Transportation Research Board
HomeContact Us Directory E-NewsletterFollow Us RSS

The National Academies
Text Size: Increase Text SizeDecrease Text Size| Share:


Vehicles and Equipment Research at TRB

The mission of the Transportation Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. This page highlights recently released TRB reports, meeting announcements, requests for proposals, and other announcements related to safety and human factors. In addition, it includes links to selected safety and human factors research-related activities taking place at the federal and state levels, and within the academic and international transportation communities. Finally, this page also highlights and provides links to TRB programs and activities, which are the source of most of TRB’s safety and human factors-related research products.

What's New

TRB Vehicles and Equipment-Related Programs and Activities

DRIVE-SMART Driver Monitoring and Crash Risk Mitigation SystemDRIVE-SMART Driver Monitoring and Crash Risk Mitigation System
May 18, 2013
TRB’s Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program Final Report for Safety-IDEA Project 18: DRIVE-SMART Driver Monitoring and Crash Risk Mitigation System describes the development and testing of a driver monitoring and crash risk mitigation system.
2011 Speeding Traffic Safety Fact Sheet 2011 Speeding Traffic Safety Fact Sheet
May 15, 2013
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released a fact sheet that estimates the annual economic cost to society of speeding-related crashes and the number of fatal crashes in which speeding was a factor.
2014 TRB 93rd Annual Meeting and Transportation Research Record Call for Papers2014 TRB 93rd Annual Meeting and Transportation Research Record Call for Papers
May 15, 2013
TRB standing committees have issued  calls for papers for the TRB 93rd Annual Meeting, January 12-16, 2014, in Washington, D.C, and the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board (TRR). While papers addressing any relevant aspect of transportation research will be considered, some committees are soliciting papers in specific subject areas to help potential...
50th Anniversary for the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 50th Anniversary for the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
May 15, 2013
The 2013 series marks the 50th year of TRB’s peer-reviewed journal, which debuted as the Highway Research Record in 1963; became the Transportation Research Record in 1974, with Number 480; and added the subtitle, Journal of the Transportation Research Board, in 2000, with Number 1653. In all, TRB has published more than 25,000 papers in volumes of the TRR Journal and continues to build on its ...
Promoting Parent Involvement in Teen Driving
May 13, 2013
The Governors Highway Safety Association has released a report that examines opportunities for and challenges of parental participation in engaging with their teen drivers.
Letter Report on the Long-Term Stewardship of Safety Data from the Second Strategic Highway Research Program: May 2013Letter Report on the Long-Term Stewardship of Safety Data from the Second Strategic Highway Research Program: May 2013
May 9, 2013
On May 3, 2013, TRB’s Committee on the Long-Term Stewardship of Safety Data from the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) sent its first letter report to Victor Mendez, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration; David Strickland, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and Bud Wright, executive director of the American Association of State Hi...
Workshop on the Future of Road Vehicle Automation - 2013
May 9, 2013
TRB is sponsoring the Workshop on the Future of Road Vehicle Automation on July 16-19, 2013, in Palo Alto, California. This four-day event will focus on challenges and opportunities related to the increasing automation of motor vehicles as well as the environments in which they operate. The workshop will build on the 2012 workshop on the state-of-the-art in road vehicle automation research...
2011 Fatality Analysis Reporting System and General Estimates System Data Summary Booklet
May 8, 2013
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released a data summary that highlights the 2011 Traffic Safety Facts Annual Report.
Traffic Safety Facts 2011: A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and General Estimates System Traffic Safety Facts 2011: A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and General Estimates System
May 8, 2013
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released a report that contains motor vehicle traffic crash data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and General Estimates System for data year 2011.
Increasing Truck Driver's Awareness: Use of In-Vehicle 3D SoundsIncreasing Truck Driver's Awareness: Use of In-Vehicle 3D Sounds
May 3, 2013
TRB’s Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program Final Report for Safety-IDEA Project 19: Increasing Truck Driver's Awareness: Use of In-Vehicle 3D Sounds explores the development and testing of a system using in-vehicle three-dimensional sound as a technique for augmenting the truck driver’s situational awareness.

Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP)
TCRP is an applied, contract research program that develops near-term, practical solutions to problems facing transit agencies.
Synthesis of Information Related to Transit Problems
TRB's Synthesis of Information Related to Transit Problems searches out and synthesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) report series, Synthesis of Transit Practice.
Synthesis of Information Related to Airport Problems
TRB's Synthesis of Information Related to Airport Problems searches out and synthesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) report series, Synthesis of Airport Practice.
National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP)
NCFRP conducts research and disseminates timely findings that will inform investment and operations decisions affecting the performance of the freight transportation system.
Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program
TRB's Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program searches out and synthesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) report series, Synthesis of Commerical Truck and Bus Safety Practice.
Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program (HMCRP)
HMCRP conducts research intended to advance current knowledge and practice relating to hazardous materials transportation.
Cooperative Research Programs
TRB's Cooperative Research Programs Division manages several cooperative research programs that frequently produces reports that have relevence to issues outside of the program's core focus areas.
Technical Activities Standing Committees
TRB's Technical Activities Division provides a forum for transportation professionals in all modes and functions to identify research needs and to share information on research and issues of interest. The Division's staff of specialists in each mode and discipline work with a network of volunteers to carry out activities on behalf of TRB sponsors and the transportation community, including the TRB Annual Meeting, conferences and workshops, publications, visits to each state, and responses to inquiries. This network includes members and friends of over 200 standing committees, supplemented by designated TRB representatives in each state, over 150 universities, and 35 transit agencies.
Research in Progress in this Subject Area
TRB's Research in Progress (RiP) Database now contains more than 11,900 current or recently completed transportation research projects. Most of the RiP records are projects funded by federal and state departments of transportation. University transportation research is also included. The RiP Database also serves as a clearinghouse of University Transportation Centers ongoing research.
Research Completed in this Subject Area
TRB's TRID is integrated database that combines the records from TRB's Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) Database and the OECD's Joint Transport Research Centre’s International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) Database. TRID provides access to over 900,000 records of transportation research worldwide.