[Senate Hearing 116-598]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 116-598
EXAMINING TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
IN TRANSPORTATION
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND SAFETY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JUNE 25, 2019
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
52-726 WASHINGTON : 2023
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ROGER WICKER, Mississippi, Chairman
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota MARIA CANTWELL, Washington,
ROY BLUNT, Missouri Ranking
TED CRUZ, Texas AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
JERRY MORAN, Kansas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
CORY GARDNER, Colorado TOM UDALL, New Mexico
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee GARY PETERS, Michigan
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MIKE LEE, Utah TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin JON TESTER, Montana
TODD YOUNG, Indiana KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
RICK SCOTT, Florida JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
John Keast, Staff Director
Crystal Tully, Deputy Staff Director
Steven Wall, General Counsel
Kim Lipsky, Democratic Staff Director
Chris Day, Democratic Deputy Staff Director
Renae Black, Senior Counsel
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND SAFETY
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska, Chairman TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois, Ranking
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
ROY BLUNT, Missouri RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
JERRY MORAN, Kansas EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
CORY GARDNER, Colorado TOM UDALL, New Mexico
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia GARY PETERS, Michigan
TODD YOUNG, Indiana TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
RICK SCOTT, Florida
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on June 25, 2019.................................... 1
Statement of Senator Fischer..................................... 1
Statement of Senator Duckworth................................... 2
Statement of Senator Peters...................................... 47
Statement of Senator Blumenthal.................................. 49
Statement of Senator Thune....................................... 53
Witnesses
Steve Ingracia, PE, Deputy Director, Technology and Strategic
Planning, Nebraska Department of Transportation................ 3
Prepared statement........................................... 5
Shailen P. Bhatt, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Intelligent Transportation Society of America.................. 6
Prepared statement........................................... 8
Patrick Duffy, President, Blockchain in Transportation Alliance.. 30
Prepared statement........................................... 32
Ann Schlenker, Director, Center for Transportation Research,
Argonne National Laboratory.................................... 34
Prepared statement........................................... 36
Brent Hutto, Chief Relationship Officer, Truckstop.Com........... 39
Prepared statement........................................... 40
Appendix
Response to written questions submitted to Steve Ingracia by:
Hon. Maria Cantwell.......................................... 63
Hon. Amy Klobuchar........................................... 63
Response to written questions submitted to Shailen P. Bhatt by:
Hon. Maria Cantwell.......................................... 64
Hon. Amy Klobuchar........................................... 64
Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell
to:
Patrick Duffy................................................ 65
Ann Schlenker................................................ 65
EXAMINING TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN TRANSPORTATION
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TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2019
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:34 p.m. in
room SD-562, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Deb Fischer,
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Fischer [presiding], Duckworth, Peters,
Blumenthal, and Thune.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DEB FISCHER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA
Senator Fischer. The hearing will come to order.
Good afternoon. I am pleased to convene the Senate
Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety for a hearing today
titled ``Examining Technological Innovations in
Transportation.''
Everyone here today knows that technology is increasingly
changing how we work, stay in contact with friends and family,
and go about our daily lives. The transportation sector is no
exception.
Technology is already changing how we move people and goods
across this country and there is potential for new technology
to improve safety, efficiency, and mobility across our surface
transportation system.
But with great potential comes challenges. The process of
adopting new technologies, especially across a complex system
like the United States transportation network, can come in fits
and starts.
Today, the subcommittee has an opportunity to learn about
the potential new technologies that can be offered and the
challenges and changes that could come from their adoption.
As members of this Subcommittee and Congress more broadly
are debating and considering legislation to reauthorize the
FAST Act, it is important to understand innovations within the
transportation system already happening on the ground.
This is by no means the first time the Congress has debated
new technologies in transportation. The FAST Act added
intelligence transportation systems technology as eligible
activities under several Federal aid funding programs.
It also established new programs, such as the Advanced
Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies
Development Program, which provides grants to states to deploy
large-scale transportation technologies.
I was pleased to see the Nebraska Department of
Transportation working with the Wyoming and Utah Departments of
Transportation received a $2.8 million Advanced Transportation
and Congestion Management Technologies Grant this April.
Nebraska Innovative Project will incorporate sensors along
I-80 to support Nebraska's DOT understanding and ability to
respond to traffic and weather conditions.
Additionally, recognizing that traffic and weather don't
correspond to state boundaries, this project will support and
enable the sharing of road condition information between
Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah.
I look forward to hearing more about this and similar
projects.
Just as Federal, state, and local governments could improve
infrastructure, traffic flow, and safety by adopting new
technologies, the private sector also is looking to technology
for improvements.
Innovations, like digital freight matching and visibility,
could improve the management of available resources, resulting
in more efficient uses of our current infrastructure.
Blockchain also has the capacity to heighten efficiencies
and optimize costs for transportation and logistics.
Blockchain-powered smart contracts offer the potential to
better enforce conditions and validate data through the entire
supply chain, improving vehicle fleet and freight traffic,
capacity monitoring, platooning, on-time delivery, payment
management, and regulatory compliance.
However, the benefits of new technologies are not a
foregone conclusion. Technology that is adopted today may look
very different 10 years from now.
Today's hearing gives us a chance to understand what
technologies are available today, their potential for tomorrow,
and the obstacles that need to be overcome along the way.
It also provides us an opportunity to consider what role
Congress should have in technology development and deployment
as we consider reauthorization of the FAST Act.
We have several witnesses before the Committee today that
can speak directly about the current and future deployment of
transportation technologies. I'm grateful to all the witnesses
for their willingness to travel to participate in the hearing.
I am particularly pleased to have Steve Ingracia from the
Nebraska Department of Transportation here to talk about the
exciting work happening in my home state.
I look forward to testimony from all our witnesses.
I would now like to invite my colleague, Ranking Member
Duckworth, to offer any opening remarks.
STATEMENT OF HON. TAMMY DUCKWORTH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS
Senator Duckworth. Chairman Fischer, thank you for holding
today's hearing to Examine Technological Innovations in
Transportation.
I would also like to thank our witnesses for participating.
Given today's hearing topic, it is worth mentioning that
our national laboratories are the crown jewels of the Nation's
research and innovation ecosystem.
I'd like to specifically thank Ann Schlenker, Director of
the Center for Transportation Research at Argonne National
Laboratory in Illinois, for being with us today. Welcome.
Not so long ago, road maps like this were an essential tool
for anyone driving beyond their hometown. Most of the
millennials and Gen Zs in my office have no idea what this is.
[Laughter.]
Senator Duckworth. Yes. Today, GPS-capable devices on our
phones and cars provide turn-by-turn directions to nearly any
destination in the world, saving commuters and businesses
valuable time and resources.
GPS has become ubiquitous in the transportation sector.
Every plane and ship uses it to navigate. Thousands of
businesses and millions of products rely on it and each of us
has a GPS-capable phone in our pocket. Not many, though, know
that GPS was developed by our military during the cold war. In
fact, it's still operated by the United States Air Force in
partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation and
other Federal agencies.
Like our national labs, GPS is a shining example of the
Federal Government's long history of supporting research and
development efforts that promote innovation and are a catalyst
for economic prosperity.
Last year, Senator Ernst and I started the Senate GPS
Caucus to shine a light on how this critical technology
continues to change our world and, in addition to technologies
like GPS, advances in data collection, computing,
communication, and mobile technologies are dramatically
affecting the ways we travel and deliver goods and services.
These emerging technologies have the ability to make our
transportation systems safer, more reliable, and more
efficient.
I look forward to learning more from our witnesses about
the opportunities and challenges associated with the emerging
technologies in the transportation sector.
I yield back. Thank you.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator Duckworth.
Next, I would ask the witnesses to give their opening
statements, try to keep those limited to 5 minutes, please, and
we will begin with Mr. Steven Ingracia, who is the Deputy
Director for Technology and Strategic Planning with the
Nebraska Department of Transportation, fairly new in the
position but not new to the issues.
So, welcome, Steve.
STATEMENT OF STEVE INGRACIA, PE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGY
AND STRATEGIC PLANNING, NEBRASKA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Mr. Ingracia. Thank you, Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member
Duckworth, and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the
opportunity to testify today.
My name is Steve Ingracia, and I am Deputy Director of
Technology and Strategic Planning for the Nebraska Department
of Transportation.
Our agency's 2,100 employees serve the state of Nebraska by
operating and maintaining nearly 10,000 miles of roadway and
3,500 bridges.
In Nebraska, we have carved out an approach to
transportation policy that is practical, forward leaning, and
rooted in fiscal responsibility. Through the leadership of
Governor Pete Ricketts and then State Senator Fischer, Nebraska
passed the Transportation Innovation Act and the Build Nebraska
Act, which gave NDOT the resources to care for and improve
transportation in Nebraska.
Technological innovation is happening at NDOT as well as at
other DOTs around the country and I'm pleased that the
Committee has asked us how Congress can support the states as
we know that shifts in technology will certainly alter the
transportation industry in significant ways over the next 20
years.
We're always looking for ways to incorporate technology
into what we build. The Advanced Transportation and Congestion
Management Technologies Deployment Federal Grant just awarded
to NDOT, in partnership with the Wyoming and Utah DOTs, will
advance technologies that improve mobility and safety across
the multistate I-80 corridor. This project will build upon
Wyoming's Connect Vehicle Pilot Program to increase the flow of
information to freight haulers and will ultimately improve
safety along I-80.
We are also incorporating technology into the operational
side of our business. Systems, like the Maintenance Decision
Support System and Automatic Vehicle Location, have been
installed on all 633 of our snowplows, and they allow us to
make database choices on our application rates and to better
track quantities of materials used.
We have taken this one step further by installing cameras
on the front of our trucks to provide real-time snapshots of
road conditions to the public through the web, which was
immediately popular with the traveling public.
NDOT's implementation of MDSS, along with our public-facing
cloud tracker site, was recently recognized by AASHTO with
regional top monitors as a best use of technology and
innovation.
NDOT is also active in discussions regarding policy.
Nebraska lawmakers passed a law in 2018 that opened Nebraska's
roadways to autonomous vehicles and as a result, the need for
national AV standards have been at the forefront of our minds.
I'd encourage continued conversations on best practices for
standardization and design, maintenance, and operations of the
roadway. The way a highway appears to an AV is very important
and clear and concise nationwide standards would go a long way
to support the development of AVs in the U.S.
I believe that the path to national standards begins with
groups of states agreeing amongst themselves to standards on
key corridors. This multistate approach to standardization
offers a way forward to test and validate what works and to
gain an understanding of what needs to be developed in terms of
national standards or regulation.
Through a recent INFRA grant proposal, we are part of such
a multistate coalition. Nebraska's part of a 12-state
consortium that submitted an INFRA proposal for the Safe
Acceleration of Automated Freight Infrastructure Readiness
Project in March of 2019.
Through this proposal, covering over 3,400 miles of
interstate highway, including I-80, coast to coast, these
states would develop and agree to comply with standards for
striping, work zone design, and data exchange to support
highway automation readiness.
This would effectively create a corridor for autonomous and
connected freight movement across the Continental U.S. while
also demonstrating the ability of states to collaborate and
develop, design, operational, and data exchange standards that
can ultimately become the de facto national standard.
Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Duckworth, and members of
the Subcommittee, I joined NDOT to help our state move forward
with technology. In the transportation field, I believe we're
at an inflection point with multiple technologies advancing
quickly and simultaneously.
It is only through partnership between the Federal
Government and the states that we will be able to keep pace
with these changes and I thank you for your willingness to
consider the needs of the states.
I appreciate the invitation to join you today and I look
forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Ingracia follows:]
Prepared Statement of Steve Ingracia, PE, Deputy Director, Technology
and Strategic Planning, Nebraska Department of Transportation
Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Duckworth and members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
My name is Steve Ingracia and I am the Deputy Director of
Technology and Strategic Planning at the Nebraska Department of
Transportation (NDOT). Our agency's 2,100 employees serve the state of
Nebraska by operating and maintaining nearly 10,000 miles of roads and
3,500 bridges.
In Nebraska, we've carved out an approach to transportation policy
that is practical, forward-leaning, and rooted in fiscal
responsibility. Through the leadership of Governor Pete Ricketts and
then State Senator Fischer, Nebraska passed the Transportation
Innovation Act and the Build Nebraska Act which gave NDOT the resources
to care for and improve transportation in Nebraska.
Technological innovation is happening at NDOT and nationwide across
all DOTs, and I am pleased the Committee has asked us how Congress can
support states, as shifts in technology will certainly alter the
transportation industry in significant ways over the next 20 years.
We are continually looking for ways to incorporate technology into
what we build. The Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management
Technologies Deployment(ATCMTD) Federal grant just awarded to NDOT, in
partnership with the Wyoming and Utah DOTs, will advance technologies
that improve mobility and safety across the multi-state I80 corridor.
This project will build upon Wyoming's successful connected vehicle
pilot program to increase the flow of information to freight haulers
and will ultimately improve safety along I-80.
We are also incorporating technology into the operational side of
our business--systems like the Maintenance Decision Support System
(MDSS) and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) have been installed on all
633 of our snowplows to allow us to make data-based choices on
application rates and to better track quantities of materials used. We
have taken this one step further by installing cameras in the front of
our trucks to provide realtime snapshots of road conditions to the
public through the web, which was immediately popular with the
traveling public. NDOT's implementation of MDSS, along with our public
facing Plow Tracker site, was recently recognized by AASHTO with
regional top honors as a Best Use of Technology and Innovation.
NDOT is also active in discussions regarding policy. Nebraska
lawmakers passed a law in 2018 that opened Nebraska's roadways to
Autonomous Vehicles (AV), and as a result the need for national AV
standards has been at the forefront of our minds. I'd encourage
continued conversations on best practices for standardization in
design, maintenance, and operations of the roadway. The way a highway
appears to an AV is very important, and a clear and concise nationwide
standard would go a long way to support the development of AVs in the
US.
I believe that the path to a national standard begins with groups
of states agreeing amongst themselves to standards on key corridors.
This multi-state approach to standardization offers a way forward to
test and validate what works, and to gain an understanding of what
needs to be developed in terms of national standards or regulation.
Through a recent INFRA grant proposal, we are part of such a multi-
state coalition. Nebraska is part of a 12-state consortium that
submitted an INFRA proposal for the Safe Acceleration of Automated
Freight Infrastructure Readiness project in March of 2019. Through this
proposal, covering over 3,400 miles of interstate highway including I-
80 coast-to-coast, these states would develop, and agree to comply
with, standards for striping, work zone design, and data exchange to
support highway automation readiness.
This would effectively create a corridor for autonomous and
connected freight movement across the continental US, while also
demonstrating the ability of states to collaborate and develop design,
operational, and data exchange standards that could ultimately become
the de facto national standards.
Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Duckworth, and members of the
Subcommittee, I joined NDOT to help our state move forward with
technology. In the transportation field, I believe we are at an
inflection point, with multiple technologies advancing quickly and
simultaneously. It is only through partnership between the Federal
government and the states that we will be able to keep pace with these
changes, and I thank you for your willingness to consider the
technology needs of states. I appreciate the invitation to join you
today, and I look forward to your questions.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Steve.
Next, we have Mr. Shailen Bhatt, who is the CEO of the
Intelligent Transportation Society of America.
Welcome, sir.
STATEMENT OF SHAILEN P. BHATT, PRESIDENT
AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SOCIETY
OF AMERICA
Mr. Bhatt. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Fischer,
Ranking Member Duckworth, and members of the Committee.
My name is Shailen Bhatt, and I am the President and CEO of
the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.
Our members include automakers and technology companies,
public sector agencies, such as state and city departments of
transportation, transit agencies, and metropolitan planning
organizations, along with research institutions.
It's an honor to be here today. Throughout my career, I've
been appointed by three Governors and one president to be a
leader in transportation. I've always said that departments of
transportation exist to save lives and make people's lives
better, which is why I feel so strongly that the next
transportation reauthorization must reflect the incredible
benefits technology can deliver to improve the safety and
efficiency of our system.
When I began as the Executive Director of the Colorado
Department of Transportation in 2014, 484 people lost their
lives on our roadways. When I left in 2017, there were 715
fatalities and the vast majority of that increase were among
the most vulnerable users of the system, bicyclists,
pedestrians, motorcyclists.
Just last week, NHTSA estimated that while the overall
number of roadway deaths was generally unchanged in 2018, we
saw a 10 percent increase in cyclist fatalities from the prior
year.
So clearly, there is an epidemic of fatalities on our
roadways and we believe that technology is the best tool in our
toolbox to reduce this epidemic.
Now the first tool I want to talk about are connected
vehicle technologies, known as V2X or Vehicle to Everything.
These are technologies that allow vehicles to communicate with
other vehicles, with the infrastructure, and, most importantly,
with users of the system, including pedestrian, cyclists, and
motorcyclists.
Last year, there were two million crashes on U.S. roadways.
About 30 percent of those were due to impaired driving. NHTSA
estimates that V2X can address 80 percent of unimpaired
crashes, which means that more than 1.2 million crashes could
have been eliminated or mitigated through connected vehicle
communications.
V2X technologies are deployed in dozens of cities in the
majority of states and require use of the 5.9 gigahertz safety
spectrums to communicate, this band that has been designated
for transportation safety-critical communications.
Preserving this spectrum for these life-saving technologies
is the top priority for ITS America and our members.
Investment in technology in the next reauthorization can
also help speed the movement of freight, whether it's at the
ports where many of these goods come into the United States, or
in the vast multimodal network that moves them across the
country.
As an example, Wyoming DOT is using connected vehicle
technology to provide truck drivers with a wide range of
information, from parking options so they can make the most
efficient choice about where to safely stop for the night to
imminent collision warning because inclement weather has closed
the interstate, and they can share with neighboring states,
like Nebraska and Colorado.
Cities, like Las Vegas, are using big data and predictive
analytics to improve response times to crashes on I-15. The
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada uses big
data and predictive analytics to determine where crashes are
likely to occur and prepositions emergency equipment.
This has led to a 12-minute reduction in response time and
a 17 percent reduction in secondary crashes on I-15. Getting
someone to a doctor within an hour of a crash significantly
increases survival chances. It's known as the golden hour. So a
12-minute reduction is massive.
V2X is a critical component of operating our system more
safely, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that
cybersecurity safeguards must also be part of the next
reauthorization bill.
As our transportation systems become more connected, we
must ensure states and cities have the necessary tools to fight
against threats from bad actors.
Finally, we hear a lot these days about the transformation
of transportation. Nowhere is that more evident than with the
Mobility on Demand Initiatives cropping up across the country.
Last year, I spoke at the ITS Heartland Meeting in Lincoln,
Nebraska, and one of the things I talked about there was
deployment of autonomous shuttles in Lincoln to provide micro-
transit first and last mile solutions.
From Lincoln to Los Angeles, the public and private
sectors, along with researchers, are working together using
technology to develop solutions that allow people to move
seamlessly from place to place, whether that means finding a
way to use one form of payment for multiple modes or ensuring
that people with disabilities and older adults have complete
access to the system.
The next reauthorization holds the key to unlocking the
21st Century of transportation in this country for mobility and
infrastructure improvements to eliminating the epidemic of
roadway fatalities that claims a hundred lives on our roads
every day.
Thank you again for the opportunity to be here. I look
forward to any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bhatt follows:]
Prepared Statement of Shailen P. Bhatt, President and Chief Executive
Officer, Intelligent Transportation Society of America
Introduction
Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Duckworth, and Members of the
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide the Intelligent
Transportation Society of America's (ITS America) perspective on
``Examining Technological Innovations in Transportation.''
I am pleased to be joined on this panel with Nebraska Department of
Transportation Deputy Director of Technology and Strategic Planning
Steve Ingracia.
My name is Shailen P. Bhatt, and I am the President and CEO of ITS
America. Before joining ITS America in January 2018, I served as
Executive Director for the Colorado Department of Transportation
(CDOT). In that role, I oversaw the launch of the RoadX program, which
is focused on deploying innovative technology solutions--including
connected vehicles--and teaming with the private sector to shape the
future of transportation. While at CDOT, I also served as the national
Chair of the Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Deployment Coalition and the
Chair of the National Operations Center of Excellence. Before CDOT, I
served as Cabinet Secretary with the Delaware Department of
Transportation and Deputy Executive Director of the Kentucky
Transportation Cabinet. I also had the pleasure of serving as Associate
Administrator at the Federal Highway Administration.
ITS America's vision is ``A better future transformed by
intelligent mobility--one that is safer, greener, and smarter.'' Our
mission is to advance the research and deployment of intelligent
transportation technologies and solutions to save lives, improve
mobility, promote sustainability, and increase efficiency and
productivity.
Our focus is policy that accelerates seamless mobility technology,
connected and automated vehicle technologies, and smart infrastructure;
policy that breathes new life into our transportation infrastructure by
expanding investments in technologies that support smart communities;
and policy that encourages new models and modes of transportation,
including micro-transit, rideshare, carshare, bikeshare, micro-
mobility, and unmanned systems. Investments in these new modes should
also address issues of transportation equity so everyone gains access
to mobility and opportunity. That said, our first and foremost priority
has been, and continues to be, safety.
Founded as an official advisory board on road technology to the
U.S. Department of Transportation, ITS America represents state and
city departments of transportation, metropolitan planning
organizations, automotive manufacturers, technology companies,
engineering firms, automotive suppliers, insurance companies, and
research and academic universities.\1\ Our Board Chair is Malcolm
Dougherty, Senior Vice President and Practice Lead, Transportation,
Michael Baker International and former Director, California Department
of Transportation; our Vice-Chair is Jennifer Cohan, Secretary,
Delaware Department of Transportation.
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\1\ The ITS America Board is represented by the following
companies: AAA, AECOM, Arizona Department of Transportation, California
Department of Transportation, California PATH University of California
Berkeley, Conduent, Central Ohio Transit Authority, Crown Castle,
Cubic, Delaware Department of Transportation, District of Columbia
Department of Transportation, Econolite, Ford Motor Company, General
Motors, Gridsmart, HELP, Inc., HNTB, Iteris, Kapsch TraffiCom North
America, MCity, Michael Baker International, Michigan Department of
Transportation San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation
Commission, National Renewable Energy Lab, New York City Department of
Transportation, Panasonic North America, Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation, Qualcomm, Southwest Research Institute, State Farm
Insurance, Toyota, Texas Transportation Institute, Utah Department of
Transportation, Washington State Department of Transportation.
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Over the years since the Fixing America's Surface Transportation
(FAST) Act was signed into law, automated and connected vehicle
technologies have advanced, the collection and use of big data has
become an increasingly valuable tool for decision makers,
electrification of vehicles of every type from human scale to large-
scale continues, and Mobility on Demand services are transforming how
we get around. These technologies allow additional freedom of movement
for those who have limited mobility access, such as people with
disabilities, older adults, and those living in transit deserts.
Technology advancements will also help begin to reduce the epidemic of
fatalities on our roadways.
For these reasons, ITS America supports a FAST Act reauthorization
that recognizes the added value of integrating technology into
transportation infrastructure and services and provides funding for the
rapid deployment of intelligent transportation technologies quickly and
uniformly to transportation agencies and providers across the entire
country.
Moving People, Data, and Freight
Given the title and focus of this hearing is ``Examining
Technological Innovations in Transportation,'' and with Congress
increasingly focused on the reauthorization of the FAST Act, my written
testimony encompasses ITS America's FAST Act Reauthorization Platform:
Moving People, Data, and Freight: Safer. Greener. Smarter, which ITS
America released earlier today. Moving People, Data, and Freight
bridges new and existing infrastructure technologies and new modes of
mobility that we see across the country with the utmost importance of
investments to bring our infrastructure to a state of good repair and
integrate research, development, and deployment of technology to
maximize efficiencies and safety and secure the United States' global
leadership in the development and deployment of advanced transportation
technologies.
Increase Investment in Research and Deployment of Intelligent
Transportation Technologies
Intelligent transportation technologies advance transportation
safety and mobility, reduce congestion, improve air quality, and
enhance American productivity by integrating advanced technologies into
transportation infrastructure, operations, and vehicles. Only with
investment certainty will the Nation finally see and benefit from the
research and the large-scale transformational deployments of
intelligent transportation technologies that will define the way
people, goods, services, and information move in the 21st century--and
most importantly, finally help begin to reduce the epidemic of
fatalities on our roadways.
Moving People, Data, and Freight investment policy supports the
solvency of the Highway Trust Fund; the transition to a long-term and
sustainable revenue source for transportation; and a national Vehicle
Miles Traveled (VMT) pilot. In connection with a national VMT pilot,
the platform recommends including large freight shippers as
participants and examines whether fleet telematics can be used as a
method of data collection.
The platform supports increased funding for research, development,
and demonstration of intelligent transportation systems technology;
maintaining Federal programs that allow state, metropolitan areas, and
city congestion pricing strategies; and increased funding for
Intelligent Transportation Systems programs to streamline the movement
of goods beginning at ports and through the multimodal supply chain
including freight intelligent transportation systems and digital
infrastructure systems.
ITS America strongly supports the Advanced Transportation and
Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD) program. The
platform supports increasing funding and Federal share to 80 percent.
It recommends increasing the Federal share to 100 percent for safety
critical connected vehicle technologies including Vehicle-to-Vehicle
(V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P)
under ATCMTD. The association also supports policy that makes V2P
technologies an eligible activity under ATCMTD and recommends that the
FAST Act reauthorization authorize and dedicate separate funding for
ATCMTD. Under the FAST Act, the ATCMTD program has been funded through
a set-aside from the Highway Research and Development, Technology and
Innovation Deployment, and Intelligent Transportation System Research
programs and has resulted in a reduction of transportation research and
development that has historically propelled United States leadership in
areas such as connected and automated vehicle development as well as
the emerging area of artificial intelligence in mobility management.
Safeguard Critical Transportation Infrastructure from Cybersecurity
Threats
As vehicles and infrastructure become more connected, our Nation's
transportation system faces increasing cybersecurity risks. Given the
ability to cause loss of life and inflict significant economic damage
in a highly visible manner, cybersecurity attacks directed at those
producing or operating technologies travelling over or connected to
U.S. roadways will intensify. ITS America supports policy that would
provide states and localities funding and technical assistance under
federal-aid highway programs, Federal public transportation programs,
and ATCMTD to safeguard critical transportation systems that are more
reliant than ever on connectivity to communicate and exchange data from
cybersecurity threats.
Prioritize the 5.9 GHz Spectrum for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Public
Safety Transportation Communications and Grow Investments in
Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P)
Technologies
The U.S. Department of Transportation is working with industry,
safety, and public sector stakeholders to develop and evaluate
cooperative technologies, equipment, and applications known as
Connected Vehicle (CV) technologies that operate in the 5.9 GHz band,
inclusive of V2V, V2I, and V2P--collectively referred to as Vehicle-to-
Everything (V2X). This includes all V2X technologies--Dedicated Short
Range Communications (DSRC) as well as Cellular vehicle-to-everything
(C-V2X)--because the band can be configured to enable real-time crash-
avoidance alerts and warnings--offering a significant opportunity to
achieve a transformation in transportation safety.
Cable companies and their supporters are seeking additional
spectrum for enhanced WiFi experiences and are aggressively pressuring
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to force public safety
transportation communications operating in the 5.9 GHz band to share
that spectrum with unlicensed consumer broadband devices.
Speed matters when safety information is involved. Sharing the band
could compromise the speed and put lives at risk. What if a driver
knew, in fractions of a second, that an airbag deployed in a car in
front of them? Alternatively, that the car in front, around the next
curve, was sliding on black ice? Or a person is walking just around the
next corner? Thanks to V2X, that driver would react--and avoid a crash.
Deploying V2X that allow cars, trucks, bicycles, motorcycles,
streetlights and other infrastructure to talk to each other will ensure
more people travel safely. Safety is the top priority of the Nation's
transportation system.
Moving People, Data, and Freight supports policy that makes clear
the 5.9 GHz band is prioritized for existing, new, and developing
vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies that send hazard alerts to
infrastructure, motorists, pedestrians, and other transportation system
users and hold the promise to enhance automated driving systems. The
platform supports a policy that ensures all three phases of testing for
the 5.9 GHz band are complete before the FCC rules on whether the
spectrum can be shared between V2X operations and unlicensed devices
like WiFi.
V2I communications, which involves the exchange of safety and
operational data between vehicles and elements of the transportation
infrastructure, offer a wide range of safety benefits. V2I provides
vehicles and drivers information about infrastructure operations--
weather and pavement conditions, how signals are directing traffic, and
even the location of potential hazards at intersections and other
critical road safety hotspots. V2I applications include red light
violation warnings, reduced speed zone warnings, curve speed warnings,
and spot weather impact warnings. V2I soon will support other
applications that will disseminate the condition of the infrastructure,
such as bridge integrity, and may even collect vehicle data that
describes pavement condition. According to the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA), V2I technology helps drivers safely
negotiate intersections and could help prevent 41 to 55 percent of
intersection crashes. Another connected vehicle safety application that
helps drivers with left turns at intersections could help prevent 36 to
62 percent of left-turn crashes. In addition to the lives saved, just
these two applications alone could prevent up to 592,000 crashes and
270,000 injuries each year.
Fatalities in crashes involving at least one large truck increased
by an estimated three percent in 2018, according to NHTSA's preliminary
statistics. As part of the USDOT's Connected Vehicle Pilot Program,
Wyoming is demonstrating what rural states can do to benefit travelers.
Wyoming is deploying CV technology along the 402 miles of I-80 where
winter wind speeds and gusts result in trucks blowing over and often
lead to road closures. The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT)
CV pilot focuses on commercial vehicle operators by developing
applications to support advisories including roadside alerts, parking
notifications and dynamic travel guidance. WYDOT is equipping 400
vehicles, a combination of fleet vehicles and commercial trucks with
on-board units (OBUs). Of the 400 vehicles, at least 150 would be heavy
trucks that are expected to be regular users of I-80. In addition, of
the 400 equipped-vehicles, 100 WYDOT fleet vehicles, snowplows, and
highway patrol vehicles will be equipped with OBUs and mobile weather
sensors.
The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada recently
became the first in the world to put roadway information into a digital
format. As connected vehicles drive over the actual roadway, they can
pick up differences between the ``digital'' road and the actual road.
This could eliminate the need for agencies to manually examine roadways
for striping or automatically report potholes instead of waiting for
enough drivers to incur tire damage before fixing them. These vehicles
will also give an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the system--how it is
performing, are there any incidents, and live weather conditions.
Moving People, Data, and Freight recommends increasing the Federal
match to 100 percent for installation of V2I safety technologies. We
also recommend expanding eligibility to include data collection and
analysis software (including data acquisition through private sector
partnership), maintenance and operations, fiber, integration, the costs
associated with systems, and equipment required for V2I communications
technology.
Pedestrian deaths increased by an estimated 4 percent and
``pedalcyclist'' deaths increased by an estimated 10 percent in 2018,
according to NHTSA's preliminary statistics. V2X will enable deployment
of safety solutions to protect these vulnerable users of the system. By
allowing vehicles to communicate with users through sensors or vehicle-
to-device communication, we can significantly reduce the number of
people killed on our roadways. V2P encompasses a broad set of road
users--people walking, children being pushed in strollers, people using
wheelchairs or other mobility devices, passengers embarking and
disembarking buses and trains, and people riding bicycles and scooters.
ITS America recommends expanding eligibility under the Advanced
Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment
(ATCMTD) program to include V2P technologies.
Expand Investments in Advanced Mobility Improvements
ITS America supports expanding eligibility under highway programs
to include advanced mobility safety improvements including data
infrastructure and analysis, smart mobility improvements such as smart
truck parking, smart work zones, smart pavements, predictive analytics
platform, and build out of electric vehicle charging stations, hydrogen
fueling infrastructure, natural gas fueling infrastructure, and other
alternative fuels.
Due to the lack of truck parking availability information and safe
and convenient truck parking spaces, tired commercial vehicle operators
may continue to drive while searching for a place to park and rest,
resulting in fatigue-associated crashes. Florida, Texas, Arizona, and
California are among a growing number of states planning and deploying
smart truck parking technologies for real-time truck parking
availability. Smart truck parking technology uses a combination of
inpavement space occupancy detection for the location with mixed
vehicle type usage and microwave vehicle detection for monitoring of
ingress/egress at the weigh stations.
Another example of an advanced mobility improvement is data
analytics. The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
(RTC) is using predictive analytics to improve safety and efficiency on
freeways, including key freight corridors and major arterials by
compiling and analyzing data to report in real-time the location of
accidents and predict where dangerous driving conditions or congestion
may occur. This technology enables faster validation and response to
roadway incidents as well as a more efficient use of resources to
proactively deploy traffic patrols and abatement efforts with the goal
of preventing incidents.
Plan for Transformative Transportation Technologies
States, providers of public transportation, and Metropolitan
Planning Organizations (MPOs) are expanding beyond traditional long-
range scenario planning, which holds fixed certain transportation and
land use assumptions, to consider big questions facing the
transportation system, including whether connected and automated
vehicles will increase the vehicle capacity of existing highway lanes;
how automation and active transportation connections might help solve
the first mile/last mile transit challenge; what roadway investments
could incentivize the shift to connected and automated vehicles; how to
make sure the entire transportation system is working together; and how
to expedite technology safety benefits. Increased funding and
flexibility will help planners analyze project performance across a
range of different futures, including ensuring all modes of
transportation work in concert and will lead to more informed project
prioritization that maximizes the benefits of connected and automated
technologies.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), MPO for the San
Francisco Bay Area, launched Horizon, a new effort to plan for, and
help shape, a range of possible connected and automated vehicle
futures. By expanding beyond traditional long-range scenario planning,
which holds fixed certain transportation and land use assumptions,
Horizon will help inform big questions facing the transportation
industry, such as:
Will connected and automated vehicles substantially increase
the vehicle capacity of existing highway lanes? If so, does it
make sense to add additional physical capacity today?
How might automation help solve the first mile/last-mile
transit challenge, reducing barriers to transit ridership? What
type of investments are needed to get us there?
What roadway investments could incentivize the shift to
connected and automated vehicles and expedite short-term safety
benefits?
Ultimately, this effort could help planners analyze project
performance across a range of different futures and lead to more
informed project prioritization. Though the benefits may be
significant, this planning effort requires substantial time and
resources. Additional Federal planning funds and flexibility to
experiment with innovative initiatives like Horizon could support
transportation planners in efforts to maximize the benefits of
connected automated technologies.
Moving People, Data, and Freight supports additional planning funds
to help regions and states better address complexities around
transformative transportation technologies and climate change in the
context of an integrated multimodal transportation system. ITS America
also supports additional planning funds and flexibility to the planning
process to prepare for a range of possible connected and automated
vehicle future scenarios.
Deploy Broadband to Support Intelligent Transportation Technologies
Telecommunication technologies, such as broadband, are essential to
the transport of people, data, and freight. Assisting states and
localities with recovering costs associated with conduit installation,
maintenance of conduit, and conduit inventory is critical to increasing
broadband installation, especially in rural areas and economically
disadvantaged urban areas. Combining broadband conduit installation
with highway and road construction will result in decreased frequency
of construction on highways and roads, reduce broadband installation
costs, increase access to and reliability of broadband networks,
increase public and economic benefits, and decrease the time needed to
deploy fiber.
Moving People, Data, and Freight supports a new authorization that
supports smart highways and streets with broadband fiber optic cable to
make roads safer by establishing new Federal funding to assist states
and localities to coordinate statewide telecommunication and broadband
plans and state and local transportation and land use plans, including
strategies to minimize repeated excavations that involve the
installation of broadband infrastructure in a right-of-way, among other
activities that promote broadband conduit installation.
Increase Buildout of Alternative Fuel Vehicle Infrastructure to Support
a Future of Zero Emission Vehicles
Alternative Fuel Vehicles are shaping the future of mobility, and
the United States is poised to lead a global transition to zero
emission vehicles (ZEV). Nevertheless, U.S. government analysis
suggests that additional ZEV infrastructure investments will be
required to satisfy the future of transportation. ZEV sales continue to
increase year-over-year; however, these new mobility options will need
21st century infrastructure to continue to spur consumer adoption and
address consumers' ``range anxiety''. U.S. government analysis suggests
that current and projected deployments represent only a fraction of the
estimated demand.
Moving People, Data, and Freight supports a new grant program to
support state and local governments' efforts with infrastructure
providers to invest in electric vehicle charging and hydrogen fueling
infrastructure along designated alternative fuel corridors. ITS America
also supports increasing Federal funding under the Surface
Transportation Block (STBG) Grant program and Congestion Mitigation and
Air Quality (CMAQ) program to rapidly build out electric vehicle
charging stations, hydrogen refueling stations, natural gas
infrastructure, and technologies such as inductive charging to speed
the deployment. The platform also supports the zero-emission plug-in
electric vehicle tax credit, an additional allocation of zero-emission
plug-in electric vehicle tax credits reserved for medium-duty
commercial delivery vans, and the reinstatement of a zero-emission
consumer tax credit for the purchase of fuel cell vehicles.
Build Transformative and Adaptive Infrastructure for Deployment of
Intelligent Transportation Technologies to Mitigate Climate
Change
States, metropolitan regions, and cities will require substantial
investment to adapt infrastructure to be resilient in a changing
climate and responsive to a new mobility paradigm. Federally supported,
near-term infrastructure improvements will provide the dual benefit of
immediately mitigating carbon-emitting congestion while preparing our
Nation for intelligent mobility and smart infrastructure.
ITS America recommends establishing a new flexible program to make
transportation networks more resilient in the face of a changing
climate and more responsive to the technology-fueled transformation in
how people and goods move. The program should be highly flexible,
modeneutral and include formula and discretionary components. Eligible
projects should include capital and operational investments that
improve both near-term and long-term system safety and performance.
Examples include programs to support deployment of automated vehicles;
V2X communications technologies; priced managed lanes; transportation
demand management programs; strategic micro-transit investments;
advanced parking freight delivery and incident management systems;
alternative fuel charging infrastructure and other advanced
technologies to support a clean transportation system; and climate
mitigation/resiliency improvements. Moving People, Data, and Freight
supports policy to make eligible funding for renewable energy projects
in the Interstate rights-of-way for transportation use by states and
localities for transportation related purposes.
Establish a Mobility on Demand (MOD) Program for the New World of
Mobility
In the 21st century, mobility is less about moving vehicles and
more about moving people, data and freight. Long-existing silos among
cities, states, counties, road and transit agencies are disappearing;
and private mobility service providers barely existed a decade ago.
More choices exist now, but for people to fully realize the benefits of
this new world of mobility, it must be easier to choose which option
best meets their needs. This also means services that are accessible
for every traveler and in all communities and neighborhoods.
In cities, Mobility on Demand (MOD) offers convenient, affordable,
and, in the case of bikeshare, rideshare or micromobility services,
more sustainable alternatives to driving within congested environments.
For suburban areas, MOD offers first mile/last mile accessibility to
transit, as well as more dynamic on-demand services to get around town.
While often seen as an urban/metro transportation solution, MOD
deployed in rural areas also provides first mile/last mile (though more
like first/last 50 miles) connections to transit, intercity bus and
rail transport, and essential air service airports. Rideshare and ride
sourcing is providing support for seniors to access social and health
services. Micromobility services offer options to travel in town. MOD
includes bikeshare and scooter share deployments on college campuses.
New and improved MOD transit and paratransit services also can benefit
rural communities.
The framework for aggregating and managing supply and demand
depends on connected data rather than on a particular technology. MOD
is powered by technology and mobility services that currently and will
include:
Data systems and data analytics platforms, specifically open
data platforms, open source technologies, and data sharing
agreements that allow public and controlled access to mobility
data to plan real-time operations and longer-term planning;
Asset management systems (parking, curb, freight delivery),
specifically to provide opportunity for mapping assets to
develop more comprehensive use management strategies and value
pricing systems (e.g., assessing a fee for curb-side passenger
drop off, or use of designated delivery or drop-off zone or
conversely a fee for not using provided zones);
Security/safety systems: this can be physical technologies--
like locking systems for bikeshares where bikes must be secured
at the end of a trip--or cybersecurity systems. With the
potential introduction of automated/autonomous vehicles into
MOD services, like rideshare, it will be increasingly important
to have systems that monitor performance and track/mitigate any
security breaches. It also may be increasingly important to
have systems that confirm that the rider is the intended
person, and also potentially (in the case of AVs, per say)
monitor that riders are safe throughout their trip.
Geospatial Technology: defined as the collective data and
associated technology that has a geographic or locational
component; Technology used to acquire, manipulate, and store
geographic information. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is
one form of geospatial technology. GPS, remote sensing, and
geofencing are other examples of geospatial technology.--
Geofencing, for example, is being used in scootershare and
bikeshare programs to monitor use and designate certain areas
as no-go or no-park zones.
Connected vehicle platforms and data, specifically to
provide opportunity for real-time operations such as deployment
of emergency service providers, rerouting of traffic during
major events, and fleet management (public or private);
Integrated trip planning technology platforms that power
travel across a variety of modes, including public
transportation, transportation network companies, car and bike
sharing services, micro-transit providers, and even private
vehicle mobility planning;
Integrated booking and payment systems that power seamless
travel across a variety of modes to include both public and
private mobility services;
Integrated payment systems for transportation adjacencies or
value-pricing asset usage (e.g., tolling, congestion pricing,
dynamic parking, curb-side pricing, motor vehicle
administrative transactions, electric charging stations);
Integrated payment systems that include other specialized
and demand-response transportation (e.g., human service
transportation, faith-based transportation, nonemergency
medical transportation, paratransit, volunteer-based
transportation, closed or open loop shuttle services, employee
and campus transportation); and
Integrated payment systems that could include multiple non-
transit/non-mobility services (e.g., retail, incentivization,
loyalty programs); social programs (e.g., travelers with
disabilities, student discounts, transit benefits, social
security, senior citizens, veteran benefits, human service
programs); and access and authorization (e.g., student cards,
government IDs, campus/academic cards, library access,
community and facility access, municipal programs, age-based
programs).
In the future, Augmented Reality (AR) enhanced by 5G connectivity
could make MOD and the delivery of real-time data even more useful. For
instance, AR can be used to create interactive maps to help people
navigate transit systems. By using the camera in a traveler's mobile
device and superimposing digital information on what the camera is
capturing, AR can make it easier for the user to make more informed
decisions based on up-to-date information. Holding a mobile device on
top of a transit map, for example, would allow users to see real-time
movement of trains and buses near their location.
Access to transportation means access to jobs, education, and
healthcare, which is a major challenge for people with disabilities.
New technologies have in the past and will continue to expand access to
transportation. According to the U.S. Census, nearly one in five people
in the United States have a disability. They also represent significant
pent-up demand for transportation services. As a result, it is
anticipated that there will be a notable increase in travel should
fully automated vehicles succeed in expanding mobility access. The
Policy Institute of AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired
Persons) estimates that one-third of U.S. residents do not drive.
Recent research by Carnegie Mellon University suggests that if non-
drivers, such as older adults and people with disabilities, were to
gain access to automated vehicles, VMT could increase up to 14 percent.
To put this in perspective, VMT growth usually hovers around one
percent annually. Nearly everyone experiences disability at one time or
another, often the result of injury, sickness, or aging. Furthermore,
access to transportation may also help older adults remain in their
homes to age in place, and independence in mobility not only often
improves the lives of those who achieve it but also reduces associated
burdens and stress on care-giving family members.
MOD may also promise expansion of accessible transportation.
Transit agencies are contracting with shared ride and ride hailing
companies to provide paratransit services. As a result, ridehailing
services become less like taxi services and more like paratransit.
Under these contracts, ride-hailing services must provide accessible
vehicles and driver assistance.
ITS America has worked with the auto industry, tech companies,
groups representing people with disabilities, and the Departments of
Transportation, Labor and Health and Human Services to devise roadmap
for accessibility in new automated and connected vehicle systems.
Moving People, Data, and Freight supports establishing a MOD
program that encourages flexibility within Federal transportation
programs to meet changing mobility needs, including partnerships with
companies offering shared-use trips (car, bicycle, new mobility modes),
data management, and other technology companies for first mile/last
mile services and improved freight delivery, the integration of
mobility services and technologies, and new fare and integrated payment
technologies. ITS America supports a MOD program that establishes a
data sharing framework that provides standardization for the transfer
of data among transportation operators and providers to foster the
efficient use of capacity, enhance management of new modes of mobility,
and promote the creation of innovative planning tools.
Strengthen the University Transportation Centers Program
Moving People, Data, and Freight supports reforms in the University
Transportation Centers program that directs grants to universities with
research and technical expertise; encourages leading edge as well as
near-term practical applied research (reduce the time period from
research concept to completion); encourages broader inclusion of ITS-
related curriculum, degrees, and professional development programs for
current and future workforce; and increases opportunities for private
sector funding contributions.
Conclusion
Just as transportation infrastructure was critical to the
development of our economy in the 20th century, maintenance of existing
infrastructure and deployment of intelligent mobility and smart
infrastructure will be critical for our global competitiveness in this
century. Advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and wireless
communications will define the way people, goods, services, and
information move in the 21st century.
New forms of mobility are being deployed even as others are being
developed. When cars were invented a century ago, Departments of Roads
were created to build infrastructure for this new form of
transportation. Those agencies are now Departments of Transportation,
having grown to include many modes of transportation. Now those same
agencies are evolving again to provide seamless multimodal mobility and
to build smart infrastructure that will support the technology-driven
21st-century economy, which is all about moving, people, data, and
freight.
Changes are happening today that will fundamentally affect how
people interact with transportation in the months and years ahead. ITS
America is helping cities, states, the private sector, and researchers
as we work toward our vision of a better future transformed by
intelligent mobility--one that is safer, greener, and smarter.
Our members come to one table--ITS America--to shape the next
generation of transportation and infrastructure driven by intelligent
transportation technologies.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today, and I am
happy to answer any questions you may have.
***
ITS America acknowledges the contributions of ITS America Smart
Infrastructure Task Force FAST Act Reauthorization co-chairs John
Barton, National DOT Market Sector and Senior Vice President, HNTB, and
Tina Quigley, Chief Executive Officer, Regional Transportation
Commission of Southern Nevada, and more than 40 members of the task
force representing the strength of ITS America: states, cities,
metropolitan planning organizations, automakers, technology companies,
research universities, and engineering, construction, and technical
services firms. ITS America acknowledges the assistance of Boyagian
Consulting.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Fischer. Thank you very much.
Our next panelist is Mr. Patrick Duffy, who is President of
Blockchain in Transport Alliance.
Welcome.
STATEMENT OF PATRICK DUFFY, PRESIDENT,
BLOCKCHAIN IN TRANSPORTATION ALLIANCE
Mr. Duffy. Thank you. Chairwoman Fischer, Ranking Member
Duckworth, and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for
holding this timely hearing.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to submit my testimony to
the Committee's hearing on Examining Technological Innovations
in Transportation and for allowing for me to appear here on
Capitol Hill.
I look forward to the opportunity to share my thoughts
regarding the massive opportunities associated to the
digitization of analog and legacy processes across the supply
chain of the transportation sectors, including blockchain's
impactful role.
Numerous emerging technologies are transforming the surface
transportation realities for operators and users of over-the-
road trucking and rail industries in the United States, moving
from the antiquated analog systems through the exploration of
technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain and
machine learning, to cite a few.
This process of digitizing the data associated with supply
chains that leverage the services of transport providers on the
Nation's roads, highways, interstates, railroads, at sea and
air routes, holds the promise of greatly improving commercial
efficiencies but may also help produce more resilient data
systems and impact the safety and security of our conduits of
commerce.
One of the biggest drivers of digitization in the freight
industry today is the rapid deployment of blockchain technology
to solve some of transportation's biggest headaches. Blockchain
is the tip of the spear in the fight to digitize some of the
antiquated systems and practices used in the transportation,
logistics, and supply chain sectors.
Among the major catalysts for digitization are the value-
deriving benefits that can be realized by increasing trust
between counterparties.
One of the technologies that can enhance trust between
counterparties is distributed ledger technology, often referred
to as blockchain and sometimes as the blockchain. So what is
blockchain? Is it a currency, a code, a server?
In reality, blockchain is simply a type of database
functioning as a ledger in which transactions are stored as
blocks of data that are recorded in a protected manner. The
introduction of new data or the modification of existing data
can only be done with the agreement of those individuals or
organizations on that ledger. That agreement is needed before
previously recorded data can be changed, overwritten, or
deleted.
While cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a wide
spectrum of all coins leverage blockchain technology to record
transactions, it's important to recognize that blockchains are
not cryptocurrencies. Blockchain is, however, an ideal
technology for security because it is an immutable distributed
ledger. This ledger records every transaction or change.
Transactions cannot be obscured, hidden, or erased after the
fact.
So how will this technology be useful in the context of
over-the-road transportation in the United States? Take the
customs process. It's slow with components often reliant on the
transfer of paper documents and the use of fax machines, a
situation ripe for human-induced error.
By leveraging technologies like blockchain and through the
digitization of analog processes required to leverage
blockchain in a meaningful way, it may be possible to mitigate
data-driven situations before they become problems.
For instance, consider the romaine lettuce scare in the
United States that we experienced in 2018. Dangerous E.coli
bacteria was introduced into the Nation's food supply. Moving
through the supply chain that contaminated lettuce was used in
fast food and white tablecloth restaurants and homes across the
United States, whether in a salad or as a topping for a
cheeseburger or a taco, the lettuce was eaten by unsuspecting
consumers. This situation resulted in deaths, many consumers
were sickened and financial hardships occurred.
Even though that contaminated romaine lettuce was a small
percentage of the total romaine lettuce in the market, all
romaine lettuce was pulled from grocery store shelves and
restaurant coolers.
The dangerous bacteria infiltrated the agricultural supply
chain and because of legacy and analog processes, the
contaminated legacy provenance was not easily identified by
regulators. They faced an arduous task to identify the
contaminated produce.
Because that data could not be quickly determined,
regulators were left with no other choice but to remove the
product from U.S. commerce.
If the lettuce had been registered on a blockchain, track
and trace would have been relatively easy. Many of those
sickened might not have been and time and costs of the
investigation would have been less. That's the power of
blockchain.
Digital breadcrumbs indicating the who, what, when, and
where and why of a supply chain enhanced through the use of
technologies, including blockchain, may provide an opportunity
to catch challenges before they become a crisis.
It's my honor and privilege to be here today representing
the Blockchain in Transportation Alliance, most commonly
referred to as BITA. Our mission is to help educate
stakeholders advocate for the adoption of innovative
technologies and through collaboration among member companies
and organizations and their talented staff members to establish
standards around the data components that comprise the world's
supply chain and transportation technologies.
These companies come together generating standards that
will drive innovation in the digitization space for decades to
come. BITA has moved faster than anyone expected to release its
first standards in February and has three more in the pipeline
that we expect to unveil later this summer.
In normal time, many of these companies working to develop
these standards work in fierce commercial competition, but they
come together in agreement in our rooms.
Using blockchain in the near future, we'll have answers to
questions, such as was a vaccine kept at a correct temperature?
When were aircraft parts damaged in transit? Where were these
salmon caught, and what was their path to consumer? These are
problems that the industries struggle to solve with every day
and consumers are asking for answers.
With blockchain digitization, they have an immutable ledger
that can hold up in court. In short, we'll be able to state
with certainty that a certain thing has happened at a certain
time and place.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Duffy follows:]
Prepared Statement of Patrick Duffy, President,
Blockchain in Transport Alliance
Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Duckworth, and members of this
Subcommittee, thank you for holding this timely hearing.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to submit written testimony for
the Committee's hearing on ``Examining Technological Innovations in
Transportation,'' and for allowing me to appear today on Capitol Hill.
I look forward to the opportunity to share my thoughts regarding
the massive opportunities associated to the digitization of analog and
legacy processes across the supply chain and transportation sectors,
including blockchain's impactful role.
Numerous emerging technologies are transforming the surface
transportation realities for operators and users of over-the-road
trucking and rail industries in the United States--moving from
antiquated analog systems through the exploration of technologies,
including artificial intelligence, blockchain and machine learning, to
cite a few.
This process of digitizing the data associated with supply chains
that leverage the services of transport providers on the Nation's
roads, highways, interstates, railways and sea and air routes holds the
promise of greatly improving commercial efficiencies, but may also help
produce more resilient data systems that impact the safety and security
of our conduits of commerce.
One of the biggest drivers of digitization in the freight industry
today is the rapid deployment of blockchain technology to solve some of
transportation's biggest headaches. Blockchain is the tip of the spear
in the fight to digitize some of the most antiquated systems and
practices used in the transportation/logistics/supply chain sectors.
Among the major catalysts for digitization are the value-driving
benefits that can be realized by increasing trust between
counterparties.
One of the technologies that can enhance trust between
counterparties is distributed ledger technology, often referred to as
``blockchain'' and sometimes as ``the Blockchain.''
So what is blockchain? Is it a currency? A code? A server? In
reality, blockchain is simply a type of database, functioning as a
ledger in which transactions are stored as blocks of data that are
recorded in a protected manner. The introduction of new data, or the
modification of existing data can only be done with the agreement of
those individuals or organizations on that ledger. That agreement is
needed before previously recorded data can be changed, overwritten or
deleted.
While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a wide spectrum
of alt-coins leverage blockchain technology to record transactions, it
is important to recognize that blockchains are not cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain is, however, an ideal technology for security because it
is an immutable distributed ledger. This ledger records every
transaction or change. Transactions cannot be obscured, hidden, or
erased after the fact.
So how will this technology be useful within the context of over-
the-road transportation in the United States?
Take the customs process. It's slow, with components often reliant
on the transference of paper documents and the use of fax machines--a
situation ripe for human-induced error. By leveraging technologies like
blockchain, and through the digitization of analog processes required
to leverage blockchain in a meaningful way, it may be possible to
mitigate data-driven situations before they become problems.
For instance, consider the romaine lettuce scare the United States
experienced in 2018. Dangerous e. Coli bacteria was introduced into the
Nation's food supply. Moving through the supply chain, that
contaminated lettuce was used in fast-food and white tablecloth
restaurants and in homes across the United States. Whether used in a
salad, or as a topping on cheeseburgers or tacos, the lettuce was eaten
by unsuspecting consumers.
This situation resulted in deaths, many consumers were sickened and
financial hardships occurred. Even though the contaminated romaine
lettuce was a small percentage of total romaine lettuce in the market,
all romaine lettuce was pulled from grocery store shelves and
restaurant coolers.
The dangerous bacteria infiltrated the agricultural supply chain,
and because of legacy and analog processes, the contaminated lettuce's
provenance was not easily identified by regulators. They faced an
arduous task to identify the contaminated produce. Because that data
could not be quickly determined, regulators were left with no other
choice but to remove the product from U.S. commerce.
If the lettuce had been registered on a blockchain, track and trace
would have been relatively easy. Many of those sickened might not have
been. The time and cost of the investigation would have been less. That
is the power of blockchain.
Digital `breadcrumbs' indicating the who, what, when, where and why
of a supply chain, enhanced through the use of technologies including
blockchain may provide an opportunity to catch challenges before they
become a crisis.
The real-life example used involved romaine lettuce, but it could
be baby formula--as recently occurred in China--or the agricultural
inputs associated with antibiotics.
Looking back we should consider ourselves lucky; a breakdown in an
arcane process led to deaths and illnesses, but it could have been
much, much worse--and the next outbreak of contaminated foods or faulty
products may lead to serious harm for millions of U.S. citizens.
It's my honor and privilege to be here today representing the
Blockchain in Transport Alliance, most commonly referred to as BiTA.
Our mission is to help educate stakeholders, advocate for the
adoption of innovative technologies, and through collaboration among
member companies and organizations, and their talented staff members,
to establish standards around the data components that comprise the
world's supply chain and transportation technologies.
Since its inception in 2017, BITA has moved expeditiously to
identify use cases where the standardization of data would be
beneficial for parties involved in supply chain and transportation. And
it's important to realize that this work is not being done in silos or
by a group of interested ``techies.'' BiTA is comprised of hundreds of
member companies representing more than $1 trillion in revenue
annually. The membership base spans the spectrum from technology
companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce, to some of the
world's most important conveyors of goods like BNSF, Delta, FedEx, J.B.
Hunt and UPS, and all types of companies and organizations that either
leverage their services or provide ancillary products and/or services.
These companies together are generating standards that will drive
innovation in the digitization space for decades to come. BiTA has
moved, faster than anyone expected, to release its first standard this
February, and has three more in the pipeline that we expect will be
unveiled later this summer.
In normal times, many of these companies working on developing
standards are fierce commercial competitors. But we've seen them put
aside their differences and work together to improve the way we
transport everything from bullets to baby formula. Blockchain
technology will improve safety in the supply chain, increase
transparency, unlock value across the commercial ecosystem, empower
small businesses and give regulators the tools they need to make the
best decisions.
The essential goal of BiTA is to help guide and promote the
creation of open source blockchain systems in the transportation
industry. Blockchain in transport may function as a digital referee
capable of providing high-fidelity data to enable users to make better-
informed decisions.
The technology is quickly moving from the experimental--being
looked at in universities and research organizations--to being
implemented within the technology stacks, and business processes, of
the world's largest companies and organizations.
So why talk about standards? Because all too often new technologies
are delayed because of the development of multiple proprietary systems
that are not designed to work with each other. Take Windows versus Mac,
or Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD, or Betamax versus VHS. And how many different
shapes and sizes of cables have we used over the years to charge our
mobile phones or plug in our computers?
The purpose of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance is to bring all
freight industry stakeholders together to create a global language
around the data components that comprise the supply chain and
transportation technologies that power the global economy.
Using blockchain, in the near future we will have answers to
questions such as: Was a vaccine kept at the correct temperature? When
were the aircraft parts damaged in transit? Where were these salmon
caught and what was their path to the consumer?
These are problems that the industry struggles to solve every day,
and consumers are asking for answers. With blockchain digitization,
they have an immutable ledger that can hold up in court.
In short, we will be able to state with certainty that a certain
thing happened at a certain time and a certain place.
Thank you.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, sir.
Next, we have Ann Schlenker, who is the Director of the
Center for Transportation Research at Argonne National
Laboratory.
Welcome.
STATEMENT OF ANN SCHLENKER, DIRECTOR,
CENTER FOR TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH,
ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY
Ms. Schlenker. Thank you. Chairwoman Fischer, Ranking
Member Duckworth, and members of the Subcommittee, thank you
for the opportunity to appear before you today.
It is my honor to talk to you about how the U.S. Department
of Energy, National Laboratories, bring prosperity and security
to all Americans by making transportation more affordable,
efficient, accessible, and safe.
I am Ann Schlenker, Director of the Center for
Transportation Research at Argonne DOE's multidisciplinary
National Laboratory near Chicago.
I am privileged to lead a team of scientists and engineers
working on a research portfolio that ranges from components to
vehicles to transportation as a holistic system. My passion for
transportation runs deep and long.
I serve as co-chair of the Systems and Modeling for
Accelerated Research and Transportation, or SMART, Mobility
Consortia. The consortium is an initiative of the Vehicle
Technologies Office within DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy.
The consortia, which includes Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence
Berkeley, National Renewable Energy, and Oak Ridge National
Labs, studies transportation across many rapidly changing
facets, including connected and automated vehicles, urban
science, advanced fueling infrastructure, decision science, and
multimodal transportation.
The program is creating new knowledge, insights, tools, and
technology solutions that increase mobility and energy
productivity for individuals and businesses. Our scalable smart
mobility projects target opportunities to greatly increase the
efficient and affordable movement of people and goods.
That phrase ``movement of people and goods'' is
significant. Mobility is the foundation of how humanity
interacts. It is fundamental to our quality of life.
Transportation gives us access to opportunities for good food,
good jobs, quality education, superior health care, and leisure
moments with nature.
Now more than ever before, we have the potential to not
only move more but move smarter; that is, more affordably and
cleaner and with ever more increasing choices.
The DOE National Laboratories use integrated scalable
models, tools, and field experiments to study the effects of
advanced vehicle and infrastructure changes, new business
models, transportation modes, and other factors for the
transportation systems.
The result is expanded understanding from the vehicle to
the city level. We can tailor our assessments for regional
outcomes, such as vehicle miles traveled, vehicle hours
traveled, passenger miles traveled, energy used, cost
effectiveness, greenhouse gas emitted, productivity gains, and
more.
The aging U.S. population, urbanization, shared
transportation usage, and expectation of on-demand goods and
services and real-time information availability drive traveler
activities and decisions.
Transportation researchers seek automation,
electrification, and other mobility solutions to address these
new realities while remaining cognizant that as a nation, we
are not fully connected and advancements need to fit broadly.
The range of solutions is broad and poised to impact
efficiency and safety in dense urban areas as well as in rural
locations. Automated vehicles equipped with sensors for
situational awareness and connectivity help us glean
information from other cars on the roadway for rural benefits
of improved efficiency and reduced collisions.
In an urban setting, we can use vehicle-to-vehicle and
vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity to improve safety and
increase traffic flow with smart traffic signals and smart
parking apps.
Shared services and automation will provide today's
underserved population with increased access and affordability.
Our ability to understand the complex interactions between
all these systems, technologies, business models, and emerging
travel modes is paramount to achieving secure and robust smart
mobility.
Applying the DOE National Laboratories' computational
horsepower, artificial intelligence, and data analytics is in a
scenario-based framework for analyzing the potential mobility
future. We come away knowing how to guide implementation of new
solutions that maximize benefits while minimizing the downside.
Research recently conducted by Argonne in the Chicago
region demonstrates the kind of insights DOE laboratories can
provide stakeholders to help them prepare for these new
futures.
Research showed that, for example, private ownership of
highly automated vehicles, the vehicle miles traveled could
increase by greater than 40 percent, in turn causing network
speeds to decrease about 15 percent as a surrogate of
congestion.
Conversely, in a transportation network with high-sharing
behaviors, that is, greater reliance on mass transit and ride-
sharing services, vehicle miles traveled could be reduced by 13
percent and energy usage reduced by over 25 percent, while
still netting that exact same mobility to serve our population.
This type of analysis is possible to capture the upside and
manage any downside in mobility futures.
Collaborations across government agencies are another
example of key partnering. DOE and the Department of
Transportation partner on many automated, connected, and
efficient shared mobility projects. DOE complements DOT
research, development, demonstration, and deployment portfolio
by offering tools and capabilities in modeling and simulation,
managing and analyzing data, and quantifying technology
benefits.
DOE also has partnered on the DOT Smart City Challenge.
DOE's National Laboratories are a powerhouse of science,
technology, and engineering. They are principal agents of
execution on missions of national importance, including the
effort to provide greater mobility in the vehicle and travelers
within the transportation system.
Work at the National Labs continues to make mobility more
affordable, efficient, safe, and convenient.
Thank you for your time. I welcome any comments you might
have.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Schlenker follows:]
Prepared Statement of Ann Schlenker, Director, Center for
Transportation Research, Argonne National Laboratory
Chairwoman Fischer, Ranking Member Duckworth, and members of the
subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you. It is
my honor to talk to you about how the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
national laboratories bring prosperity and security to all Americans by
making transportation more affordable, efficient, accessible, and safe.
I am Ann Schlenker, director of the Center for Transportation
Research at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory, one of America's first
and largest multipurpose science and engineering laboratories, located
in Lemont, Illinois, near Chicago. Prior to joining Argonne in 2009, I
worked for Chrysler, LLC, for more than 30 years, most recently as
Director of Advanced Vehicle Engineering and Alliances. During my
career in industry I held a variety of executive engineering positions
in research, regulatory development, and front-line product
development. My passion for transportation runs deep and long.
As director of the Argonne center, I am privileged to lead a team
of scientists and engineers working on a research portfolio that ranges
from components to vehicles to transportation as a holistic system. We
are improving engine fuel efficiency, evaluating vehicles in virtual
and experimental contexts, studying low carbon fuel potentials,
improving and validating vehicle electrification interoperability and
security with the Smart Grid, and studying complex transportation
systems.
I serve as co-chair of the Systems and Modeling for Accelerated
Research in Transportation, or SMART, Mobility Consortium. The
consortium is an initiative of the Vehicle Technologies Office within
DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. The consortium,
which includes Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence Berkeley, National Renewable
Energy, and Oak Ridge national labs, studies transportation across many
rapidly changing facets, including connected and automated vehicles,
urban science, advanced fueling infrastructure, decision science, and
multi-modal transportation.
The SMART Mobility Consortium is part of DOE's Energy Efficient
Mobility Systems (EEMS) Program, which envisions an affordable,
efficient, safe, and accessible transportation future. The program is
conducting cutting-edge research at the vehicle, traveler, and system
levels, creating new knowledge, insights, tools, and technology
solutions that increase mobility and energy productivity for
individuals and businesses. Our scalable smart mobility projects target
opportunities to greatly increase the efficient and affordable movement
of people and goods.
Mobility Underpins Quality of Life
That phrase, ``movement of people and goods,'' is significant.
Mobility is a foundation of how humanity interacts. It is fundamental
to our quality of life. Transportation gives us access to opportunity
in the form of healthy food, good jobs, quality education, superior
health care, and leisure moments with nature. Now, more than ever
before, we have the potential to not only move more, but move smarter--
that is, more affordably and cleanly and with ever increasing choice.
It is natural that the DOE national laboratories, with our mission to
accelerate the science and technology that drive U.S. prosperity and
security, have a critical role in realizing the potential of smart
mobility. The laboratories possess tools, teams, and expertise that
exist nowhere else and deliver impact through use-inspired solutions
that address the complex, long-term challenges we face.
To understand the transformational power of smart mobility
solutions, we need only look at previous transportation revolutions. I
began my career working on emissions in the days of brown clouds and
hazy skies as the Clean Air Act was being implemented. My fellow auto
and oil industry researchers and I developed solutions that achieved a
99 percent improvement in vehicle emissions for tangible air quality
gains while at the same time doubling fuel economy. Research and
development drove a similar transformation in automobile safety,
starting with the passive solutions of seat belts and air bags and
evolving to active safety innovations including anti-lock braking
systems, electronic stability controls, and safety sensors and cameras.
These active systems are standard today and are paving the path to
further vehicle automation.
The knowledge and technology we are creating now have the power to
create the next transportation revolution, one of smart mobility. We
use integrated, scalable models, tools, and field experiments to study
the effects of advanced vehicle and infrastructure technologies, new
business models, transportation modes and other factors on
transportation systems--the result is expanded understanding from the
vehicle to the city level. We can tailor our assessments of complex
transportation mobility systems to desired regional outcomes such as
vehicle miles traveled, vehicle hours traveled, passenger miles
traveled, energy used, costs affected, greenhouse gases emitted,
productivity generated, and more.
Transportation is Changing; New Solutions Can Meet Emerging Demands
Across All Areas
Despite all the ways in which we can connect virtually, we are
traveling more today, on a variety of modes, than ever before. Trips on
what is called micromobility--scooters, bikes, e-bikes--doubled in 2018
to 84 million trips in a single year. Transportation network companies
such as Uber, Lyft, and Via weren't operating 10 years ago; today in
the U.S. they account for an annual 4.2 billion trips and counting.
The number of annual vehicle miles traveled continues to increase,
with incremental increases in travel times due to congestion now
totaling some 42 hours per year--that's an average of $1,300 in
financial terms--per traveler. Transportation costs are now second only
to housing expenses. The aging U.S. population, urbanization, and a
shift toward shared transportation usage also drive the need for
creative thinking and solutions to meet new mobility demands.
All these transportation trends are borne of changes in traveler
choice and consumer behavior. We now expect on-demand services and
goods, as well as real-time information to guide our way of life and
activities--witness the navigation and routing apps that allow us to
choose the greenest, cheapest, or fastest option, or even delay or
cancel a trip in light of real-time traffic information. Transportation
researchers like me seek automation, electrification, and other
mobility solutions to address these new realities while remaining
cognizant that as a nation we are not fully connected and advancements
need to fit broadly.
The range of solutions that inform traveler choices and optimize
our movement and the movement of our goods is broad and poised to
impact efficiency and safety in dense urban areas as well as in rural
locations. Automated vehicles equipped with sensors for situational
awareness and connectivity help us glean information from other cars
and the roadway for rural area benefits of improved efficiency and
reduced collisions. In an urban setting, we can use vehicle-to-vehicle
and vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity to improve safety and
increase traffic flow with smart signal intersections. Smart parking
apps enable us to improve our energy use by reducing the amount of time
we drive around, instead directing us to open spots with reliable
information. Shared services and automation will provide today's
underserved population with access and affordability.
It is important to note that this connectivity requires the high-
speed 5.9 gigahertz spectrum that has been reserved for vehicle-related
safety applications. Without this spectrum, the promise of future
mobility technology could be significantly reduced.
Solutions that make ride hail companies more complementary to mass
transit and other solutions that enable seamless intermodal (for
example, between air and ground or bike and bus) transportation
increase our efficient movement, while multimodal freight solutions do
the same for our goods. Our ability to understand the complex
interactions between all these systems, technologies, business models,
and emerging travel modes is paramount to achieving secure and robust
smart mobility.
National Laboratories Perfectly Positioned to Lead
DOE national labs leverage distinguishing capabilities in science,
unique user facilities, and external collaboration networks to execute
pioneering research into solutions that will satisfy consumer mobility
needs in a technology-rich and on-demand service-oriented economy. We
are applying our established expertise in advanced computer science,
visualization, data, decision science and analysis, and systems
engineering and integration--as well as our capabilities in artificial
intelligence, big data, computation, and predictive analytics--to the
tough mobility challenges the public and private sectors face.
Applying the DOE national labs computational horsepower--some of
the world's fastest supercomputers are located at Argonne and other
labs--to our transportation system modeling and simulation underpins
our smart mobility work. This capability gives us a scenario-based
framework for analyzing potential mobility futures, allowing us to
easily and quickly adjust various parameters. The result is greater
insight into impacts with broad knowledge transfer and applicability.
We come away knowing how to guide implementation of new solutions that
maximize benefits while minimizing harms.
Research conducted by Argonne in the Chicago region demonstrates
the kind of insights DOE laboratories can provide stakeholders to help
them prepare for various mobility futures. Research showed that with
private ownership of highly automated vehicles, vehicle miles traveled
could increase by greater than 40 percent, in turn causing network
speeds to decrease about 15 percent; such a scenario represents
substantial congestion. Conversely, in a transportation network with
high sharing behaviors--that is, greater reliance on mass transit and
ride sharing services--vehicle miles traveled could be reduced by 13
percent and energy usage reduced by more than 25 percent while giving
travelers the same level of mobility. This type of analysis is possible
with strong private-public partnership relationships, data sharing, and
strategic planning, to capture the upside and manage any downside of
mobility futures.
The commitment of the national laboratories to rapidly bring
technologies and knowledge into real-world application also takes the
form of collaborations across government agencies. For example, DOE and
the Department of Transportation partner on many automated, connected,
and efficient, shared mobility projects, including coordination with
the Federal Transit Administration to understand the energy
implications of using mobility services to enhance transit. The Federal
Highway Administration and DOE also are conducting leveraged work on
connected/automated vehicle systems, such as truck platooning and eco-
driving approaches. DOE complements DOT's research, development,
demonstration, and deployment portfolio by offering tools and
capabilities for modeling and simulation, managing and analyzing data,
and quantifying technology benefits. DOE also has partnered with DOT on
the Smart City Challenge, which underscored the fact that cities,
regardless of size, identify the same set of critical issues for their
communities; air quality, safety, accessibility, congestion, curb
management, parking, payment systems and multimodal transportation
issues.
Use-inspired, collaborative, comprehensive, and innovative--these
terms generate enthusiasm, passion and full engagement among the many
transportation DOE researchers who are addressing a spectrum of needs
for future mobility. This mobility revolution also requires workforce
development, and Argonne is spearheading the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge
program for DOE, with a 30 year history of advanced vehicle technology
competitions, representing 20,000 university graduates for a highly
skilled domestic workforce.
DOE's national laboratories and their facilities are America's
powerhouses of science, technology, and engineering. They are principal
agents of execution on missions of national importance, including the
effort to provide greater mobility to the vehicles and travelers within
the transportation system. The work of the labs continues, applying
expertise and coordinating the myriad of private and public
stakeholders to make mobility more affordable, efficient, safe, and
convenient, and bring prosperity and security to all Americans.
Thank you for your time. I welcome any questions you may have.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, ma'am.
Our next panelist is Brent Hutto. He's the Chief
Relationship Officer for Truckstop.com.
Welcome, sir.
STATEMENT OF BRENT HUTTO,
CHIEF RELATIONSHIP OFFICER, TRUCKSTOP.COM
Mr. Hutto. Thank you, Chairwoman Fischer, Ranking Member
Duckworth, and Members of the Subcommittee.
We appreciate the opportunity to testify at today's
hearing. I'd also like to thank the FMCSA and Administrator
Martinez for his great work he's done in the past couple years
in really connecting with our industry and our partner, the
American Trucking Association, and their CEO, Chris Spear.
My name is Brent Hutto, and I'm the Chief Relationship
Officer at Truckstop.com. My responsibilities include working
with hundreds of transportation technology partners and that
gives me a unique insight into the entire freight marketplace.
We were founded as a company in 1995 as the very first
online load board. Today, we are the largest web-based digital
freight-matching marketplace in North America and the companies
that use us represent more than a million trucks on the road
and the brokers retain capacity for 500,000 unit loads every
day.
My purpose in testifying today is to provide insight into
the emerging technology trends within the transportation
industry and to provide a basic framework for understanding how
digitization could ultimately challenge or evolve existing
business models and impact our freight market and surface
transportation infrastructures.
I'd like to start by defining the marketplace a little bit
for you guys. It's a very, very large market. Fifty percent of
all the freight in the world is in North America and 70 percent
of that freight is moved by a truck every single day.
It is an expanding marketplace. With rising population and
urbanization and the consumer demand for expedited delivery, it
continues to expand. It is very fragmented when it comes to how
it communicates. Freight is moved today via an inefficient
system where shippers, brokers, and carriers transact using
outdated technology and at times none at all.
For example, the byproduct of this is that 40 percent of
the carriers that own trucks have empty trailers as they go up
and down the highways. So there's only a 60 percent utilization
of all the trucks in America at any given time.
How can this improve? Recognizing an opportunity to
eliminate inefficiencies and capitalizing on one of the
Nation's most lucrative marketplaces, new and existing
companies have dramatically increased their investment in and
adoption of new digital technologies. These technologies are
simplifying and automating information between carriers and
brokers.
The process allows carriers to use digital technology,
typically today it's a mobile app, to book freight at the click
of a button. This automated process eliminates current manual
costly tasks, like on-boarding paperwork and payments. It
digitizes the paperwork. It increases truck productivity and
reduces waste, like deadhead miles and detention.
And why is this beneficial? Well, automation reduces truck
driver fatigue, which makes the truck driver more safe on the
road. Transparency and visibility of the data and information
increases consumer satisfaction. Improved carrier profitability
leads to more efficiency which leads to better safety on our
highways.
In order to realize these benefits, a couple things need to
happen. We must have an affordable connected universal system
where all players can participate. It is imperative that all
software service providers within this universal system remain
neutral and transparent, enabling all the players to succeed.
This transparency will ultimately enable greater trust and
safety throughout the freight industry.
In conclusion, digital technology will drastically improve
the transportation and freight industry efficiency and safety
on the road. However, without supporting surface transportation
infrastructure, any gains achieved through digital improvement
will be minimized by congestion, parking availability, hours of
service corrections, fuel costs, and wear and tear on the
trucks due to poorly maintained roadways and bridges.
We, Truckstop.com, are committed to improving the noisy,
chaotic, multisystem freight industry by automating connections
so carriers and brokers, regardless of their size, can move
freight more efficiently.
In closing, our industry is ready, the freight industry is
ready to transition to digital technology, but it will take
time and we look forward to working with the subcommittee on
bringing that to our industry. We appreciate being here.
We thank you for the opportunity and we're happy to respond
to any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hutto follows:]
Prepared Statement of Brent Hutto, Chief Relationship Officer,
Truckstop.com
Introduction
Chairwoman Fischer, Ranking Member Duckworth and Members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify at today's
hearing. As the Nation's first digital load board and online freight
marketplace, Truckstop.com has been serving carriers (owner-operators
and small fleets), freight brokers (third-party logistics providers or
3PLs), and shippers for nearly 25 years (see appendix). As a result, we
have unique insight into the state of transportation and logistics
within our Nation.
Introduction of Brent Hutto
I joined Truckstop.com six years ago, I serve as the Chief
Relationship Officer for Truckstop.com which includes ensuring the
health of all of Truckstop.com's external relationships with the
hundreds of transportation technology companies that we have integrated
with. In my 22 years in the transportation and logistics industry, I
have developed extensive experience covering the market including
positions of leadership in sales, marketing, media, and communication.
I have specific experience with carriers, brokers, shippers, industry
suppliers, technology leaders, media companies, and financial firms.
Presently, I serve on the Boards, Committees, and have membership with
Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), National Strategic
Shippers Transportation Council (NASSTRAC), Specialized Carriers &
Rigging Association (SC&RA), Women In Trucking (WIT), American Trucking
Association (ATA), Truckload Carriers Association, National Private
Truck Council (NPTC), Intermodal Association of North America (IANA),
and National Industrial Transportation League (NITL).
Introduction of Truckstop.com
Truckstop.com was founded in 1995 as the first online load board.
Prior to Truckstop.com, carriers (truck drivers and trucking companies)
and freight brokers (third-party logistics providers or 3PLs)
transacted freight via a system of physical bulletin boards, TV
monitors, and fax machines at truck stops throughout the country.
Today, Truckstop.com is one of the largest digital freight matching
marketplaces in North America, with more than 500,000 unique load
posted per day. In addition to load board services, Truckstop.com
provides a neutral marketplace with real-time visibility into freight
capacity, availability, market rates, and truck location. Truckstop.com
offers freight management services ranging from carrier onboarding to
insurance and payments.
State of the transportation and freight industry
My purpose in testifying today is to provide insight into the
emerging technology trends within the transportation industry and
provide a basic framework for understanding how digitization (the
introduction of new digital technologies) could ultimately challenge or
evolve existing business models and the impact on current freight and
surface transportation infrastructures.
Understanding the transportation and freight industry requires a
quick examination of the milestones that have led to our current state.
In 1980, The Motor Carrier Act, partially deregulated the trucking
industry, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of trucking
carriers in operation (less than 20,000 in 1980 to around 1.2 million
today)\1\ and paving the way for 3PLs. The highly fragmented market
created by deregulation made it possible for 3PLs to offer value-added
logistics services, increasing competition and productivity within the
trucking industry and benefiting the American consumer by reducing
costs.\2\
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\1\ Legacy Supply Chain Services. The Evolution of 3PL and How it
Can Solve Your Business' Supply Chain Challenges; https://
legacyscs.com/evolution-of-3pl-supply-chain-challenges/
\2\ Moore, Thomas Gale (2002). Trucking Deregulation; http://
www.econlib.org/library/Enc1/TruckingDeregulation.html
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Two decades later, the introduction of the internet, ``dot-coms,''
and e-commerce changed the traditional shipping model once again. The
rush to free delivery and the increased purchasing of unpredictable
sets of items from online retailers, required the transportation
industry to adapt to a new set of shipping practices. This change in
consumer behavior and the desire for expedited delivery, helps explain
increases in the American Trucking Associations' trucking tonnage
index, which has steadily risen since 2001 except for the recession in
2009.\3\ According to the CSCMP's Annual State of Logistics Report, e-
commerce continues to create multiple challenges for parcel carriers.
These include:
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\3\ Yardeni, Dr. Edward (2019). US Economic Indicators: ATA Truck
Tonnage Index; https://www.yardeni.com/pub/atatruck.pdf
Delivery density. With more residential deliveries--often
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single-package stops--routes are longer and less effective.
Variability. Shipments in the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas
window are about twice non-holiday levels. Volumes also
fluctuate across weekdays as a flood of weekend orders are
picked up Mondays and delivered Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Volume profiles. As e-commerce expands to larger and
irregularly shaped items (mattresses, patio furniture) that
won't gift on standard sorting equipment, special handling is
required.
Click-to-door requirements. Same-day, two-hour, rush,
critical, urgent--customers have a seemingly insatiable demand
for getting their packages as fast as possible.\4\
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\4\ CSCMP (2019). Annual State of Logistics Report: Cresting the
Hill; https://legacyscs.com/evolution-of-3pl-supplychain-challenges/
Today, more than 70 percent of all freight is moved via road in
North America. Of this, the for-hire market accounts for 60 percent,
with nearly 34 percent of that market in turn accounted for by spot
brokerage (shippers broadcasting loads to freight brokers in order to
find capacity at a competitive rate).\5\
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\5\ Paul, Silpa (2019). Expect Fast Adoption of Digital Freight
Brokerage Solutions; https://www.trucks.com/2019/03/26/expect-fast-
adoption-digital-freight-brokerage-solutions/
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However, under the current system, empty miles (trucks traveling
without freight) and lengthy idle times (sitting in traffic, wait times
for loading/unloading) have led to decreased safety and low margins for
the trucking industry. This results in fuel waste, non-productive
emissions, lost driver hours, inflated operational costs, and
unnecessary road congestion.
As it turns out, of all the miles that truck drivers travel across
the country, 40 percent of those trucks are empty. Let's think about
that--40 percent of the carbon impact from trucks today is because of
empty mileage.
For every 1 percent improvement in truck routes and
utilization, we can save:
Nearly 400 million gallons of fuel from being
consumed.
100 million productivity hours from being wasted.
3 billion miles from being driven each year.\6\
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\6\ https://convoy.com/about-us/
To put all of this in perspective, spending in the U.S. logistics
and transportation industry totaled $1.64 trillion in 2018 (8 percent
of U.S. GDP).\7\
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\7\ CSCMP (2019). Annual State of Logistics Report: Cresting the
Hill; https://legacyscs.com/evolution-of-3pl-supplychain-challenges/
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Enter the digital transformation era. Recognizing an opportunity to
eliminate inefficiencies and capitalize on one of the Nation's most
lucrative markets, new and existing companies have dramatically
increased their investment in, and adoption of, new digital
technologies, including digital freight brokerage apps.
It is important to note that while multiple industry segments
(including finance, healthcare, and retail) have been early adopters of
digital technologies, the transportation and logistics industry has
traditionally been slower to adopt new technology. A survey of 200
executives working for terminal operators, carriers, logistic
providers, shippers, and other supply chain companies found that only
31 percent of respondents believed their industry was as good or better
than other industries at adopting new technologies.\8\
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\8\ Morley, Hugh R. (2017). Industry Skeptical of Pace of Logistics
Tech Adoption; https://www.joc.com/international-logistics/logistics-
providers/industry-skeptical-pace-logistics-techadoption_20170620.html
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To further emphasize the increased interest in technology adoption,
we look at global funding for digital brokerage solutions which passed
$1 billion in 2017 and exceeded $3.6 billion in 2018; a 260 percent
year-over-year increase.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ Zwahlen, Cyndia (2019). Freight Tech VC on Track to Top 2018's
Record $3.6 Billion; https://www.trucks.com/2019/04/29/freight-tech-vc-
top-record-3-6-billion/
With the U.S. population expected to grow by 38 million between
2015 and 2030, consumer demand will increase the amount of pressure on
the transportation and logistics industry to deliver goods in a timely
and efficient manner. Digital technology adoption will play a huge role
in transforming the industry as we know it today.
Digital freight matching and automation
Digital freight matching allows carriers to use digital technology
(typically a mobile app) to ``tap and go.'' That means the carrier
pushes a button to accept a load at an offered rate and they are on the
road. No more time spent manually researching available loads,
negotiating on the phone, etc.
The carrier starts by setting up a profile with their list of
preferences in their preferred digital freight matching app. For
example, they select their preferred lanes (the routes they routinely
travel or service), their truck's capabilities (flatbed, refrigerated,
etc.), any additional certifications (hazmat, over-sized, etc.), and
load information. An offer would come through as an alert on their
phone. The driver can then choose to accept the load if the price,
location, haul, and timing are right for them.
Behind what the driver sees, there is a shipper or broker posting
the freight they need moved. For freight to be moved at the push of a
button, extensive details about the load must be included. Without
knowing information like weight, rate, distance, appointment times, and
pick-up and delivery locations, a carrier cannot confidently commit to
moving the load.
Ideal digital freight matching experiences should have the ability
to predictively and proactively push load matches out to its users. It
should prioritize a user's preferred business partners. It should have
wide geographic coverage and automatically track loads, so shippers and
brokers know exactly where their freight is, estimated time of arrival,
and when it is delivered.
Benefits of digital freight matching
Digital freight matching is evolving the transportation and
logistics landscape by bringing attention to current inefficiencies and
outdated practices. Digital freight matching addresses issues
associated with empty miles, maximizing truck utilization (capacity),
and wasted time, but it also has the potential to reshape some of the
more painful parts of the freight negotiation process for both carriers
AND brokers. For example:
It can shorten the amount of time spent between getting a
load posted and having it filled by a carrier.
It can reduce or remove time spent making phone calls trying
to find or book a load.
It can automate processes for finding qualified partners,
rates, and loads so users have greater confidence and insight
into the entire freight process from initiation to final
delivery and payment.
It can replace outdated systems like fax machines and paper
documents for carrier onboarding.
It can automate proof-of-delivery and document management to
increase the trust between parties and decrease the time needed
for verifications before payments are made.
It can increase overall efficiency by eliminating redundant
manual tasks and allowing employees to focus their time and
energy on more value-added work.
It can decrease idle time and improve overall asset
utilization.
It can increase available data points and records allowing
for better reporting and analytics.
Ideally, digital freight matching will do more than simplify the
negotiation process. In fact, it should:
Provide digital messaging and paperwork like bills of
lading, invoices, contracts, etc.
Connect partners seamlessly.
Provide insights for business growth and profit.
Have a quick-pay solution.
Provide predictive matching so drivers stay loaded.
Auto-match capacity (find trucks faster) for brokers.
Integrate into a transportation management system (TMS) or
on any mobile device.
As it stands, there isn't a complete technology solution that can
do everything it should when it comes to digital freight matching.
However, as noted previously, increased attention on current
inefficiencies are rapidly driving innovation, which will have a
dramatic effect on the current transportation and logistics system we
know today.
Effects on the transportation industry
E-commerce will continue to increase the number of short-haul and
final-mile trips (movement of goods from a transportation hub or
warehouse to the final delivery destination), which will increase the
volume of traffic in densely populated urban areas. So, while digital
technology has the potential to help the transportation and logistics
industry address many of the inefficiencies outlined above, the
ultimate success of digital adoption and successful delivery of goods
will be closely tied to a reliable and sustainable surface
transportation infrastructure that can handle increased capacity while
simultaneously ensuring driver and public safety.
The FMCSA Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate has introduced a
wealth of new data to the marketplace. This data opens the door to
getting better data on transit times and carrier locations and more. As
additional technology is applied and more end points are added, data
flowing from computers to computers (sensors, mobile devices, logging
devices, etc.) will reduce, and in some cases eliminate, the use of
telephones to match loads with truck capacity reducing the time it
takes to move and deliver freight. It will allow for better prediction
of when trucks will arrive despite weather, traffic, and other
unpredictable events creating more transparency and visibility for more
efficient load matching and pricing.
For shippers and brokers, automation will drastically reduce the
number of repetitive processes that have to occur regularly including
things like carrier onboarding. For carriers, automation means better
loads at more attractive rates--using digital technology to coordinate,
track, and manage documents with full transparency--ultimately making
them more efficient.
Conclusion
According to a September 2018 report by Goldman Sachs
Transportation, 3PLs and freight brokerages handle 23 percent of all
loads moved in the U.S., a share that has grown 5x since 2000. As
technologies continue to evolve, the digitization of the highly
fragmented freight brokerage marketplace has the potential to
drastically improve the transportation and freight industry. Technology
can provide a promise of increased efficiency, however, without
supporting surface transportation infrastructure, any gains achieved
through digital improvement will be eliminated by problems of
congestion, parking availability, hours of service corrections, fuel
costs, and wear and tear on trucks due to poorly maintained roadways.
Ultimately, digitization has the potential to improve the entire
freight matching process, and that translates to increased safety on
the road. The safety benefits of digital freight matching include:
Automation replaces the hours spent making manual phone
calls thus reducing truck driver fatigue.
Increased efficiency reduces truck driver workload allowing
the driver to concentrate on the road and become more
profitable while driving fewer miles.
More profit means less need to bend the rules thus
increasing safety.
Real-time tracking and monitoring of freight movement,
increases consumer satisfaction and allows for on-the-fly
updates to avoid traffic congestion due to accidents, weather
delays, and more.
Truckstop.com is working to smooth the noisy, chaotic, multi-system
interface between freight and capacity by automating connections so
carriers and brokers (regardless of size or resources) can move freight
more efficiently. We believe it's imperative that Truckstop.com and
other software service providers remain neutral and not classified as
licensed freight brokers to help ensure a neutral and transparent
marketplace enabling all players to succeed--to find, rate, manage,
optimize, track, insure, and pay for freight.
We are deeply committed to efforts to continuously improve the
success of transportation and logistics operations including
relationships between carriers, brokers, and shippers. We believe that
adopting digital technology will ultimately improve our Nation's
trucking infrastructure leading to improved safety on the roads and
happier consumers. We look forward to working with you and National and
State officials to help advance the understanding and adoption of
digital technologies within the transportation industry.
Thank you, again, for the opportunity to be here today. I am happy
to respond to any questions.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Fischer. Thank you, sir.
Welcome again to all the panelists. We will begin with our
first round of questions and I will start.
Mr. Ingracia, so nice to see you here. Welcome. You
mentioned the Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management
Technologies Deployment Grant that Nebraska won along with
Wyoming and Utah Departments of Transportation.
Can you elaborate on the goals of this project and the
types of technologies that the Department of Roads will deploy
along I-80?
Mr. Ingracia. Yes, thank you, Chairman.
Wyoming has obvious winter weather issues and as we do in
Nebraska. They have a lot of blow-overs in the winter and their
initial idea was let's build a system that communicates blow-
over risk, wind speed, weather conditions directly into the cab
of the truck.
Our idea with the ATCMTD Grant that we applied for and were
awarded was let's take that technology that Wyoming was
successful in deploying and let's get it on a larger section of
I-80 and then let's try to find ways to amplify that technology
by doing things like predictive road closures. Let's not
predict a 60 percent chance of snow. Let's predict a 60 percent
chance of road closure on this segment. Let's get that into the
cab of more trucks. Let's inform them because it's a major
safety issue.
Senator Fischer. How can regular drivers benefit from this?
When I was in Nebraska during March with the blizzards and then
the flooding and such, I went to the website and I saw just a
lot happening across the state on the map.
How many people visit the website and what other means do
you have to get information out to not just truckers but
travelers on the road, as well?
Mr. Ingracia. So the primary method that we use is our 5-1-
1 app as well as the associated website. Anyone can go there.
They can view road closures and, you know, as you're aware,
with the flooding, with the blizzard that occurred in March, we
had a third of our roadways, our state roadways closed for the
better part of several days. Certainly it's an issue. We had a
lot of them hit.
Normally we'll have 2.8 million hits a year on our 5-1-1
site. We had that amount in a matter of 6 days during this
event. So people were really driving to the website. They can
call 5-1-1 on their phone. We also have a two-way push of data
into Waze which goes to Google and so if people are using
Google Maps, if there are detours, that information goes there,
as well. So it's distributed widely.
Senator Fischer. Thank you.
Mr. Hutto, given the broad information load boards that
Truckstop.com have on their freight transportation network,
what insights can you provide on challenges and bottlenecks in
the surface transportation system and how do you incorporate
that information into the services that you provide because I
know there's deep concern about the future with the projected
increase in the number of trucks that are going to be needed to
continue commerce here in the United States, but there's also
concern on bottlenecks at known specific points around the
country, but how do you get that information out?
Mr. Hutto. How do we get it out or what's the solution?
Senator Fischer. Well, tell me first what services you
provide. Then if you have a solution, we'd all be excited to
hear it.
Mr. Hutto. We provide data and information to all the
players that are moving spot market freight, which is 20
percent of the freight on the U.S. highways every day.
We are a data resource for every single player and the
solution I think that I would suggest to you, to the Committee
would be for systems to be connected. One of the challenges you
have is you have an unwariness of the marketplace and what's
going on in metropolitan areas because systems are not
connected.
You have certain systems at certain parts of the truck
driving universe in North America that has the availability to,
and then the other parts don't have access to it or don't use
it, because they're not connected to what they use every day.
So I would say that connecting systems together would be the
most important--connecting transportation freight systems
together would be the most impactful way to reduce congestion
in metro areas as freight moves through those areas at
different times of the day.
Senator Fischer. To tie this in with FMCSA recently asked
for comments on driver detention times during the loading and
the unloading at shipping facilities.
Did Truckstop.com have any insights on that driver
detention time?
Mr. Hutto. We did not comment on any detention but
detention is something we intend to solve.
Senator Fischer. OK. Thank you.
Senator Duckworth.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you, Madam Chair.
With your consent, I'd like to hold on my questions and to
allow our colleague from Michigan, the great state of Michigan,
to ask his questions.
Senator Fischer. Thank you.
Senator Peters, please.
STATEMENT OF HON. GARY PETERS,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MICHIGAN
Senator Peters. Thank you.
Senator Fischer. My former Ranking Member.
Senator Peters. I know, exactly.
Senator Fischer. We tossed you over for a new addition.
Senator Peters. You did very well. You did very well.
Senator Fischer. Glad you're still here.
Senator Peters. Good to be here. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ranking Member Duckworth, thank you for yielding. To all of the
folks who are testifying, very interesting testimony.
We truly are living in very exciting times and the types of
technological change we're going to see in the years ahead are
truly transformational and I'm thinking of one of those
technologies, which many of you mentioned, which is self-
driving cars, something I've been very involved in and believe
that the changes we'll see in the auto industry and to our
society are probably every bit as big as when the first car
came off of the assembly line and think how that changed our
world dramatically and created the American middle class and
really truly created mobility for the first time in human
history in a significant way. So my questions relate to how we
go forward with this.
Mr. Bhatt, I certainly appreciated ITS's past support for
the AV START Act that I'm working on with Senator Thune who's a
part of this Committee, as well, but right now I'm in the
process of working with our House colleagues. We are trying to
work through some of the aspects of the legislation that we
developed here in the Senate and coordinate that with what came
out of the House. I certainly am grateful for your work with us
on that.
My question to you is let's take a step back from any
specific bill right now. If you could just talk about why we
need legislation versus just maintaining the current status quo
under NHTSA's existing authority, and what we need to be doing,
and why we need to be doing it? If you could just kind of
outline that for the Committee, please?
Mr. Bhatt. Thank you, Senator Peters, and thank you for
your work along with Senator Thune and all the other leaders
who have been trying to wrangle this very complicated issue.
I think that from an ITS America perspective, we have a
diverse range of membership. We have automakers, we have
cities, we have technology companies, we have states, and I
think the area that we all sort of find common agreement on is
this idea that, you know, when you drive from New York City to
Los Angeles and go across the country, the interstate you drive
on is the same all the way across the country. That's a safety
benefit, and it's an operational benefit. So as we deploy new
technologies, such as driverless vehicles, we want to make sure
that there's a national standard, just like we have for
highways or transit or aviation, around what is a driverless
vehicle, and what the components ofare. You know, that you have
one regulatory agency overseeing what that is as opposed to 50
states and countless jurisdictions sort of putting their take
on it.
So standardization at the Federal level around what the
vehicle is but still allowing for locals to enforce things like
speed limits and their licensing. I think those are sort of the
higher-level frameworks that we're looking at because our
competition globally is racing ahead in this sphere and we want
to make sure we stay with them.
Senator Peters. Which is why we need to have national
legislation and move beyond the current exemptions that may
exist under current NHTSA rules. This is about seizing the
technology, the innovation, but allowing companies also to
scale up quickly so that we can deploy this, is that accurate?
Mr. Bhatt. Yes, I think that the exemptions were a good
start when the numbers were still fairly small and as the
technology matures and the market matures, we want to make sure
that the legislation is there to keep pace as the market
becomes more robust.
Senator Peters. The other point, and you made this in your
testimony, to remind us how dangerous our highways are, that
well over a hundred people will die today as we speak, and that
the promise of this technology is that we can dramatically
reduce those deaths as well as dramatically reduce the
injuries, some of those debilitating injuries, so those can be
reduced.
So I would sense that getting this law passed quickly is
very important. It literally means saving lives. Every extra
day it takes to move this industry forward another hundred
people may die that many of them could have been saved, is that
accurate?
Mr. Bhatt. I would say that there's a broad swath of
technologies that are deployable available today and I'm really
grateful that this hearing has been convened to inform the next
authorization because every day that we delay another hundred
people die on our roadways and NHTSA estimates that connected
vehicle technologies could mitigate 80 percent of unimpaired
crashes. That's 1.2 million crashes that could be mitigated
every year, tens of thousands of lives. So, yes, the sooner we
can speed the deployment of technology we think it'll be a
positive outcome.
Senator Peters. Two weeks ago, Chairman Pai from the FCC
suggested once again that transportation stakeholders were not
taking advantage of the 5.9 gigahertz band and that the FCC
should go forward in perhaps sharing it or giving it to other
entities.
In your written testimony, you acknowledge that there are
divergent views held by transportation stakeholders and the
cable industry. What are the real risks to public safety if the
FCC were to move forward with their idea of sharing 5.9 bands
without the benefit of all the studies that are going on?
Mr. Bhatt. Yes, I would just quickly say I have a lot of
respect for Chairman Pai and I think he has a diverse set of
stakeholders that he needs to listen to.
I would simply say that all of the connected vehicle
technologies require the 5.9-gigahertz spectrum, whether it's
DSRC, CV2X. You need that spectrum. We're open to sharing, as
long as the testing is completed with unlicensed devices, and
we encourage the rapid completion of that, but we want to be
clear that whether it's Nebraska, Florida, Utah, New York City,
there is deployment today and people who say that it's not
being used it's just not an accurate statement.
Senator Peters. Thank you.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator Peters.
Senator Duckworth.
Senator Duckworth. Again, I'd like to hold my remarks and
yield to Senator Blumenthal so he can get his questions in if
that's all right.
Senator Fischer. Senator Duckworth is the nicest person we
know, and you two owe her big time.
Senator Blumenthal.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL,
U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT
Senator Blumenthal. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank
you, Senator Duckworth, and I agree totally. She is one of the
nicest persons I know and since my wife would regret if I said
the nicest person I know and we're on the record, but thank
you, Senator.
You were just talking about, Mr. Bhatt, life-saving
technologies that are available right now. We'll be debating
the legislation that might further driverless cars, but
automated emergency braking technology is available right now
and it could literally stop 80 percent of the rear-end
collisions that we have in this country.
So my question is couldn't this technology be made
available in 2019 or 2020 models, and shouldn't the automakers
of America provide this kind of technology as a standard
feature on all cars?
Mr. Bhatt. Thank you, Senator.
I think that, yes, automatic emergency braking not only
prevents rear-end collisions but also in this increasingly
distracted world in which we live, in which drivers are
distracted, pedestrians are distracted, and other and new forms
of mobility options, like scooters, come out there, a
technology like automatic emergency braking can prevent rear-
end collisions and also greater tragedies.
In fact, at the ITS America annual meeting, Ford
demonstrated how their connected vehicle platform using CV2X
was able to detect a scooter and how the vehicle stopped
because it recognized that the scooter was coming into its
field of view.
So in terms of technologies, like automatic emergency
braking or lanekeeping, it is critically important and it's
being deployed on more and more models, just as many safety
features are, and we'd love to see it deployed on more models.
Senator Blumenthal. Anybody on the panel disagree?
[No disagreement.]
Senator Blumenthal. Great. No one is disagreeing, let the
record show.
I know this is primarily an automotive panel, I think, but
in terms of rail safety and technology, I've been a strong
advocate of positive train control. The deadline for
implementing it has been set back a couple of times. The trains
of America are under a 2020 deadline.
Anybody here see any reason that trains should be excused
from meeting that deadline? It is a form of technology that
also can save lives on trains. I gather no one does see any
reason that it should be delayed further.
[No disagreement.]
Senator Blumenthal. We all understand the reasons why it
can help save lives because it will stop trains when they're
going to hit another train or when they're going too fast and
that's very important, long overdue.
I am introducing the Used Car Safety Recall Repair Act with
Senator Markey. As you may know, there are a lot of innovations
in transportation, a lot of advances in technology, but the
safety of our roads will continue to be in jeopardy as long as
we resell cars that are under recall.
Incredibly, most Americans have no idea that there is no
provision in Federal law that requires that consumers be told
those cars are under recall or why and so there are about 70
million vehicles on the road today with open recalls. That's
double the number last year and one in four of all cars and
many are sold by used car dealers unrepaired with safety
defects.
Let me ask all of you what other ideas--I assume that you
would support this legislation. If anyone on the panel
disagrees, I hope you'll tell me why?
[No disagreement.]
Senator Blumenthal. No takers. Let me ask the panel what
other ideas you have about how we can reduce the number of
vehicles on the road with open recalls? Anybody have other
ideas?
[No response.]
Senator Blumenthal. These are safety defects, as you all
know, being driven today on the roads. They endanger not only
the drivers and the passengers in those cars but others who are
on the road with them. They have bad brakes or a Takata airbag
that explodes. They can endanger other vehicles.
Ms. Schlenker. I would just say that a tracking of the
subsequent owners from the first purchase into the second,
third, fourth as they move into the used vehicle, the tracking
system today, I think, is inadequate to be able to reach out to
those subsequent owners for address and e-mails, et cetera, to
be able to connect them to understand about the recalls that
are open.
Senator Blumenthal. Thank you. Mr. Bhatt.
Mr. Bhatt. Senator, I would say on the positive train
control, when I was in the Secretary of Transportation in
Delaware, sat on the Northeast Corridor Commission and saw a
lot of need for PTC and pledge your efforts on that, and on the
used vehicle fleet, there are about 300 million vehicles in the
fleet and so some form of a big data application. It shouldn't
be that hard to--using VIN numbers and being able to track and
maybe it's potentially a Bitcoin application. I think there are
opportunities to make it safer.
Senator Blumenthal. Thank you. Great panel. Thank you,
Madam Chairman, and thank you again, Senator Duckworth.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Duckworth. OK. My turn. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Fischer. I thought you were going to yield to me.
[Laughter.]
Senator Duckworth. Ms. Schlenker, in your testimony, you
talked about smart mobility as the next transportation
revolution that we can expect. You also mentioned the mobility
challenges facing the public and private sector today.
What are the major challenges facing the advent of smart
mobility technologies and what, if anything, can Congress do to
address those barriers?
Ms. Schlenker. So as we talk about smart mobility, it's
about data availability, the Internet of things and all the
modes of information that are available to us.
As we reach out for the Department of Energy National
Laboratories, frequently the metropolitan planning
organizations, the MPOs, the city DOTs, the states, they're
aware of all these changes in technologies and new micro-
mobility modes coming out, the way people interact with
transportation, transit viability and how important it really
is, and so they're, I don't want to say paralyzed, but they're
seeking new information what the future could really be and
where they should invest and how they should better prepare.
One example is in Chicago, they're going to try curbside
management. As you start to think about the demand for the
curb, whether it be taxi or TNC transportation network company
drop-offs, whether it be bike lanes, whether it be scooters
that are there, a bus lane, maybe it's the beer delivery truck
that's at the curb or the FedEx truck. So how you manage that
whole curb as an example and really it's trialing different
solutions--whether they be price signals, time of day signals,
other incentives potentially, you know, some other downside
risks that you're trying to mitigate, and having that best
practice and sharing globally and certainly across all the
different regions here in the U.S. to be able to share those
learnings.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you. I also see tremendous value
in, as you're talking, about big data to make more informed
planning decisions, just like you're mentioning, and maximizing
the return of infrastructure investment.
Can you talk a bit about the collaborations you're engaged
with to improve this decisionmaking process, like the Utopia
Mission, the Urban Technology Optimization and Planning in
America Mission?
Ms. Schlenker. Absolutely. So big data, as we look at many
of the cities and regions, some of them are now adopting chief
information officers beyond sustainability officers or mobility
officers, trying to manage all that data that comes in, whether
it be from red light cameras, whether it be from signal phase
and timing, whether it be all these new detectors that are out
there, so trying to move toward predictive analytics and not
just collision avoidance but also health effects and other
things that we want to take a look at from that big data. So
open source, data standardization, providing it back to
academia, to industry, understanding you're protecting privacy
at the same time.
I think this is one of the ways that we really will improve
the future for all of us.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you. Mr. Ingracia, according to
the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 122 law
enforcement officers have been killed in traffic-related deaths
along U.S. roadways over the past 10 years.
In the first three months of this year alone in Illinois,
two officers in Illinois were tragically killed after being
struck by vehicles that failed to move over as they were
conducting routine traffic stops, and I appreciate everyone's
interest in addressing long-term transportation issues like
autonomous vehicle deployment, on-demand services, but how are
state DOTs using new technologies today to address critical
safety concerns like roadside accidents?
Mr. Ingracia. I would have to apologize. It's not something
I've really been briefed on and we can certainly respond to the
Committee in writing on that.
Senator Duckworth. OK. Great. Thank you.
Mr. Hutto, what innovative tools and practices are
available to truck drivers to make our roadways safer?
Mr. Hutto. Well, thank you for the question, Ranking Member
Duckworth.
The products that are available to increase safety on the
highways are through the connected systems and what I mean by
that is that we have recently worked on products with the FMCSA
and Wisconsin DOT and we've been working on this since 2017 on
an e-credentialing product where all the permits that our
truckers are required to have and to display during inspection
have been authorized to be able to show to the highway officer
through a digital product, through a phone or a digital
display, and our initial test on that for the last two years on
it with the truck fleet of 157 trucks, we were able to
determine that we could reduce the stopped time by 20 minutes
the highway officer would be exposed to being on the highway
and that is a massive increase in efficiency when it comes to
their safety on the road with not being exposed while making
these inspections.
It's also a cost reduction for the fleets, but, most
importantly, it's a safety issue.
Senator Duckworth. What's the average length of time of
those stops, if you're dropping it by 20 minutes? Is that like
50 percent per drop or?
Mr. Hutto. That's a good question. I don't know the
percentage drop.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you. I yield back, Madam Chair.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator Duckworth.
Senator Thune.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN THUNE,
U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA
Senator Thune. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I appreciate
this hearing and all of you being here today and the
opportunity to talk about technology and transportation and how
they are integrated, especially as we think about the
reauthorization of the FAST Act, which expires at the end of
next year and which we all need to be focused on, but I'm
hopeful that this highway bill can incorporate and integrate a
lot of these new technologies into enhancing our supply chain.
I just had a couple of quick questions. Mr. Duffy, you
mentioned in your testimony the potential for blockchain to
greatly enhance supply chain visibility, enabling efficient and
cost-effective freight transportation and more targeted
responses when supply chain issues arise.
We often hear about the pitfalls of cryptocurrencies, like
Bitcoin and Ethereum, which leverage open decentralized
blockchain platforms. Could you describe how a permissioned
blockchain platform proposed for use in the transportation
sector would be differentiated from such platforms?
Mr. Duffy. Yes, thank you for the question, Senator Thune.
It's important to differentiate blockchain from
cryptocurrency. While cryptocurrency is leveraged, blockchain
technology to keep records of the transactions that occur
leveraging those cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology can
leverage U.S. dollars or regular currencies or not be
associated with financial transactions at all.
As Mr. Hutto was just talking about with the e-
credentialing technology, it's another great use of blockchain,
ensuring that the accuracy around driver credentials, whether
that's health records or insurance or driving records, that
that data is high-fidelity data, and hasn't been corrupted or
modified through time, and so supply chain in transportation
industries are notoriously low margin and so much of that
margin capture is associated to creating trust between
counterparties.
By leveraging blockchain technology, we can increase the
trust available between counterparties and allow for
collaborative commerce to emerge and so I think there's value
unlocked to be had by leveraging that technology, an economic
benefit but also energy efficiencies, as Ms. Schlenker had
referred to, and even safety efficiencies when we start talking
about records of safety.
Senator Thune. For companies who already have advanced
supply chain management systems, could you speak more to the
feasibility of incorporating these existing technologies into a
blockchain smart contract-based system?
Mr. Duff. Yes, sir. So the Blockchain in Transportation
Alliance represents hundreds of companies spanning the globe,
representing almost a trillion dollars in annual revenue, and
we're quickly moving from the experimental into the real world.
So we're seeing enterprises move from proof of concepts into
implementing this technology in real world practices.
So whether that is tracking containers as they move across
the globe into U.S. commerce, that's a great use case but also
around creating visibility between supply chain partners. So on
a containerized good movement from East Africa into the United
States, there may be up to 40 different counterparties
associated with that move and hundreds or possibly even a
thousand pages of documentation.
It's a situation ripe for human error. So leveraging
advanced technology, including blockchain, is a way to minimize
that, those human-induced errors, and create better trust
between counterparties.
Senator Thune. You briefly discussed a set of blockchain
standards being developed by your member companies, including
one released this February.
How do you think the development of these standards will
help companies integrate blockchain into the supply chain
management systems?
Mr. Duffy. I think we're really reaching kind of a critical
mass moment in terms of the needs for the adoption of standards
and Mr. Bhatt and Mr. Ingracia mentioned the need for national
standards around highway safety technologies.
Our technology and our standards associated to the
technologies around them for which they'll be applicable, it's
global, global in nature, and so it's really important to
understand that our member companies when developing these
standards represent every transportation mode, air, road, rail,
ocean, and they're all coming together in a collaborative way
to agree upon these standards and I think that's really going
to move the ball forward from the experimental into an
ecosystem level adoption over the next 36 months to 5 years.
Senator Thune. Mr. Hutto, you mention in your testimony
many of the enormous improvements that can be made through the
use of technology in the supply chain.
Given the strain on our current infrastructure from a
growing economy, new technologies that optimize the efficiency
and capacity of the supply chain are needed now more than ever.
So could you just speak to some of the challenges facing
the adoption of the new technologies in the transportation
sector?
Mr. Hutto. Yes, sir, thank you for the question, Senator.
Some of the challenges with adoption of it are availability
to them. A lot of systems that are being created today are
privatized and are only available for those that have massive
resources.
When you look at the transportation industry, it is
proliferated by small players and we as a technology, we
started in 1995, were built for the small player in the
marketplace, the small carrier, the small fleet, the small
brokerage company, and really its the access to that system and
for that system to have universal availability of data to an
entire marketplace.
So the biggest challenge is being able to get at the data
and as the market begins to move into a digital process, which
is where you've got predictive and proactive information being
pushed to them, it's got to be available for all players.
That's the biggest problem. It should not just benefit those
that readily have the resources to do it because they are a
large company.
Senator Thune. So what would you say Congress can do to
encourage the adoption or deployment of some of these
innovative technologies? What role do we play in all of it?
Mr. Hutto. The role that you play would be to help to make
our roadways and highway systems the most efficient possible
because that allows more players to come in the marketplace
which enables more trucks to move freight.
Senator Thune. I get that, but I'm just wondering, you
know, how we enable that to happen because, like you said, a
lot of this is happening in the private sector, in the private
economy, and is only adopted by those who have the resources to
do that.
So as we think about the reauthorization of the highway
bill, do you have any suggestions about that, things that we
could be doing on our side?
Mr. Hutto. Well, the one thing that jumps in my mind is
to--and I know I may go back to this a couple times, but the
Number 1 thing that puts a small trucking company out of
business is a major mechanical failure and when you think about
the wear and tear on the road that goes into a vehicle, a
truck, and you consider that's the Number 1 thing that puts
them out of business, a smooth surface to roll on and a
dependable surface to roll on is probably the most important
because it's the Number 1 thing that puts them out of business.
Senator Thune. OK. An old technology and a new technology.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator.
Mr. Hutto, would you say that driver shortage is also a
concern that you have and that the Federal Government could
help if we had an age--looking at lowering ages for drivers to
be able to drive interstate, not just intrastate?
Mr. Hutto. Thank you for your question, Chair Fischer. I
apologize. I think earlier I did refer to you improperly, so I
apologize about that, ma'am.
Senator Fischer. I don't know. I'd have to go back and
look.
Mr. Hutto. I do appreciate you getting my name correct.
Thank you very much.
That is a hot topic that has been around for a long time
and certainly it's one that could alleviate part of the
problem. I know that it's a principle that the American
Trucking Association is looking at as far as what's the
feasibility of that.
Our marketplace certainly needs more drivers to operate the
trucks but also needs technology systems connected where the
capacity utilization of the truck is at its greatest amount.
When you have 60 percent utilization of something, you've got
to have a big solution on that end.
Senator Fischer. OK. Thank you.
Mr. Hutto. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Fischer. Mr. Duffy, you noted in your testimony
that blockchain is the tip of the spear in digitizing some of
the most antiquated systems used in the transportation sector.
In what ways do blockchain-powered distributed ledgers
offer new solutions for a supply chain in ways that other
technology, like RFIT is limited?
Mr. Duffy. Can you repeat the last part of that?
Senator Fischer. The question?
Mr. Duffy. Just the last part, the RFID?
Senator Fischer. The R-F-I-D, RFID.
Mr. Duffy. Oh, R-F. So blockchain technology isn't
necessarily special. You know, it's a specialized type of
database. Every database is in a blockchain but it is allowing
for collaborative commerce to emerge where companies are
otherwise operating in silos.
Those data silos create massive inefficiencies. So whether
you're talking about detention and demurrage time around ports
or around trying to create higher fidelity data points inside
systems, like the automated customs environment that CDP
leverages, creating standards around the data components that
operate in the technological systems levered by the supply
chain in transportation intermediaries across the globe will
increase the efficiencies, which will also allow for all sorts
of opportunities to emerge.
Senator Fischer. Thank you.
Mr. Bhatt, you recommended several times in your testimony
that ITS technologies should be considered eligible projects
for Federal support.
What are some of the key programs or grants within the
Department of Transportation that limit eligibility or do not
provide support for ITS projects, such as smart traffic signals
or data collection and analysis software?
Mr. Bhatt. Thank you, Chairman Fischer.
I actually think there's a great deal of flexibility that
was introduced in the FAST Act to allow for states and cities
to deploy these technologies. I think what we're looking for is
probably--I think the biggest challenge that faces the next
reauthorization is the amount of funding that is available.
States and cities have to make tough choices about preserving
the system, expanding capacity, and making important
investments in technology.
So I think there's a lot of flexibility that exists. It's
just making sure that there are enough resources within the
program so that we don't have to make tough choices between
those two priorities.
Senator Fischer. Mr. Ingracia, do you agree with that? Does
the State of Nebraska have enough flexibility when you're
looking at Federal funding and grant programs to support your
efforts so that we can start deploying more of these
technological advances that we're seeing?
Mr. Ingracia. I generally feel like we do. The ATCMTD Grant
Pilot Programs in general, that is the way for us as a state to
take an appropriate level of risk and try something new and
that's really as a technology guy, that's what I get more
excited about, is the opportunity to participate in a pilot
program.
To the extent that we learn something and we're able to
disseminate that knowledge to other states, to the extent that
we can even partner with other states on the project, like we
are with ATCMTD, it's a very powerful thing.
Senator Fischer. Do you have any other examples you can
share with us where Nebraska is doing that or where you've
maybe learned something from another state that's participated
in a pilot program? I'm putting you on the spot here.
Mr. Ingracia. Yes, that's a very good question. You know, I
think data analytics might be the best example of that. We have
a project right now that's another one of these things where
it's new technology.
We're bringing consultants in to help us understand what
our data can tell us about the roadway and we've done all kinds
of projects with regard to pavement condition and what
influences pavement condition and when you have years and years
and years of data, you're able to distil that down into some
very counterintuitive sometimes results, even to our business
processes, and what gets us better bids, what reduces bid
prices, over years and years of data, and you're able to distil
that down and get good results.
Senator Fischer. Great. Thank you.
Senator Duckworth.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Bhatt, I agree with you that many of the transportation
decisionmakers cling to outdated functions and policies that
sometimes dampen or undermine implementation of new
technologies and far too often transportation decisions are
made behind closed doors, leaving the average taxpayer to
question whether or not their hard-earned dollars are being
spent wisely.
Generally, I agree with your testimony about providing
transportation planners the flexibility to experiment with
innovative initiatives, like the Horizon effort in San
Francisco, but we must be careful not to waste taxpayer
dollars.
Are there specific Federal planning policies that you think
are rigid that are in existence right now?
Mr. Bhatt. Thank you, Ranking Member Duckworth.
I think the entire planning process, which was pretty
innovative at the time, came out of ISTEA and some of those
like mid-1990s transportation authorizations, are still being
used today. I think some of the projects that we're building in
Colorado and Delaware, but we're using 1980s-based planning
method and not looking at new technology and how it's going to
change.
So there are examples around the country where MPOs and
other planning organizations are starting to bring in the
advent of new technology and what the impact is, just thinking
about things like autonomous vehicles and connected vehicles
and what that does to driver demand, new mobility options, so
we don't necessarily just have to go out and widen roadways. We
can perhaps move more people, data, and freight with existing
roadways.
So I think there's a lot that we can do using things like
big data and other things to improve that planning process.
Senator Duckworth. Are there policies that are preventing
us from doing that? I mean, why are we not--is it just because
this is how we've always done it since the 1990s or are there
actual policies in place, whether Federal or otherwise, that
are keeping us from being able to do that?
Mr. Bhatt. I'd be happy to check with some of our MPO
partners to see if that is the case. I think it is an element
of, you know, you have to have certain levels of public
engagement and are there better ways to do public engagement in
this new digital age?
I think we sort of go out and do a 25-year plan and say
let's take our traffic counts from today and extrapolate those
out, but the technology is advancing at such a rapid pace that
maybe that's not the best way to do it. Maybe we want to look
at scenarios of different rates of deployment of technology.
So I think we want to tweak it. I think it's still
delivering a good product, but I think it needs to be freshened
up for the 21st Century.
Senator Duckworth. Is there a cost component that's acting
as a barrier to sort of adopting some of these new
technologies, big data, or that? I mean, once you get it, then
it's helpful in the planning process, but there's a cost
barrier to starting to use it, whether it's acquisition costs?
Mr. Bhatt. I actually think that your question is probably
even two steps down the road from where we are. We talk about
big data, but it's a question of what is the actionable
information that I need? Is it origin and destination data for
travelers in a metropolitan region? Is it traffic counts? You
know, are there different measures of mobility? Scooters are a
fairly new invention and they are transforming a lot of urban
landscapes. They're not in any transportation plan that I've
seen that was done before 2 years ago because they didn't
exist.
And so I think that we want to look at where our planning
dollars are being spent and what the outcomes are that we're
looking at, but again we'd be happy to check with some of our
planning partners and come back and say here's some things that
we could definitely try to look at in the next authorization.
Senator Duckworth. OK. Thank you. I yield back.
Senator Fischer. In case we have any subcommittee members
or committee members who are watching and would like to come
down and ask questions, Senator Duckworth and I will ask a
couple more questions to keep the hearing open so they can make
it here.
Ms. Schlenker, in your testimony, you mentioned that rural
areas can also benefit from technological solutions that inform
traveler choice and optimize movement.
In your opinion, what are some of the key challenges rural
areas face in adopting and deploying these technologies and how
might they benefit from them?
Ms. Schlenker. Thank you.
In rural areas in particular, just the density of the
population sometimes brings forward a lag in the technology
that's available into that particular community. You can
witness that now in dense urban areas where you see the
scooters erupting. You see the ride health services coming
there just because of the market pull.
So in the rural areas, you have to understand that one of
the big issues, I believe, is the connectivity and having a
connection both to the infrastructure and vehicle to vehicle is
key.
I think that information is going to help on traffic
accidents and I think it will also help on some of the
efficiency or the movement that we have through the particular
areas.
When you think of a rural neighborhood or a rural corridor,
rural streets, and sometimes they're dark, they don't have the
street light benefit, et cetera, and we have collisions with
wildlife and blind corners with headlights not glaring in
particular from passengers and travelers and so the opportunity
with that connectivity, I think, is one of the big assets that
we'll have with rural densities.
Senator Fischer. Thank you.
Mr. Ingracia, what are some of the challenges that we see
in Nebraska in rural areas when they're looking at adopting and
implementing new transportation technologies?
As you know, I come from a county of less than one person
per square mile and we have 6,000 square miles. So tell me my
challenges?
Mr. Ingracia. Thank you, Chairman Fischer.
That's a question that I really appreciate. I also grew up
in a very rural area in Southern Missouri and moved to Nebraska
after college.
I would say, you know, connected vehicle, autonomous
vehicle, electric vehicle, all these conversations have been a
very urban level conversation. They have not been centered on
rural areas and yet I think that rural areas stand to benefit
as much, maybe even more, from these kind of technologies.
If you think about, even in your own experience, you know,
driving to the grocery store, what if your car goes and get
groceries and brings them back for you and that saves you three
or four hours out of your day. That's a life-changing thing.
We support as a state, as NDOT, we support rural mobility
options where folks need to get to the doctor. They're in rural
areas. It's a long trip. They have a long wait to get picked up
and a long wait to go back home. The idea that an autonomous
vehicle could take them there on their own time table would be
a life-changing thing.
So we have recently sponsored research at the University of
Nebraska to go out and have them survey folks in rural areas,
talk to people who have experienced autonomous farm equipment,
and what have their experiences been like. I don't think
anyone's asking them those questions. Are they learning when
does this work, when does it not work, what are the weather
effects? You know, are there things that we can learn when we
talk even about urban autonomous vehicles? Are there things we
can learn from the rural community and then also to ask them
how is this going to change your life? You know, how would this
change your commute? How would this change your day?
I think these technologies will transform rural areas just
as much as urban.
Senator Fischer. Thank you.
Senator Duckworth.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you.
Mr. Duffy, your written testimony talks about how the
digitization of outdated analog systems is an important step to
being able to take advantage of current technologies, like
blockchain, for the transportation sector.
What analog systems need to be prioritized for digitization
in order to support blockchain and other technology deployments
in the transportation sector? Are there priorities of analog
systems that you think, you know, we should be looking at?
Mr. Duffy. I don't have a specific list or an ordering of
the technologies, but in the case of the lettuce situation that
I mentioned previously, you know, that's associated to a pen
and paper-based process.
You know, there are instances of pen and paper, fax
machines, old technology being leveraged where modern
technology could definitely be available. So whether that's
actual bill of lading input through a smart phone at the farm
site, that might be an easy way to mitigate risk there.
Senator Duckworth. Do you know of any important datasets,
for example, that are maintained by the Department of
Transportation or other Federal agencies that should be
digitized?
One of the things we talked about already is perhaps
sharing of the VIN numbers for the sale of used cars and along
those lines.
Are there other datasets that you can think of or maybe
someone else on the panel can think of that should be priority
for digitization so that we can take advantage of blockchain
technology?
Mr. Duffy. Again, I don't have a specific list. I'd defer
to any one of the panelists.
Mr. Bhatt. Ranking Member Duckworth, again this concept of
the data, there's performance data that we collect on the
system, so it's how many vehicles per day is moving in a
certain area, what is the on-time performance of transit. There
are all kinds of performance indicators, condition performance,
so what are the potholes on our roads, what are the conditions
of bridges.
So again our challenge right now, we are awash in the sea
of data. It is figuring out what is that actionable
intelligence that we can get and then how do we translate that
for states and cities to operate their system more effectively.
But happy to come back with some very specific datasets
that we either have or we should have in order to work that
into the next authorization.
Senator Duckworth. So that's exactly what I'm wondering, is
we have so much data, how do we winnow it down? Is there a
process that we should be following? Is that something we
should be developing? How do we winnow it down and say, OK,
these are the top 10 that we need to digitize now and this is
going to make the biggest difference for the trucking industry
for highway safety? You know what I'm asking?
Mr. Duffy. A hundred percent and so just on the mobility
piece, we're having a robust discussion. We have our Mobility
on Demand Alliance that is a mix of public sector agencies and
private sector transportation providers who are trying to
figure out what data is it that the private sector companies
have, what data is it that public sector agencies have.
There is some reticence around sharing some of the data
right now because some of it could be linked to competitive
issues, but we're working through some of that stuff. On the
crash system, we have FARS data that is pretty accurate, the
fatalities.
Bridge condition is another one that we have great datasets
around. So there's a lot of good data out there. I think it's
just a couple of steps and this is something I think that the
public sector agencies can be working on in time for the next
authorization to say this is where you get the biggest bang for
the buck and where we deploy our resources.
Senator Duckworth. Mr. Hutto, do you have like a wish list
of data that, boy, if this stuff was digitized, this would make
it so much easier, more profitable? It would, you know, reduce
the costs for my industry? Do you have that?
Mr. Hutto. Thank you. That's a great question, Ranking
Member Duckworth.
In the trucking industry, because of fragmentation and,
most of all, the information is privatized in some of our
product companies, it would be the availability of that data to
be plugged into a universal platform where the participants and
all the trucking companies and the trucks that are moving could
do their routing and planning based on how freight is moving
nationwide.
What I mean by that is that it would create great
efficiency because you'd have visibility into where freight's
moving. So you could reduce congestion because you'd know that
this number of trucks is going into that city at that time and
so you could plan and route that better.
What you have is a disparate system that they're not
connected together. So you have a tremendous amount of trucks
trying to go into a certain area that creates more congestion,
but if you had systems that were connected together, then you
could efficiently route and plan that better which would create
better safety on the roads because you'd have less miles
because of the planning that would happen.
So as far as a wish list, it would be that all of the
pieces of data that are required for freight to move from
beginning to end would exist on a platform that would have
visibility through the entire industry.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you. Yield back.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator Duckworth.
Once again, I would like to thank the panel for being here
today. We appreciate all the information that you've given us.
The hearing record will remain open for two weeks and
during this time, any Senators are asked to submit their
questions for the record. Upon receipt, the witnesses are
requested to submit their written answers to the Committee as
soon as possible.
With that, thank you once again.
The hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to
Steve Ingracia
Traffic Congestion. Washington State faces growing traffic
congestion problems. The 2018 Traffic Scorecard by INRIX, which ranks
cities based on analysis of congestion and mobility, ranked Seattle as
the sixth most congested city in the country. Drivers in Seattle each
lost 138 hours to congestion in 2018, costing over $1,900 per driver.
These are real losses in time and productivity.
Question. What technologies or innovations are being used by NDOT
and other state DOTs to improve congestion and mobility?
Answer. Ongoing advancements in technology, and the transportation
industry's ability to innovatively apply them to positively impact
quality of life through increased mobility, are supplying state DOT's
with a magnitude of resources to support enhanced safety and improved
driver experience in congested areas.
Technology advancements that improve mobility and provide current
and relevant information to drivers on roadway situations help manage
driver expectation and improve overall satisfaction levels. For
Departments of Transportation, maintaining a free-flowing roadway is
not always the optimal goal--in some areas and at some times of day
this is unattainable--but providing predictable mobility should always
be a primary goal.
In Nebraska, we seek to provide predictable mobility by using a mix
of operations techniques and technology. We monitor congested locations
during rush hour using fiber-connected cameras, and we co-locate our
operations center staff with state patrol to allow quick face-to-face
collaboration.
The DOT also gathers weather data at 62 sites around Nebraska,
including pavement temperature and subsurface temperature, in order to
work with the National Weather Service and our private sector partners
to predict weather conditions on the roadway. Our full-time
meteorologist uses the Pathfinder platform to communicate with our
State Operations Center, first responders, and our eight districts to
translate weather information into road condition predictions to assist
with road maintenance and provide information to the public on
traveling conditions.
Like many DOT's we're always seeking to improve our partnerships
with other governmental bodies and collaborate with the private sector
to better communicate roadway situations to the public. Technological
advancements in data gathering tools provides DOT's with better
information on the mobility needs of the public.
______
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Amy Klobuchar to
Steve Ingracia
Question. The DOT estimates that up to 80 percent of vehicle
crashes involving unimpaired drivers could be prevented by vehicle-to-
vehicle technology, which allows vehicles to communicate wirelessly
with other vehicles and helps alert drivers to dangerous traffic
situations. How can technology like this help to improve roadway
safety, particularly in rural areas?
Answer. As a rural state, freight management is an important topic
both in terms of efficiency that can be gained through autonomous
technology and connectivity concerns that could impact roadway safety.
In October of 2018, I attended a meeting in Portland, Oregon with
Daimler Trucking, where they demonstrated their commercially-available
vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) solution for freight haulers using Dedicated
Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology. In this demonstration,
two fully-loaded (80,000 lb.) DSRC-equipped trucks were platooning--
travelling roughly 50 feet apart at highway speed. When the lead truck
encountered an obstacle in the roadway, it wirelessly notified the
follow truck to slow down in advance of applying its own brakes. In
this manner, when the lead truck stopped, the follow truck had already
stopped and was 75 feet from the lead truck. This was a compelling
demonstration, and seeing this technology in action on the roadway only
acts to reinforce the importance of encouraging its adoption in both
heavy trucks and passenger vehicles.
The Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies
Deployment (ATCMTD) Federal grant just awarded to the Nebraska DOT, in
partnership with the Wyoming and Utah Departments of Transportation,
will advance technologies that improve mobility and safety across the
multi-state I-80 corridor. This project will build upon Wyoming's
successful V2I connected vehicle pilot program to increase the flow of
information to freight haulers and will ultimately improve safety along
I-80. We are looking forward to working with the private sector and
other DOT's along the I-80 freight corridor to improve safety and
efficiency through connected vehicle technologies.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to
Shailen P. Bhatt
5.9 GHz Spectrum. Mr. Bhatt, 20 years ago the FCC dedicated 75 MHz
of the 5.9 GHz spectrum for the purposes of developing intelligent
transportation systems. Emerging vehicle-to-everything technologies
that communicate over the 5.9 band have the potential to make our
transportation network safer and save countless lives. Recently, the
FCC has expressed interest in taking a ``fresh look'' at the 5.9 band
currently dedicated to transportation safety.
Question 1. If the 5.9 band were opened up to share with broadband
streaming services, how might that affect transportation safety?
Answer. Since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commenced
its ET Docket 13-49 in 2013, Intelligent Transportation Society of
America (``ITS America) has supported sharing of the 5.9 GHz band
between ITS and unlicensed devices provided that such sharing does not
cause harmful interference to life-saving ITS services.
ITS America supported the consensus on a three-phase testing
methodology to be overseen by the FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology (OET) arrived at with the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science and Transportation's support (See September 9, 2015 letter).
OET accepted public comments on its Phase 1 Test Report in late 2018.
ITS America continues its support of the consensus plan for testing
and the completion of testing by OET to determine whether sharing of
the 5.9 GHz band is viable. Initiation by the FCC of an ancillary and
collateral rulemaking bypassing the completion of testing is not in the
best interests of the public as it will further complicate an already
uncertain regulatory environment into which many public and private
parties are investing their scarce resources to develop and deploy
lifesaving services, unduly tax those resources and delay the
introduction of those services. We urge instead that OET be provided
all support necessary to promptly complete its testing of band sharing.
ITS America agrees with National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration's (NHTSA) assessment, that the three-phase testing must
be completed to continue to ensure that this lifesaving technology is
deployed and that the driving public can have confidence in the
results. ``The three phases of the test plan are interdependent and
ongoing, and the testing will show whether unlicensed devices can
safely operate in the 5.9 GHz band.'' (U.S. Department of
Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issues
statement on safety value of 5.9 GHz spectrum, October 24, 2018)
Question 2. Is it important that we maintain the entire 5.9 band
for the deployment of transportation safety technologies?
Answer. ITS America supports prioritizing the entire 5.9 GHz band
for existing, new, and developing V2X technologies. The entire 5.9 GHz
Band should be protected and that no decision should be made regarding
band re-allocation until after the entire three-phase test plan is
completed. The Commission must allow the completion of the three-phased
test plan established by the Office of Engineering and Technology
(``OET'') to determine whether entry by UNII devices into the 5.9 GHz
Band would cause harmful interference to incumbent licensees.
______
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Amy Klobuchar to
Shailen P. Bhatt
As vehicles increasingly rely on the internet, we must have a
cybersecurity workforce with the expertise to secure our transportation
infrastructure. I introduced a bill with Senator Thune to bolster our
cyber workforce by establishing a public-private exchange program to
recruit cybersecurity experts in the private sector and academia to do
tours of duty in the Federal government.
Question. Can you speak to the need for cybersecurity professionals
in efforts to secure vehicles that rely on Internet connections from
cyberattacks?
Answer. ITS America does not have a specific policy on the need for
cybersecurity professionals in efforts to secure vehicles that rely on
Internet connections from cyberattacks.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to
Patrick Duffy
Blockchain in Transportation. Mr. Duffy, your written testimony
talks about the digitization of outdated analog systems and how the
deployment of blockchain technologies can enhance trust amongst
stakeholders, produce resilient data sets, and can lead to efficiencies
in the transportation sector.
Question 1. Can you describe what information transportation
stakeholders are sharing on blockchain platforms and how the technology
leads to increased trust amongst stakeholders?
Answer. Transportation stakeholders are sharing a myriad of
information on blockchain platforms. The types of data being put on
chain include, but are certainly not limited to: bill of lading;
booking requests and confirmations; party information; shipment
information; sea and air waybills; pro-forma invoices and commercial
invoices; packing lists; shipping instructions; export declarations;
arrival notices; import declarations; health certificates; driver
information; phytosanitary certificates; fumigation certificates;
inspection and customs certificates; certificates of origin; dangerous
goods declarations; and many other data types. Blockchain and
distributed ledger technologies when combined with existing and new
technologies can guarantee immutability and traceability of data
(supply chain, transportation, trade, and associated documentation), in
a manner that provides participants to have permissioned access (only
know what they need to know), in a manner that provides for immediate
access to information eliminating waiting times and time for
counterparty actions. These allow for massive efficiencies around
workflow automation, and the minimization of costly, repetitive, and
often error-prone manual input.
Question 2. The efficient movement of freight is critical to our
economy. How does blockchain lead to efficiencies in the supply chain
that help goods get to their destination as quickly as possible?
Answer. Blockchain technology leads to efficiencies in the supply
chain helping goods get to their destination as quickly as possible by
creating trust-enhancing, shared, immutable ledgers of data that record
transactions and tracks assets--whether these are tangible or
intangible. By working in a tamper-proof environment, blockchain
platforms for supply chain, transportation, and trade create
verifiability of data, with provenance and auditability. When utilized
within a supply chain and transportation ecosystem of stakeholders, and
combined with data standards, the technology allows for
interoperability between stakeholders technology stacks leading to the
reduction in time for processes by sharing high-fidelity data. The
benefits are being seen across ports and terminal operators, ocean
carriers, shippers and beneficial cargo owners, freight forwarders and
3PLs, financial service providers, and regulatory and governmental
authorities.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to
Ann Schlenker
Smart Cities Challenge. In December 2015, the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT) launched the Smart City Challenge, which asked
midsized cities to develop technology that would help move people and
goods more quickly and improve congestion.
Question 1. Can you discuss the Department of Energy's partnership
with DOT on the Smart City Challenge and the types of innovation cities
are deploying?
Answer. The Department of Energy (DOE) engaged with DOT as the
program was developed; participated in the many educational sessions
leading up to the Columbus, Ohio, award; showcased DOE research and
technology capabilities; and collaborated across the challenges seeking
solutions. Following the award, DOE embedded a researcher in Columbus,
to serve as a liaison between the DOE national laboratories' mobility
expertise and the vast array of partners on the Columbus Smart City
proposal. The intent was to showcase the research program within the
DOE's Vehicle Technology Office SMART Mobility Consortia and connect
and transfer expertise to the cities' mobility priorities. The Columbus
solution set includes connected and automated shuttle pilots, micro-
mobility platforms, and first-/last-mile solutions with broader reach
to residents. Simultaneously, DOE national lab researchers engaged with
many midsize cities that were nominees to the program. Several of these
relationships and collaborations continue, and joint work is underway
across the Nation.
DOE SMART Mobility program researchers are engaged in active
studies on many fronts, to understand the benefits, mitigate downsides,
and share lessons across the ecosystem to improve future deployments.
Examples of innovations that cities are deploying include (this is a
non-exhaustive list):
Smart traffic signal controls that incorporate signal,
phase, and timing, and even pilot demonstrations--to permit
vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication and control for
improved traffic flow;
Camera and LIDAR sensors installed at intersections--for
improved situational awareness for V2I, traffic accident
reduction, and preparation for automated and connected vehicles
(CAVs);
Micro-transit pilots and deployments for e-bikes, bike-
sharing, and scooters--to improve access and equity for
mobility;
Dedicated Short Range Communications service installed in
contained original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and government
vehicle fleets and production vehicles--to continue down the
path of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and V2I connectivity, using
data analytics to glean keen insights;
First-and last-mile solutions to supplement transit--small
shuttles and transit network company services are adjunct to
improve operational efficiency;
Geo-fenced demonstration of CAV shuttles--to generate
services and lessons learned, generally in a mobility district
or dense urban area;
Real-time mobility information for system users across
providers--to provide informed movement decisions;
Seamless payment transactions across providers--to encourage
multi-modal travel;
Curb reservation systems--for street management of freight,
goods delivery, pedestrians, bikes, para-transit,
transportation network company drop-off, and transit;
Goods delivery optimization strategies--for spoke and hub
logistics, and time of day/night delivery;
Managed and dedicated traffic lanes, and real-time
messaging--to improve congestion and reduce accidents;
Electric vehicle infrastructure deployments--for a pathway
of a low-carbon transportation future;
Electrification of transit buses--for an environmentally
sound solution that yields cost parity for total cost of
ownership;
Installation of Internet of Things sensors--to collect data
ranging from environmental parameters, to vehicle and people
counts, to consumer preference information; and
Pilots with improved access to services (e.g., healthcare,
food, education, cultural opportunities, greenspace)--to expand
mobility to underserved populations and vulnerable road users,
for improved quality of life.
Fuel Economy. Your research helped to develop solutions that
improved air quality and doubled fuel economy as the Clean Air Act was
being implemented. As you know, fuel economy standards finalized in
2012 require the U.S. fleet to achieve 54.5 miles per gallon for new
cars by 2026. Last year, the administration proposed revisiting the
2012 rulemaking to freeze the 2020 standards through 2026.
Question 2. Why is it important that the U.S. stay on track to meet
the fleet average of 54.5 miles per gallon for passenger cars by 2026?
Answer. This topic is very complex, and many factors must be
considered to yield a balanced societal solution. As you state,
tremendous progress has been obtained in air quality and fuel economy
from the automotive fleet. Year after year, there is significant
improvement in fuel efficient offerings in the marketplace, coincident
with lower emissions and the latest safety technologies.
The DOE continues to focus its research portfolio on energy
efficiency at the component, vehicle, and system levels. Tremendous
breakthroughs have been achieved in battery technology, whereby plug-in
electric vehicles are indeed gaining a market foothold. Lightweight
materials, improved combustion regimes, gasoline direct-injection
engines, turbocharging, cylinder deactivation, idle start/stop control
strategies, and the pathway from hybrids to plug-in hybrids and full
battery-electric vehicles are examples of technology that continues to
make fundamental and important progress for improved fuel efficiency
with a lower environment impact.
As you know, my employer is the management and operations
contractor that operates Argonne National Laboratory for the DOE. As
such, we assist DOE by providing technical support in furthering its
research objectives as regards fuel efficiency, but it is not our role
to determine or debate the appropriate governmental policy in that
area. Appropriately, public hearings, rulemaking proceedings, and open
dockets permit policymakers to consider the many voices on this complex
topic.
Question 3. What are some of the consequences of scaling back fuel
economy standards?
Answer. Argonne National Laboratory has a vast transportation
research program that addresses topics that include combustion engines
and fuels, electrification, propulsion system optimization, and the
creation of sophisticated product-development tools that permit virtual
engineering, which allows developers to speed technology and products
to the market. We participate in the full pipeline from innovation and
discovery to deployment of technology and knowledge for light duty and
medium/heavy-duty vehicles. The national laboratories work with nearly
all vehicle manufacturers and key suppliers, to deliver joint research
that benefits all parties. This pairing provides direct knowledge of
customer challenges, a matching of research expertise, and
collaborating teams to develop advances in fuel efficiency and emission
reductions.
As you know, my employer is the management and operations
contractor that operates Argonne National Laboratory for the DOE. As
such, we assist DOE by providing technical support in furthering its
research objectives as regards fuel efficiency, but it is not our role
to determine or debate the appropriate governmental policy in that
area. Appropriately, public hearings, rulemaking proceedings, and open
dockets permit policymakers to consider the many voices on this complex
topic.
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