Route 66 & Indra: A State of the Art Interstate

Change happens slowly and then all at once.  It sneaks up on you.  I was taking a Lyft from the Los Angeles Convention Center to the Petersen Automotive Museum and I noticed the driver had a Fastrak toll tag, but it was different from the other Fastrak toll tags I had seen in previous visits.

My (very talkative) driver’s Fastrak tag was a Fastrak Flex tag with settings for 1-, 2-, or 3 passengers.  It had a little switch/slider on it to make the selection.  This immediately had me wondering – a) what a pain in the neck to have to physically make this selection even if most of the time it would be “1” or “2”; b) obviously it means the toll charge will vary depending on that selection but how would that be enforced – could you game the system? and c) what a quaint analog solution – the mechanical switch – for the digital challenge of tolling.

At my advanced age it literally took me hours to put two-and-two together that enforcement would be automated with cameras and LiDAR sensors at tolling stations confirming the number of vehicle occupants and synchronizing with the signal from the tag.  This reminded me of a press release I saw from Indra, the Spanish infrastructure provider.

Indra was recently recognized by the International Bridge Toll and Tunnel Association (IBTTA) for its work on 22.5 miles of Interstate Route 66 in Virginia, where Indra implemented LiDAR, video artificial intelligence for axle counting, C-V2X, and automatic detection of high occupancy vehicles. IBTTA gave Indra its Toll Excellence Award in recognition of the “innovative and non-intrusive all-overhead open road tolling solution."  IBTTA said the solution significantly improved traffic flow and points the way toward future infrastructure innovation.

Indra worked with Cintra in creating what it calls its Central Road Information System (CRIS) which is designed to automatically recommend information suitable for sharing with connected and unconnected cars (with variable message signs). The system is designed to use artificial intelligence, edge computing, and C-V2X technology for connected vehicle communications, the company says.

Indra says the applications it is focusing on include warnings of road works, incidents on the road, approaching emergency vehicles, detection of oncoming (i.e. wrong way) vehicles, vehicles stopped on the road, backed-up and slow traffic, pedestrians on the road, nearby circulation of maintenance vehicles, and adverse weather conditions. The company says its system will have the capacity for ten messages per vehicle per second for traffic estimated at more than 200,000 vehicles per day.

Indra says it will equip the highway concession holder's vehicles with on-board devices so that they will be the first to be connected and send and receive information to and from the CRIS platform. Among its credentials, Indra includes enabling autonomous driving tests on roads in Madrid, Lisbon, and Paris as part of the AUTOCITS project; partnership in the European C-ROADS Spain project; work on cybersecurity of autonomous and connected vehicles in connection with the SECREDAS and SCOTT projects.

Indra says it is currently heading the Mobility 2030 project promoting new smart, automated, and sustainable mobility on Spanish roads and participates in the SHOW autonomous driving project coordinated by UITP (International Association of Public Transport), and the R3CAV project, led by Renault.

Of course, Indra is not alone in stimulating a massive infrastructure revolution. Have no doubt, a revolution is underway. At the forefront of that revolution is the Autonomy Institute whose chairman, Jeff Decoux, has been long preaching the gospel of infrastructure upgrades as a fundamental economic stimulus with an emphasis on public infrastructure network nodes (PINNs) to propagate and integrate wireless and wired connections along major highways and in cities.

Indra's breakthrough has been creating a layer for connected car data collection and dissemination, The Autonomy Institute's vision is the emphasis on data collection and wireless communications - including satellites. The Autonomy Institute's goals include enabling and integrating autonomous vehicle technology, drones, and a wide range of civilian, government, and defense applications in the interest of enhanced safety and efficiency.

All of which is to say that connected car technology is increasingly being integrated into the thinking and planning associated with infrastructure projects and developments. It also means that the onset of widespread tolling and road-use charging in the U.S. will be a significant spur to the adoption of C-V2X and LiDAR for infrastructure applications. And, yes, it means that your local toll operator is increasingly going to be peering into your car to count the occupants while you are driving - so behave yourself.