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Web conference notes, 2024.06.06 (MDS Working Group)

Michael Schnuerle edited this page Jun 18, 2024 · 11 revisions

Web Conference

MDS Working Group

  • Monthly on Thursday at 9am PT, 12pm ET, 5/6pm CET

Conference Call Info

Zoom Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAscOmhpjIuHNakPx6CNbACpjUjw1Gsucr4

One tap mobile: +19294362866,,84170989462#,,,,*612987# US (New York) - though we encourage Zoom

Agenda

Meeting Agenda

MDS Digital Policy and Emergency Response for Robotaxis/AVs

  1. Intro and announcements (5 min)
  2. MDS 2.1 Release Plan (5 min) - Michael Schnuerle, OMF
    1. Robotaxis, emergency response, real-time policy, crashes, air taxis
  3. MDS Policy Overview (10 min) - Michael Schnuerle, OMF
  4. Seattle Robotaxi Emergency Response Automation (15 min) - Armand Shahbazian, Electric and Automated Mobility Policy Advisor, SDOT
  5. Discussion with Participants (20 mins)

WGSC Meeting Organizers

  • Host: Michael Schnuerle, OMF
  • Facilitator: Michael Schnuerle, OMF
  • Preparation: Michael Schnuerle, OMF
  • Outreach: Michael Schnuerle, OMF
  • Note taker: Gene Laynes, Chicago

Action Items and Decisions

  1. Share these slides and recording with your teams and partners
  2. Start using MDS Policy to communicate your policy and rules digitally and in real time

Minutes

Notes

Definition: AV: Automated Vehicles

Introduction

  • Michael Schnuerle

    • Intro to OMF / MDS
  • Em Burnett

    • Smart curb collaborative - Final chance to apply for funding
  • Andrew Hastings

    • OMF Summit this fall - November 12

      • Expanded full day event
      • Planned to coincide with the CoMotionLA conference
    • New OMF members

      • Beam
      • Appyway
      • Cruise
      • Transito

MDS 2.1 Release Plan (Michael Schnuerle)

  • Clearer support for Autonomous Vehicles in passenger services mode (i.e. robotaxis)

  • Full support or real time policy for emergency response is / will be more explicitly supported

  • Considering data standards for crash reporting

MDS Policy overview

  • Shift from physical infrastructure to digital infrastructure

  • MDS enables two way communication between public / private entities and actors.

  • MDS Use cases includes things like fees and incentives, emergency guidance, event areas, no-ride zones / geofencing, policy and environmental goals.

  • OMF publishes sample policy language, how to guides, and RFP scoring language, contract renewal, etc.

  • Github - where everything happens outside of meetings (asynchronous content)

  • MDS Policy for passenger services

  • Question: How do you specify geographies for the data exchange?

    • Answer: it really depends on the specific connectors and

Seattle Department of Transportation

  • Armand Shabazian - Electric and automated mobility policy advisor at SDOT

  • Data for autonomous transportation awareness (DATA)

  • General Stats: 27% of Seattle is public space, 60% of Seattle's emissions come from vehicles.

  • Pillars of AV policy: Safety, Sustainability, Equity, Collaboration

  • Washington State Senate Bill 5594 addresses AVs is currently stalled, however...

  • State lawmakers allocated 500k for advancing WA AV services

  • SDOT is using this to demonstrate geofencing and other AV digital services

  • Timeline (2017-2024)

    • Starts with Mobility playbook in 2017
    • Includes collaboration with several private companies including Nvidia
    • Ends with 20 year plan for AVs and DATA program
  • Looking at San Francisco's experience (50 written reports of AV interference)

    • (see diagram) Complex flow of information and response when there is an incident with AVs that includes calls to AV
    • AVs are more challenging for engagement with first responders
  • Seattle's approach to avoiding AV interference is data driven and they are looking at digital tools to streamline operations.

    • Ingest real time data (911, crashes, etc.)
    • Translate to MDS
    • Create geofencing for "no go zones" for rerouting
    • monitor feed use for effectiveness
    • Share: create guide for other cities
  • Data flow

    • SaaS platform: (911 / Work zones / Traffic operations / events / traveler information API)
    • SaaS platform feeds into Policy Feed
    • Policy Feed feeds into Geofencing development
    • Geofencing feeds into downstream communication
  • Demonstration example of data flow (see slides)

  • Partners include State, OMF, University of Washington, and (TBD) private SaaS company.

  • Contact:

  • [email protected]

  • https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/new-mobility-program

Questions

How do you know who is ingesting the MDS Policy feed when you talk about enforcement?

  • This will be tracked by the implementation vendor, and used to check access during negative interactions on the street

How do you evaluate the results and effectiveness of the pilot?

  • Starting with operators like our transit King County Metro, and test in simulation with AV companies and historic interactions with example MDS push. University of Washington creating measures of success, like how many times an operator needs to beam into the vehicle and take control.

How will you coordinate the real time feeds from a staffing perspective and technical challenges?

  • A vendor will be doing this for the city, as experts in this space. There will be final implementation guide that other cities could use, especially around CAD integration. Includes a state ‘Traveller API’ data feed and merge into MDS Policy.

Will you be ingesting data from the operators, like through the MDS Provider API?

  • No not yet until there are more companies operating, and to keep with our policy scope and quick one year timeline.

How will the OMF be helping?

  • OMF will work with Seattle to help it be replicable to other cities like DC, Nashville, San Francisco, etc.

Are you going to try to publish this using MDS Policy to Waze and Google and Apple Maps, etc which can get to public app consumers?

  • Human drivers also need this data ahead of time, just like automated vehicles. We will be pushing this data to these real time services for human drivers too. Help with future situational awareness before either have eyes on the ground.

Help needed

ITS JPO, FHWA discussions on roadway digital infrastructure. Contact Stephanie Dock in DC if you want to be part of a core group pushing this along at the city side. [email protected]

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