Driverless Tests Go Live in Virginia
Burney Simpson
Virginia has taken another step to on-road automated vehicles following the enactment of legislation supported by the Va Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI).
Automated vehicles now can carry standard license plates and operate on Virginia’s roads as long as the vehicle is being operated by an institution of higher learning as it conducts technology research.
“Conducting naturalistic data collection with a standard license plate — meaning the vehicle could not be easily identified from other vehicles on the roadway — allows us to perform a realistic comparison to other vehicles and traffic,” Myra Blanco, director of VTTI’s Center for Public Policy, Partnerships, and Outreach, said in a press release.
The new law also allows moving images to be viewed in a vehicle while an automated driving system is activated. Previously, the state had banned videos to be shown inside a moving vehicle.
A lead sponsor of the legislation was Del. Glenn Davis of Virginia Beach (See “Careful Steps on Driverless Laws for Tennessee, Virginia”).
CONNECTED CORRIDORS
VTTI offers important test operations for auto OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and others.
In the driverless arena, it launched last summer the Virginia Automated Corridors, 70 miles of roads in the northern and central parts of the state for the testing of automated and connected vehicles.
The VAC includes a segment of the congested Washington, D.C., Beltway, along with state routes, suburban and rural roads, and winding mountain lanes (See “Va Tech Leaves ‘Em Eating its Dust in the Race to be the Top Driverless Test Track”).
The VAC is a partnership between VTTI, the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Transurban, and Here, the high-definition mapping business.
Virginia Tech also operates the 2.2 mile Virginia Smart Road, a closed-research facility near Blacksburg in southwest Virginia.
Blanco told Driverless Transportation last year that VTTI and the VAC offer a “one-stop shop” for autonomous car testing.
EVERYTHING FROM A TO Z
“We will do everything from A to Z. We provide license plates, insurance, the facilities, and so on,” said Blanco. “And we are an independent evaluator, something like Underwriters Laboratory. That’s key. We will facilitate the full process, and you will have an independent evaluator.”
Last October VTTI earned national visibility with a demonstration of automated and connected vehicles in Northern Virginia with Sen. Mark Warner, U.S. Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology Greg Winfree, Virginia state officials, Tier 1 auto suppler Continental, and others.
However, state competition for driverless testing dollars has gotten tougher since then.
Michigan last year opened its 32-acre Mcity testing facility near Ann Arbor, attracting Ford and other auto OEMs. In January, the state announced a 330-acre testbed for autonomous vehicles in nearby Willow Run.
California’s Silicon Valley area boasts GoMentum Station with tests from Daimler, Honda, and others.