Global Typical Projects of Connected Autonomous Driving-EEWORLD

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(12) Truck platooning

FHWA, in partnership with the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office (JPO) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), is managing the Truck Platooning Early Deployment Evaluation Program to understand how truck platooning will operate in real-world environments. The program will evaluate various aspects of in-service truck fleets as fleet operators deliver commercial freight over their common delivery routes over a long period of time. Previous research has led to the development of truck platooning technology with only limited testing and demonstrations in real-world environments. URL: https://highways.dot.gov/automation

(13) Ecological approach and starting point

FHWA is working with the automotive industry to evaluate concepts to improve traffic flow at intersections. Initial testing shows that cooperative automated driving on signalized arterials can reduce and smooth traffic at intersections while reducing fuel consumption and emissions. URL: https://highways.dot.gov/automation

(III) Typical CAV projects in Asia Pacific

Japan

(1) Next-generation ITS communications research group for cooperative autonomous driving

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) of Japan established a study group on next-generation ITS communications for cooperative automated driving to consider methods for such communications and released a mid-term report in 2023. The key issues studied were use cases for next-generation ITS communications, interworking measures between V2X and V2N communications, a draft allocation policy for 5.9 GHz band V2X communications, and a deployment roadmap. The mid-term report states that allocation of up to 30 MHz of bandwidth for V2X communications in the 5895-5925MHz band should be considered first, and V2X communication equipment in the 5.9 GHz band should be introduced around 2030, and cooperative automated driving such as mediation and negotiated fork-in assist should be deployed around 2040. Use cases to be demonstrated and verified as well as environmental improvements should be specified in the roadmap. URL: https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/joho_tsusin/eng/pressrelease/2023/8/7_2.html

(2) Japan SIP-adus project

The Japanese government has implemented the SIP-adus (SIP's Automated Driving for Universal Services) program, which aims to solve issues of concern to today's society by achieving autonomous driving, including reducing traffic accidents, alleviating traffic congestion, and providing transportation for people with limited mobility (such as the elderly living in remote areas). The program began in fiscal 2014, entered its second phase in fiscal 2018, and will last until fiscal 2022. In the second phase, the scope is expanded to include autonomous driving on ordinary public roads and applications in logistics and transportation services, as shown in Figure 1. Website: https://en.sip-adus.go.jp/

Figure 1 Overview of the second phase of SIP-adus The program envisions the commercialization and service of fully autonomous driving by 2025.

To this end, it aims to establish collaborative field technologies essential for implementation by 2023 and create multiple commercialization example cases through field operation tests (FOT) involving various businesses and local governments. In October 2019, FOT started with extensive participation in the Tokyo Seaside City area (ordinary roads and Metropolitan Expressway/Haneda area). The program was tested to provide vehicles with signal display and change timing information even in environments where it is difficult to identify using on-board cameras; assist vehicles in entering the main lane of highways; and operate a public transportation system (self-driving buses) using autonomous driving technology in mixed traffic flows.

Under the SIP-adus program, a study on cooperative automated driving and advanced safety driver assistance was conducted. First, in the study, as many use cases as possible were collected from projects in Europe, the United States, and Asia, including those studied by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc. (JAMA). The collected use cases differed in terms of the expected time frame for release. The study decided to focus on those use cases with specific assumptions rather than to protect all use cases. First, the study assumed that all traffic participants would comply with laws and regulations in principle. Second, this study excluded the range of functional elements that can be realized by automated driving systems.

Finally, three features were considered as characteristics of cooperative autonomous vehicles: vehicles 1) obtain information outside the detection range of on-board sensors, 2) provide information of their own vehicles, and 3) interact with other vehicles or infrastructure through V2V and V2I connections. Therefore, eight (8) functional elements of the use case were selected for consideration. In September 2020, the results of this study were recorded as the first output. Based on the results of the study, this study entered the next stage, with the topic of radio communication technology requirements and new radio communication protocols . URL: https://en.sip-adus.go.jp/rd/rddata/usecase.pdf

South Korea

MOLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) has a long-term plan to deploy C-ITS applications in Korea. In 2014, a pilot test site for C-ITS applications was selected in Sejong City, and pilot tests were conducted to verify C-ITS applications. In 2018, C-ITS systems were deployed in Jeju Island and Seoul Metropolitan Area. The C-ITS digital infrastructure is designed to support unexpected road conditions, traffic signal information, and position error compensation data for accurate positioning. Autonomous driving platooning and urban driving use cases were tested to verify the usefulness of the C-ITS digital infrastructure. The urban driving use case focused on intersection safety.

MOTIE (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) has conducted a pilot test of FCEV ( Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle) autonomous buses on the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) route in Sejong City at the end of 2021. The C-ITS digital infrastructure supports hybrid radio communications using IEEE 802.11 WAVE and LTE compliant with the SAE J2735 standard. MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT) has launched the Giga KOREA project since 2014 to implement 5G radio communication technology and applications. With the demonstration of 5G services at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, 5G services were commercialized in 2019. Field trials applying CAV use cases were conducted in Seoul and Daegu. CAV use cases were tested by taking advantage of the key technical characteristics of 5G radio communications: high data rates, low latency, and high reliability. Use cases for 5G radio communications include autonomous shuttles, remote control, and entertainment. Platooning is tested on highways based on C-ITS digital infrastructure and V2X radio communication technologies such as IEEE 802.11p and LTE to form or change vehicle formations, share control and position error compensation information of the leading vehicle. A typical use case in urban driving is intersection safety warning. This use case uses traffic signal information, which is converted into LDM (local dynamic map) and transmitted to the autonomous vehicle.

This use case also requires V2X radio communications with low latency and high reliability. Service functions of FCEV autonomous buses include boarding and alighting at stops, identifying signalized intersections and pedestrian crossings, and sharing BRT routes with manual driving. The autonomous shuttle bus tested the route by using 5G NR radio communication technology. This use case requires high-precision positioning, traffic signal timing and status, and blind spot information. 5G radio communication can support the required information and enable autonomous driving. Remote control can monitor vehicle and road status and remotely control vehicle driving by sending onboard sensor data to the server. The remote control can be used for vehicle emergency rescue operations. Entertainment use cases are UHD (ultra-high definition) displays and passenger augmented reality . These use cases are able to use the gigabit bit rate performance of 5G radio communication technology . Table 1 shows the use of CAVs in South Korea.

Table 1 CAV situation in South Korea

(1) Field experiments were conducted on mobile edge computing based on 5G communication. From the perspective of layered architecture, the CAV system has functional elements such as use cases, platforms, wireless communication networks, and terminals. The radio communication network includes the C-ITS digital infrastructure system, 4G LTE, and 5G NR cellular system with mobile edge computing. Figure 2 shows the CAV system architecture.