At last week’s (January 7-11) Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, the USDOT announced the winners of Stage 1A: Concept Assessment of its Intersection Safety Challenge.
The challenge aims to transform intersection safety by incentivizing the innovative application of new and emerging technologies to identify and mitigate unsafe conditions involving vehicles and vulnerable road users at intersections.
The challenge draws on the expertise of researchers and practitioners from universities, state and local agencies, private sector developers, and other organizations.
For the first stage of the Challenge, Stage 1A, participants submitted concept papers on their proposed intersection safety systems. 120 innovative concept papers were received of which 15 were selected for prizes. Of these 15 winning teams, 2 are led by State DOTs, 7 by academic institutions, and 6 by other organizations.
Each of the 15 winning teams for Stage 1A will receive a prize of $100,000 and an invitation to participate in Stage 1B: System Assessment and Virtual Testing, subject to final verification of each team’s eligibility status. In Stage 1B teams are expected to develop, train, and improve algorithms for the detection, localization, and classification of vulnerable road users and vehicles using USDOT-supplied sensor data collected at a controlled test intersection.
Improving the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vulnerable road users is of critical importance to achieving the objectives of the USDOT National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) and USDOT’s vision of zero fatalities and serious injuries across our transportation system.
The Intersection Safety Challenge supports these Departmental priorities and aims to set the stage for future deployment of intersection safety systems nationwide.
To see the list of winners and for more information on the USDOT Intersection Safety Challenge, please visit the dedicated web page.
