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(air whooshing)

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- [Narrator] Autonomous vehicles

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were once the thing of science fiction.

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Today, we are near the reality

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of these cars and trucks on US roads.

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This will likely mean
changes in roadway designs

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to help maintain safe driving habits.

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Because of the large
number of roads statewide,

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the Texas Department of Transportation

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is set to be a leader in infrastructure

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to accommodate these vehicles.

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Researchers are looking at what changes

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in road design standards
will need to be implemented

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to determine the safest

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and most effective outcomes for drivers.

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- Get ready for autonomous vehicles

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because they're gonna come,
either you like it or not.

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It will probably start with freight

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'cause freight has a
lot of demand for that.

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But eventually, it will
filter down to passenger cars.

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- Our current road infrastructure

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is built for human drivers,

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and as AVs continue to develop

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and become more commonplace
in the next decade,

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there's a big need for us to rethink

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and reshape our
infrastructure for these AVs

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because they see and behave
differently than people do.

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This research was led by the
UTSA team, UT San Antonio,

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along with the TxDOT Research team.

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It was months of coming to the
research and understanding.

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Well, what are the research
projects related to this

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are happening across the nation?

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- The project concentrated
basically on impacts

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on traffic flows,

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and also it has the word
parking on the title, okay?

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Because I believe it's gonna
be a strong interaction.

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That's what we foresee

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as a big impact for autonomous vehicles,

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especially for the ones

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that deal with passenger transportation.

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- I think one of the biggest challenges

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that we're seeing still

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is the congestion, the traffic
congestion that we see daily,

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and also the vehicle deaths
that we see every single day,

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every single year.

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And in order for us as an
agency and as an industry

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to reach mission zero,

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technology such as AVs can help
solve some these challenges,

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which they can improve
congestion, reduce crashes,

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reduce travel time.

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- And we will have, as engineers,
to be able to make sure

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that they can operate and mingle
with human-driven vehicles.

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- What the key findings for this project

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is that AVs can help reduce the lane width

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from, let's say, 12 feet to eight feet,

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which can also increase capacity

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by reducing vehicle headway as well.

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And also,

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vehicles are currently only
utilized 20% of the time,

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and so FDs, AVs can drive
themselves and park themselves.

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Then, all of a sudden,

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that opens up a wider rate
of opportunities for cities

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to develop how the businesses will reform,

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where they put their parking lots

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or even reduce parking lots.

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And one of the other key findings

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was being able to understand
how autonomous vehicles see

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and interpret our infrastructure,

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such as paper markings and signage,

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and make sure that these signages
are uniform and consistent

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so that these autonomous vehicles

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are able to see them correctly.

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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.