The U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration is looking for input on potential business models for the financing and operation of a nationwide communications network between vehicles and the roadway infrastructure.


The input and ideas from private industry, state and local governments, and others will be used to identify candidate models for the deployment of Vehicle Infrastructure Integration. VII will enable the advancement of crash avoidance technologies in vehicles, real-time traffic information to reduce congestion and improve navigational systems, and other technologies that will improve the safety and efficiency of travel.

The DOT notes that 21,000 of the 43,000 deaths annually on America's highways are caused by roadway departure and intersection-related incidents. Building on work previously done in the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative, the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration initiative, or VII, will work toward deploying advanced vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-infrastructure communications that could keep vehicles from leaving the road and enhance their safe movement through intersections.

For instance, data transmitted from the roadside to the vehicle could warn a driver that it is not safe to enter an intersection. Vehicles could serve as data collectors and anonymously transmit traffic and road condition information from every major road within the transportation network. Such information would provide transportation agencies with the information needed to implement active strategies to relieve traffic congestion. A VII consortium has been established to determine the feasibility of widespread deployment and to establish an implementation strategy. The consortium consists of the vehicle manufacturers already involved in the IVI, AASHTO, ten State Departments of Transportation, and the US DOT.

As part of the VII initiative, RITA will conduct an operational field test of deployment-ready technologies at the November Intelligent Transportation Systems World Congress in New York City.

The complete Request for Information is available at www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=edc11e67892a6a47ce1d586a7072a899&tab=core&_cview=0