The US Department of Transportation (US DOT) has released a request for information on how to enhance safety for vulnerable road users at intersections as part of its continued focus on improving roadway safety for all.
The US DOT seeks comments on adapting existing and emerging automation technologies to accelerate the development of real-time roadway intersection safety and warning systems for both drivers and vulnerable road users (VRUs).
Improving the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other VRUs is of critical importance to achieving the objectives of the US DOT’s National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) and the US DOT’s vision of zero fatalities and serious injuries across the transportation system.
According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were 10,626 traffic fatalities in the United States at roadway intersections in 2020, including 1,674 pedestrian and 355 bicyclist fatalities.
Separately, considerable development efforts have been made into automation technologies over the past two decades, including in the areas of vehicle automation, machine vision, perception and sensing, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, sensor fusion, image and data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI), path planning, and real-time decision-making.
The US DOT seeks to use these technologies to improve roadway intersection safety for drivers and VRUs.
The Request for Information is open until October 17, 2022.
