Transportation Equity for RITI Communities in Autonomous and Connected Vehicle Environment: Opportunities and Barriers

Today's Connected Transportation Infrastructure (CTI) operates with limited real-time input from and interactions with its users, and has no mechanism to provide them with situation-aware safety assistance. Whereas such safety-assistive interactions are beneficial for all the community, it is of particular significance in areas inhabited by rural, isolated, tribal and indigenous (RITI) communities, where a large number of crashes and fatalities is recorded and can be avoided if such technology exists. Given the trending wireless connectivity within the CTI, the long-term vision of the PIs is to integrate social and technical research to fundamentally reform the CTI operation, enabling it to two-way interact with the individuals of the RITI communities and provide them with situation-aware safety-assistive solutions that (1) respond to their needs, (2) preserve their culture and respect the sensitivity to their heritage. As a first step to pursue this vision, the PIs will integrate social and technical research activities to identify both the key transportation-related safety challenges encountered by these individuals, and their corresponding potential CTI-enabled safety solutions. They will also perform rigorous assessments of both the heritage/culture constraints in implementing technology-based safety solutions, and the acceptability of such technologies by the targeted RITI communities. These goals will be achieved through four integral steps: (1) Partnering with stakeholders and targeted RITI communities in Latah, Nez Perce, and Coeur d’Alene Counties, Idaho. (2) Quantitatively determining the safety risks and needs of these communities regarding their interaction with the transportation system. (3) Pre-assessing the heritage/culture constraints and acceptability of various CTI-enabled safety solutions by the targeted communities. (4) Identifying and building vastly needed and widely acceptable CTI-enabled safety solutions for the targeted communities. Several bodies, such as the Office of Tribal Relations and UI Student Native Center, will be strong partners in this project, assisting the PIs to reach out and introduce the project idea to the Nez Perce, Coeur D’Alene, and Kalispel tribes. These tribes are among the tribal nations with whom UI have signed an MOU, and who have members on the UI Tribal Advisory Council. The project team will commit to Tribal IRB and Tribal Research Protocols in all conducted activities.

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $60,000
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747129

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Department of Transportation

  Research and Special Programs Administration
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC    20590

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Center for Safety Equity in Transportation

  University of Alaska Fairbanks
  Fairbanks, AK  United States  99775
• Project Managers:

  Connor, Billy

• Performing Organizations:

  Center for Safety Equity in Transportation

  University of Alaska Fairbanks
  Fairbanks, AK  United States  99775
• Principal Investigators:

  Sorour, Sameh

• Start Date: 20170901
• Expected Completion Date: 20180831
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Equity (Justice); Indigenous peoples; Intelligent transportation systems; Rural areas; Transportation safety
• Geographic Terms: Idaho
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01653287
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Safety Equity in Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747129
• Files: UTC, RiP
• Created Date: Dec 5 2017 5:20PM