This paper describes how a team led by Battelle, on behalf of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration and Federal Transit Administration, has deployed 5 collision avoidance applications on University of Michigan transit buses, including two applications—one for pedestrian crosswalks and one for vehicles cutting in front of transit buses at stops—identified as high-priority concerns by transit agencies. This deployment is part of the United States Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) Safety Pilot Model Deployment—a large-scale (approximately 2,800-vehicle) field demonstration of the potential benefits of 5.9GHz Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) wireless technology that will support related decisions by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2013 and 2014. As a likely major, “next wave” in wireless communications that may offer transformative benefits in safety, mobility and environmental impact, it is essential that transit is actively involved in the Safety Pilot Model Deployment and other DSRC discussions and development exercises so that the public transportation industry and individual organizations can help shape this technology and the related Federal programs in ways which recognize the unique challenges and opportunities of the transit environment. This paper provides readers with early results, “fresh from the field” pertaining to the 5 Safety Pilot Model Deployment transit applications as well as contextual information on the underlying DSRC technology and the related USDOT DSRC-related research program (the “Connected Vehicle” Program). The presentation that is proposed to be given at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) will contain updated results and conclusions from the fielding.

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