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SafeTrip-21 Transportation Safety Technologies Take Manhattan

The Volpe Center has launched a bold new intelligent transportation systems (ITS) initiative dubbed SafeTrip-21 (Safe and Efficient Travel Through Innovation and Partnerships for the 21st Century).

SafeTrip-21 builds on U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) IntellidriveSM research and leverages technologies currently in wide use, such as cellular phones, GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth, and the Internet, to accelerate the advance of safety and mobility applications. The Volpe Center will assess applications to improve automobile travel and public transit convenience, as well as commercial vehicle safety and productivity.

In June 2008, the Volpe Center entered into a cooperative agreement with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), establishing the inaugural SafeTrip-21 field test site in the San Francisco Bay area. In this 12-month field test beginning December 2008, travelers will receive transportation information and transmit their own transportation data, creating a real-time, dynamic, wireless data mesh of mobile information—a virtual "web on wheels."

SafeTrip-21 technologies were unveiled at the 15th ITS World Congress in New York City in November 2008. A New York MTA bus and two rental vehicles were equipped to demonstrate applications for both drivers and transit riders on the streets of Manhattan. Also, key driver and pedestrian applications were showcased at a special "integrated show," which included technologies developed worldwide.

Three new SafeTrip-21 partners were also announced at the World Congress:

  • iCone deploys active road cones to help increase roadway safety by using radar to measure traffic speed.
  • Parking Carma fields a mobile webenabled parking application that allows travelers to find, reserve, and pay for a parking space at a participating "smart" parking lot.
  • I-95 Corridor Coalition uses vehicle probe data to make it much easier for I-95 travelers to get information about traffic backups, construction information, and other delays.

The Volpe Center is excited about SafeTrip-21 and the development of these technologies in the coming year.

SafeTrip-21 technology on display at the ITS World Congress on the streets of Manhattan. This New York MTA Orion IV low-floor, hybrid electric bus demonstrates how SafeTrip-21 uses available technologies to bring the future of travel to the United States today.
SafeTrip-21 technology on display at the ITS World Congress on the streets of Manhattan. This New York MTA Orion IV low-floor, hybrid electric bus demonstrates how SafeTrip-21 uses available technologies to bring the future of travel to the United States today. Photo courtesy of University of California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways - PATH program (Click image to enlarge)

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