ACCEL-RT: Autonomous Cargo Carriers for Enhanced Logistics in Rural & Tribal areas

Autonomous Cargo Carrier for Enhanced Logistics in Rural and Tribal Areas (ACCEL-RT) seeks to turn a weakness to a strength, believing that rural and Tribal communities represent some of the best possible environments for large-scale deployment of freight automation. By creating a diverse team and highly prioritizing relationships between all critical stakeholders - governments, private sector, academia, and the communities themselves - ACCEL-RT proposes a pathway from research to demonstration to deployment that will identify the rural automated vehicle (RAV) technologies that will best help communities along the I-40 Corridor in the Southwest. The research team will evaluate three categories of RAV use-cases - last mile delivery, RAVs on rural roads, and RAVs in a logistics hub - part of an overall multimodal logistics chain. The research team will bring RAVs to rural and Tribal communities in New Mexico and Oklahoma, but first we must understand what these communities actually need and want. By explicitly linking automated vehicle technologies with community engagement, ACCEL-RT hopes to create viable deployment pathways for RAVs, finding solutions that are technically feasible, cost effective, supported by public and private stakeholders, and serve critical needs in the communities, both in the Southwest and nationwide.

Language

• English

Project

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Start Date: 20250301
• Expected Completion Date: 20310228
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Autonomous vehicles; Cargo handling; Indian reservations; Logistics; Rural areas; Underserved communities
• Identifier Terms: Interstate 40
• Geographic Terms: Southwestern States
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01945439
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Rural Autonomous Vehicle (RAV) Research Program
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Feb 10 2025 7:23PM