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Transportation institute director to speak at TEDxWilmington Salon
Tom Dingus, director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, has been selected as one of 12 international leaders in the transportation world to gather in Wilmington, Delaware, for the Oct. 17 TEDxWilmingtonSalon event, “Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? The Transformation of Transportation.”
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Ford, Virginia Tech Go Undercover to Develop Signals That Enable Autonomous Vehicles to Communicate with People
Ford and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute are testing a Ford-designed lighting method for self-driving vehicles to signal their intent to pedestrians, human drivers and bicyclists in an effort to create a standard visual language everyone can easily process and understand.
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Transportation institute receives NSF award to study effects of autonomous truck deployment
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has received an inaugural Convergence award from the National Science Foundation to support research on autonomous trucks and their future workforce implications.
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Transportation researcher appointed to federal advisory council on motorcycle safety
Shane McLaughlin, director of the Center for Automated Vehicle Systems at the transportation institute and an expert on motorcycle safety research, has been appointed by the U.S. Department of Transportation to serve as a special government employee on the Motorcyclist Advisory Council to the Federal Highway Administration.
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VTTI Automated vehicle-related Testing In Arlington, Va.
This study is one of many being conducted to determine how best to design automated vehicles.
Welcome from the Director
It is rare to have a career in which one feels they are truly making a difference. It is rarer still to work with others–faculty, staff, and students–who are dedicated to such a daunting endeavor. But that is what makes VTTI unique. This is a community with a voracious desire to dig deep to find the solutions that will ensure the safety of all ground transportation users, from truck and car drivers to motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. This is a community that is dedicated to creating a sustainable transportation system and to preserving our mobility, our infrastructure, and our environment.
It has been more than 25 years since VTTI was founded. Then called the Center for Transportation Research, we encompassed 15 employees. Today, we stand at more than 475 employees, house the largest group of driving safety researchers in the world, annually see sponsored research expenditures of more than $36 million, have an infrastructure worth more than $110 million, and support more than 140 undergraduate and graduate students who are gaining first-hand knowledge into the field of transportation research.
This is but a snapshot of what VTTI has accomplished. What we will continue to accomplish is nothing short of our core mission: to save lives, save time, save money, and protect the environment.
Virginia Smart Road
The Virginia Smart Road is a unique, state-of-the-art, full-scale, closed test-bed research facility managed by VTTI and owned and maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). The Smart Road continues to play an important role in the overall success of the institute and its research endeavors. Transportation scientists and product developers have spent more than 20,000 hours conducting research on this high-tech highway since its opening.
Anne Deekens