详情

原文传递 Results from the Natural Use Study of the DIRECT Operational Test

题名：	Results from the Natural Use Study of the DIRECT Operational Test
作者：	Thomas B. Reed; Taufik Hanafi; Rebecca P. Richeson; Steven E. Underwood
关键词：	Results; Natural; Study; DIRECT; Test
摘要：	Many Advanced Traveler Information Service (ATIS) approaches, like vehicle navigation and route guidance, are expensive and may therefore be inaccessible to a large portion of the driving public. However, methods using existing equipment and infrastructure, or less expensive designs, are more likely to be accessible and subsequently used by drivers. Thus, lower-cost methods are likely to have a larger and more immediate impact on drivers, either through changed perceptions and/or behavior, and on traffic management practices as well. In an effort to provide a test of low-cost information systems in a field setting, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), with the Federal Highway Administration, is sponsoring an operational test called DIRECT (Driver Information Radio using Experimental Communication Technologies). The DIRECT project focuses on low-cost systems that can provide the driver with some or all of the following features: on-demand access, route-specific information, and automatic interrupt en-route. Systems selected for testing include: Low Power Highway Advisory Radio (LPHAR); Automatic Highway Advisory Radio (AHAR), telephone call-in, and Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) in conjunction with a second subcarrier known as a Subsidiary Communications Authority (SCA) channel. DIRECT is unique because it is testing and evaluating competing low-cost traffic information methods simultaneously. Specifically, test subjects are recruited on the basis of trip origin, destination, and start time so that subjects using each of the tested systems will, hopefully, encounter the same incidents at near to the same times. In this way, traveler behavior in response to each of the four systems can be compared under the same traffic conditions. The University of Michigan Intelligent Transportation Systems Research Laboratory is responsible for the evaluation of the DIRECT project. The emphasis of the evaluation is on the comparative value of the alternative systems in the eyes of users, the effect of implementing each technology in terms of traveler behavior, and the technical effectiveness of the system components. More specifically, the evaluation is examining DIRECT via five research areas: Natural Use, Simulation and Modeling, Technical Performance and Cost, Human Factors, and Institutional Issues. This report is a limited presentation of results from the Natural Use Study. Two of the basic results are: ?The systems tested in DIRECT, in particular RDS, could be a significant improvement over television traffic information and changeable message signs. ?Traffic reports delivered via commercial radio are hard to improve upon. In particular, anecdotal results indicate that commercial radio delivers a certain level of entertainment value in conjunction with traffic reports. However, a delivery system similar to the RDS system tested in DIRECT has the potential to complement commercial radio by virtue of its ability to 損ush?route-specific traffic reports to the traveler.
总页数：	ITS America. Meeting (8th : 1998 : Detroit, Mich.). Transportation technology for tomorrow : conference proceedings. 1998. pp19
报告类型：	科技报告