Enabling Mobility of Emergency Medical Service through Connected and Automated Vehicle Preemption
Emergency Medical Service (EMS) vehicles, typically ambulances, have time-critical transportation roles when responding to traffic incidents by bringing first medical responders and equipment from their bases to the incident scenes, and transferring injured persons from the scenes to medical facilities. Addressing the mobility of EMS vehicles supports but public health and safety goals, as well as those related to efficient mobility. The traditional way for EMS vehicles to reach their destinations faster is to use audible sirens to alert drivers of their presence. Upon hearing an EMS vehicle’s siren, drivers must yield the right of way to facilitate its passage. Previous research on traffic signal preemption for EMS vehicles has demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing delays at signalized intersections. With the advent of Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) technology, vehicles can now communicate directly with each other. EMS vehicles equipped as CAVs could leverage vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology to transmit warning messages to the CAVs downstream along their routes, beyond the range of audible sirens. The CAVs that have received these messages can proactively move aside to create a clear lane for the EMS vehicle to pass. This “CAV preemption” concept has the potential to significantly improve EMS mobility, resulting in faster response times, earlier on-scene medical aid, and quicker patient transfer to hospitals. Furthermore, the proposed CAV preemption will accelerate incident clearance and the restoration of highway capacity. This research is based on an envisioned CAV preemption system in which an EMS vehicle broadcasts its impending arrival to downstream CAVs, while simultaneously sounding its siren and emitting high-intensity strobe light to request signal preemptions. All CAVs receiving this V2V message will automatically move to the right lane, while only a portion of the non-CAV drivers will comply and respond to the siren. The efficiency of this system depends the following factors: (1) The broadcast range of the warning messages to CAVs, (2) The market penetration rate of CAVs, (3) The move-aside compliance rate of non-CAV drivers, (4) The level of traffic congestion. This research will simulate and quantify the efficiency of the proposed CAV preemption system under varying operating conditions. An agent-based simulation model of the El Paso highway network will be used to assess the EMS vehicle’s travel time. Mobility efficiency is defined as the percentage reduction in the average travel time. The travel times of EMS vehicles from their bases (selected fire stations that house ambulances) to multiple incident sites (selected highway locations) will be simulated, extracted, and analyzed. The analyses will assess the impacts of broadcast range, CAV market penetration, non-CAV compliance rate, and traffic volume.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Active
- Funding: $99,456.00
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Contract Numbers:
69A3552348329
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Sponsor Organizations:
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
University Transportation Centers Program
Department of Transportation
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Managing Organizations:
1111 Rellis Parkway
Bryan, Texas United States 77807 -
Project Managers:
Ocon, Monica
- Performing Organizations: El Paso, TX United States
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Principal Investigators:
Cheu, Kelvin
- Start Date: 20260215
- Expected Completion Date: 20270715
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers
- Source Data: 03-11-UTEP
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Ambulances; Autonomous vehicles; Connected vehicles; Emergency medical services; Traffic signal preemption; Traffic simulation; Travel time; Vehicle mix; Vehicle to vehicle communications
- Geographic Terms: El Paso (Texas)
- Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01979474
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Center for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy, and Health (CARTEEH)
- Contract Numbers: 69A3552348329
- Files: UTC, RIP
- Created Date: Feb 15 2026 4:34PM