Climate Change

How the Government Can Move the Connected Vehicle into Reality
There are many legitimate ways that the government can promote development of the connected vehicle and support whatever
highway or other infrastructure required to make it work. Here are a few suggestions for government offi cials from experts interviewed
for this article:
• Congress should stop focusing solely on promoting fuel economy standards for cars and trucks - the infamous “CAFE standards” – as
the only means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Technologies and practices that help reduce idling aren’t revealed in “miles per gallon” measurements. To be proven valuable to
mitigating greenhouse gases, the government needs to develop a different way to measure the impact of reduced idling.
• Government needs to work with industry to build public awareness about how idling impacts the climate, and then explain how the
traffi c technology and practices that can reduce idling can help mitigate greenhouse gases and assist with global warming.
• The public sector can help the private sector with research funding to integrate connected vehicle technology with the technology that
makes the car operate. This will show how the connected vehicle can improve vehicle operation - including reduced fuel consumption -
while not being overly costly, and will promote auto industry buy in, experts say.
• Government should not waste time and money building roadside infrastructure that could be obsolete as soon as it’s deployed. Instead,
fund collaborative research and development efforts to build a car platform that is so compelling that the auto industry will want to
adopt it.
• And government should encourage the auto industry to come to a consensus on technology standards for the connected vehicle that
will support a service that manages communication from the road and vehicle. Government should pay the states to construct the
appropriate road infrastructure that will support this.
says there must be the creation of a cost-effective wire- will allow drivers to conduct what he calls “eco monitor-
less infrastructure - regardless of technology - that will ing,” or determining the vehicle’s actual fuel efficiency
be deployed both in mobile devices and vehicles. Hoff- - everything from determining where to find “the cheap-
mann doesn’t believe that solutions “exclusive to vehi- est gas in town to alternative routing and connecting to
cles, while technically advantaged, will yield low cost traffic information services via the Web.” And in the
solutions.” future, drivers will be able to compare the fuel efficien-
He also argues that vehicles need a standard interface cies of various car makes, Wallace adds.
to link from the backbone of the car to the Internet back- MTS Technologies, a technical services management
bone, including software, hardware modules, and APIs corporation based in Arlington, Virginia, is working on
(application programming interfaces) to services on providing Web access to vehicles produced by OEMS.
both ends. Rick Wyrembelski, division managing
“This is the area where Intel is focused;
“Drivers will be
director for MTS Technologies’ Troy,
to establish the same kind of ubiquity Michigan group, says the first to test-
that exists in the computer industry
able to compare
drive Web-embedded vehicles will be
while maintaining the critical reliabil-
the fuel effi ciencies
family members of OEM designers. In
ity and safety attributes of the automo- their classified work with the Depart-
tive industry. This also includes the
of various car
ment of Defense (DOD), Wyrembelski
government regulations that are man-
makes”
says MTS is experimenting with DSRC.
dated now and will be in the future.” He also believes the WAVE standard for
short-range communication may hold some promise.
Personal services For the connected vehicle to truly get off the ground,
No matter which channel eventually gets selected, Gary Hoffmann believes there has to be “a collaboration
Wallace says the driver must be able to connect to the between automakers, tier suppliers, software develop-
Web. Wallace, who is vice president of corporate rela- ers, and specifications for interoperability agreed upon.
tions based in the ATX Group’s Dallas headquarters, This effort is mostly a commercial activity, with coopera-
says telematics companies like his that produce tech- tion of community investments to support expansion
nology for the networked car - a necessary component and infrastructure build out.” TH
of the connected vehicle - are developing Web portals Amy Zuckerman is editor of FOOTPRINT - Green
available that will provide drivers a personal Web page. Transportation Developments & Initiatives,
This will allow access to a wide range of information H3B Media’s new online magazine, available from May
from traffic and weather reports, mapping capabilities, 2009. She is also author of 2030: A Day In The Life of
remote diagnostics, along with many other commercial Tomorrow’s Kids, published by Dutton and available
services. from all good bookshops, initially in the USA.
In time, he believes connected vehicle technologies amy@braintrusteditorial.com
20 Vol 4 No 1 Thinking Highways www.thinkinghighways.com
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68