limit data and extend to cover other traffic restrictions (vehicle size and mass).
The report suggests that data availability and quality may need to be improved to achieve the desired benefits from the deployment of CAVs.
The report recommends the use of Open Data methods to supply of data for CAVs but recognises further consideration around data for private roads may be needed.
This report contributes to Action 8 of the National Land Transport Technology Policy Framework released in 2016 which seeks to improve the availability of open data in the transport sector.
Report Link: Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV) Open Data Recommendations