What's New in Vehicles and Equipment

The International Council on Clean Transportation has released a report that analyzes the Canadian vehicle manufacturing market and sales patterns in order to identify the possible impacts if Canada weakens its greenhouse gas emission standards. The United States is expected to roll back its emissions targets, and Canada has the option to follow suit or maintain its original standards.

The U.S. Federal Transit Administration has released a report that summarizes the results from a battery electric bus demonstration funded under the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction program. This report evaluates the battery electric buses in King County Metro, Seattle, Washington, in comparison to hybrid, trolley, or diesel fleets.

TRB will conduct a webinar on Thursday, May 3, 2018, from 2:00PM to 3:30PM ET that features research from the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP)’s Report 143 : Guidebook for Air Cargo Facility Planning and Development and Synthesis 80 : Estimating Truck Trip Generation for Airport Air Cargo Activity. This webinar will explore the tools and techniques for sizing air cargo facilities, wh...

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that describes the tuning of the Highway Driving Simulator (HDS) motion-base. The HDS has recently been upgraded to a six-degrees-of-freedom motion-base system in order to enhance the realism of the simulator.

TRB will conduct a webinar on Tuesday, May 15 2018, from 2:00PM to 3:30PM ET that features research from the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP)’s Research Report 195 : Broadening Understanding of the Interplay Between Public Transit, Shared Mobility, and Personal Automobiles. This research explores how transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft are affecting the use ...

TRB will conduct a webinar on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM ET that will highlight emerging technologies and programs that are designed to mitigate emissions from vehicles. Presenters will discuss hybrid-electric and fully electric vehicles, connected and autonomous vehicles, and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s Alternative Fuels Corridor Program. The goal of each o...

The University of Michigan has released a report that investigates the effect of resale value on consumer purchasing decisions regarding plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). This report focuses on comparing the resale value of PEVs and comparable internal-combustion-engine vehicles, and determines consumer opinions regarding the importance of vehicle resale value in an individual’s decision to pur...

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory at the U.S. Department of Energy has released a report that offers guidance about plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging infrastructure to stakeholders in the Columbus area. This report seeks to ensure the effective use of private/public investments in PEV charging infrastructure. In 2016, the City of Columbus, Ohio, won the U.S. Department of Transport...

TRB's E-Circular 232: Automated Vehicle Symposium 2017: Summary of a Symposium highlights the themes from an event that took place on July 11–13, 2017 in San Francisco, California. The event explored the development, testing, building, and deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs). The 2017 AVS provided the opportunity for communication, collaboration, and information sharing on a wide range of t...

The International Council on Clean Transportation has released a report that determines typical fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) figures from current European heavy-duty vehicle technology. The goal of this report is to support decision makers in the designation of baseline values for future CO2 emission limits.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has released a report that determines the feasibility of in-vehicle dynamic curve-speed warnings as deployed on a smartphone app. Lane-departure crashes at horizontal curves represent a significant portion of fatal crashes on rural Minnesota roads.

TRB's Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program (BTSCRP) has released a request for proposals to develop guidance for U.S. and international employer-based behavioral traffic safety programs for workers who operate motor vehicles for any part of their job duties. Proposals are due May 30, 2018.

The TRB community extends condolences to the family and friends of Dr. Joseph Sussman, a tireless TRB volunteer who served as Chair of the TRB Executive Committee in 1994. Dr. Sussman passed away on Tuesday, March 20, 2018, at the age of 79 following a long illness. “Perhaps Joe Sussman’s greatest legacy will be the many transportation leaders who he taught and mentored during his long career,”...

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that summarizes research about oversize and overweight permitting practices, including automated vehicle routing and escort driver certification. This report is intended to fulfill a recommendation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The Iowa Department of Transportation has released a report that estimates the unsteady wind loads acting on dynamic message signs and on the members of the truss structures supporting these signs. This report also identifies possible fatigue failure due to vibrations, and investigates diurnal temperature effects on the fatigue life of structures.

The International Council for Clean Transportation has released a report that explores the state of autonomous trucking technology from multiple stakeholder perspectives. This paper specifically focuses on how autonomous technology can affect fuel use and emissions in the freight sector.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has released a report that evaluates the MIT-SCAN-T2 device as a non-destructive pavement thickness-measuring device for quality control and quality assurance purposes. Pavement thickness measurements are currently performed by destructively coring the finished pavement and measuring the thickness of the core.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has released a request for proposals to propose revisions to the wind drag coefficients in the AASHTO LRFD Specifications for Structural Supports for Highway Signs, Luminaires, and Traffic Signals . Proposals are due May 16, 2018.

TRB is sponsoring the Traffic Signal Committee summer meeting on July 22-24, 2018, in Flagstaff, Arizona. The theme of this year's meeting is "Smart traffic signal system management: raising the floor." The meeting will explore the current state of the practice in multimodal traffic signal control in relation to connected and automated vehicles. For more information, contact Rich Cunard at RCun...

TRB is cosponsoring the Forum on the Impact of Vehicle Technologies and Automation on Users on November 7-9, 2018, in Iowa City, Iowa. This forum is designed to bring together representatives and experts to discuss and identify research gaps related to the impact of vehicle technologies and automation. The forum will also examine the impact of vehicle technologies on vulnerable road users as we...

TRB is cosponsoring the 6th Florida Automated Vehicles (FAV) Summit on November 27-28, 2018 in Tampa, Florida. The summit addresses technologies, operations, and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, including public transportation issues. It explores activities undertaken by Florida and other state departments of transportation to create the climate for the implementation and deployme...

The National Center for Sustainable Transportation at the University of California at Davis has released a report that assesses the gender differences in buyers of plug-in electric vehicles. This report also compares these differences to the gender differences among the overall population of all new-car buyers in California.

The National Center for Sustainable Transportation at the University of California at Davis has released a report that compares emissions from hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) with different combustion technologies under cold weather conditions. The two combustion technologies this report analyzes are gasoline direct injection and port fuel injection.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has released a report that quantifies the performance of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receivers. OEM refers to a company that produces parts and equipment for other manufacturers, and this option may be less expensive than buying the equipment through retail.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory at the U.S. Department of Energy has released a report that outlines major trends in U.S. light-duty vehicle and medium/heavy truck markets. This report focuses on the progress of high-efficiency and alternative-fuel technologies.

TRB's Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program (BTSCRP) has released a request for proposals to evaluate the essential components of current state and provincial legislation used to address distracted driving while using electronic devices, and develop model legislation to deter distracted driving while using electronic devices. Proposals are due May 17, 2018.

TRB's Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program (BTSCRP) has released a request for proposals to develop a guide for the use of variable message signs  to deliver behavioral traffic safety announcements. Proposals are due May 8, 2018.

TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Web-Only Document 71: A Transit Agency Guide to Evaluating Secondary Train Detection/Protection Systems in Communications-Based Train Control Systems provides a practical approach to evaluating the appropriate level of secondary train detection/protection systems (STD/PS) for a given communications-based train control system application. In term...

TRB has released new Snap Searches exploring rural transportation research and workforce issues. A Snap Search provides a summary of TRB research reports that are underway and published, upcoming events, and ongoing committees that cover these specific topics. Produced by TRB’s Library , Snap Searches are designed for the busy researcher or professional who would like to quickly get up to speed...

The National Center for Sustainable Transportation at the University of California at Davis has released a report that provides an overview of how shared mobility services are changing transportation supply and demand. This report focuses on the factors affecting the adoption and frequency of use of ridehailing services in California, and explores the impacts that the use of these services has ...