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(logo whooshing)

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(droning music)

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- [Narrator] As a leader in
automated vehicle deployment

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and several deployments underway,
Texas has a keen interest

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in saving advancing AV technology.

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Texas Department of
Transportation Research

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is working to show conclusively

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that AVs are performing safely

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in their intended operational environment.

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The University of Texas at Austin

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Center for Transportation Research

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and the Mobility Systems Lab

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in the Department of
Mechanical Engineering

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recently completed a project that compared

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automated vehicle performance
and human driving behavior

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in several virtual highway and
urban environment scenarios.

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- There's been over
4,000 traffic fatalities

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on Texas roadways last year alone.

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And connected and automated
vehicle technology,

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there are a lot of safety benefits.

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And so TxDOT has partnered with UT Austin

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Center for Transportation Research

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to really understand what the capabilities

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of the automated vehicles are.

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- There are already a lot of
connected automated vehicles

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on our Texas roadways, and
there are more to come.

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And you know, TxDOT,

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we wanted to embrace
this technology safely.

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We also wanted to, you know,

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prepare our infrastructure.

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- We had an opportunity to recruit

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27 different test participants to come out

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and test drive the simulator.

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There were a couple different
scenarios that we looked at.

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One was a forced merge scenario,

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and then the other scenario we looked at

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was in an urban environment.

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And so, we found that
the automated vehicles

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really did perform better
than the human drivers.

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They were able to respond more quickly,

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and slow down as needed.

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And then there's not
really a common language

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for automated vehicles,

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in terms of their driving environments.

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And so we helped to develop what's called

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an operational design domain architecture

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that catalogs different
roadway environments,

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traffic characteristics, as
well as weather conditions.

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- The automated vehicles,
they tend to perform better.

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So, you know, the findings
allow us to, you know,

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to better prepare our infrastructure,

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and how we can make
more informed decisions

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about where to invest in infrastructure

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to embrace this technology.

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At the same time, you
know, the research findings

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allow us to educate our
general public about, you know,

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how to utilize these different
levels of automated vehicles.

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- [Narrator] For more information,

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and to find the publication
for this project,

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please visit the TxDOT Research Library

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at the link shown below.