The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will begin a prototype test in late July for determining the effectiveness of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) for safeguarding hazmat transportation.
The test is designed to quantify the costs and benefits associated with transportation security technologies to assist trucking companies in making decisions about the equipment. Full-scale testing is scheduled to begin in late August of this year and set to end by the latter part of 2004.
The test will involve 100 trucks equipped with a variety of existing technologies packaged in several different cost tiers and will be tested across four different transportation scenarios. The project will test the capabilities of technologies such as driver verification using password logins, fingerprint biometrics and smart cards; vehicle and load tracking, using satellites and other wireless systems; off-route and stolen vehicle alerts, using geo-fencing; and cargo tampering alerts, using electronic seals.
Carriers and shippers that have expressed their intent to participate in the test include BP Chemicals, Cox Petroleum, Distribution Technologies, Dupre Transport, Dyno Nobel Transportation, ExxonMobil, GE Betz, Hercules Incorporated, Orica USA Inc, Quality Carriers, Roadway Express Inc, Roeder Cartage Co Inc, R&R Trucking, The Dow Chemical Company, and Transport Service Co.
The ITS field operational test deployment team is led by the Battelle Memorial Institute. Deployment team members include QUALCOMM, Inc, the American Transportation Research Institute, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, TotalSecurity.US, Savi Technology, and Information Systems Support.
Participating state agencies include the California Highway Patrol, Illinois State Police, Illinois Department of Transportation, Texas Department of Public Safety, New York State Police and the New York State Department of Transportation.
Original equipment and engine manufacturers also involved in the field operational test include Caterpillar Inc, Cummins Inc, Detroit Diesel Corporation, Freightliner Truck Group, and International Truck and Engine Corporation.