The more the merrier: ERDC-GSL visits ICT

It’s no secret Illinois Center for Transportation has big plans for the future of autonomous and connected vehicles.

When the U.S. Army Engineering Research and Development Center’s Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory heard the news, they were chomping at the bit to see what all the excitement was about.

The ERDC-GSL crew received the full show in late May starting with a tour of ICT’s state-of–the-art facilities and a presentation on the Smart Transportation Infrastructure Initiative, which aims to fund a research testing arena for high-speed connected and autonomous freight and multimodal shared mobility near ICT’s current facility on the decommissioned Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul.

Perhaps the greatest moment was when ICT senior research engineer Greg Renshaw put autonomous and connected vehicles into terms that just about anyone can relate to.

“When you hear the phrases autonomous and connected vehicles, what do you think?” he asked the audience of engineers.

He bet that their first thought was self-driving cars, but that’s not all they’ll accomplish. Consider what this will do for traffic jams, detours or construction zones.

Think about it. When you’re driving through a construction zone, most motorists boil down to two types of people. The first person sees a lane closure sign and moves over. The second waits until the last possible minute to switch lanes. The problem is both types of motorists contribute to congestion.

What if we told you autonomous and connected vehicles can help eliminate this?

Indeed they can. Renshaw calls it the “zipper effect.”

Like a GPS, autonomous and connected vehicles will know of upcoming lane closure, but instead of just telling you about this they’ll actually move the vehicle over into the open lane in advance, which simultaneously allows the flow of traffic to continue effortlessly.

ICT is excited for future exploration of all of the potential benefits that come with autonomous and connected vehicles. STII is what will bring that innovative vision to fruition, bringing the future of transportation to Illinois. That’s something ERDC-GSL is excited to see and can’t wait to be along for the ride.