1 00:00:00,700 --> 00:00:03,367 (air whooshing) 2 00:00:10,530 --> 00:00:12,120 - [Narrator] Demand for autonomous vehicles 3 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:14,100 that travel long distances 4 00:00:14,100 --> 00:00:16,710 will continue to rise in the coming years. 5 00:00:16,710 --> 00:00:18,630 Research models that include these vehicles 6 00:00:18,630 --> 00:00:21,720 will be necessary to help with traffic management. 7 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,450 Researchers from the Texas Department of Transportation 8 00:00:24,450 --> 00:00:26,580 and the Center for Transportation Research 9 00:00:26,580 --> 00:00:29,100 aim to place all information related to passenger 10 00:00:29,100 --> 00:00:32,340 and freight-based travel into a user-friendly form, 11 00:00:32,340 --> 00:00:34,263 accessible to TexDOT employees. 12 00:00:35,310 --> 00:00:37,290 - Well, the need for this research arose 13 00:00:37,290 --> 00:00:40,230 due to potential impacts of autonomous vehicles 14 00:00:40,230 --> 00:00:42,210 on long distance travel. 15 00:00:42,210 --> 00:00:44,970 Specifically, the researchers wanted to understand 16 00:00:44,970 --> 00:00:46,890 how these vehicles would affect 17 00:00:46,890 --> 00:00:50,040 passenger and freight travel in Texas. 18 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:51,690 The researchers wanted to see if people 19 00:00:51,690 --> 00:00:56,310 might take longer trips by car instead of flying, 20 00:00:56,310 --> 00:00:59,820 and how trucks might deliver goods more efficiently. 21 00:00:59,820 --> 00:01:02,760 - Well, autonomous vehicles, or self-driving vehicles, 22 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:05,100 are coming to Texas and the world. 23 00:01:05,100 --> 00:01:07,200 And you already see them here in Austin. 24 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,450 You've seen them in Dallas and Houston. 25 00:01:09,450 --> 00:01:12,840 We have trucks driving between some of these big cities 26 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,260 each day without somebody touching that wheel 27 00:01:16,260 --> 00:01:19,440 or hitting those brakes and gas pedals. 28 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,370 And to anticipate the impacts on traffic 29 00:01:23,370 --> 00:01:26,550 across the state, we really needed to update our models. 30 00:01:26,550 --> 00:01:29,790 And especially that statewide analysis model. 31 00:01:29,790 --> 00:01:31,620 - [Narrator] The research has built a computer model 32 00:01:31,620 --> 00:01:34,170 of the United States transportation system 33 00:01:34,170 --> 00:01:36,210 way out in the year 2040. 34 00:01:36,210 --> 00:01:38,730 And they were pretending that there were self-driving cars 35 00:01:38,730 --> 00:01:40,260 and trucks on the road. 36 00:01:40,260 --> 00:01:43,710 And they used data from surveys, government statistics, 37 00:01:43,710 --> 00:01:46,080 and traffic patterns to make their model 38 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,090 as realistic as possible. 39 00:01:48,090 --> 00:01:51,150 And the key finding is that autonomous vehicles 40 00:01:51,150 --> 00:01:53,520 are predicted to increase what are called 41 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:58,350 person miles for existing long distance trips by about 35%. 42 00:01:58,350 --> 00:02:01,890 And truck share is also expected to increase 43 00:02:01,890 --> 00:02:04,770 with about a 6% increase in what are called 44 00:02:04,770 --> 00:02:06,813 ton-miles transported by truck. 45 00:02:07,740 --> 00:02:10,710 - What's really important, that we foresee the future 46 00:02:10,710 --> 00:02:13,140 before we make transportation investments 47 00:02:13,140 --> 00:02:14,880 or big policy changes. 48 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:17,100 The added travel, 49 00:02:17,100 --> 00:02:21,810 especially on the passenger side is dramatic. 50 00:02:21,810 --> 00:02:24,780 And will congest, and probably gridlock 51 00:02:24,780 --> 00:02:29,460 much of the state's system without having road pricing. 52 00:02:29,460 --> 00:02:32,970 Now with the smart technologies for communications 53 00:02:32,970 --> 00:02:35,730 and onboard dongles that retain all the information 54 00:02:35,730 --> 00:02:38,070 about how much the vehicle owes, we can really 55 00:02:38,070 --> 00:02:39,990 start to deploy those, 56 00:02:39,990 --> 00:02:43,020 and start making the management of this vast system 57 00:02:43,020 --> 00:02:46,380 much better, which will be really, ultimately much better 58 00:02:46,380 --> 00:02:48,420 for all of the travelers because it'll be 59 00:02:48,420 --> 00:02:53,160 a much more rational delivery of transportation services. 60 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:57,480 And these kinds of models allow us to see 10, 20, 30 years 61 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,480 in the future when the fleet has really evolved 62 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:03,270 to much more, let's say, electric vehicles, 63 00:03:03,270 --> 00:03:05,850 and self-driving vehicles, and shared fleets, 64 00:03:05,850 --> 00:03:07,110 and self-driving buses. 65 00:03:07,110 --> 00:03:08,910 All these kinds of technologies, 66 00:03:08,910 --> 00:03:10,440 we know that they're coming. 67 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,870 They're already here to some extent. 68 00:03:12,870 --> 00:03:16,290 And we need to make better long-term investment 69 00:03:16,290 --> 00:03:17,703 and policy decisions now. 70 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:20,280 - This helps Texas prepare 71 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:22,950 for the future of transportation by understanding 72 00:03:22,950 --> 00:03:24,900 how travel might change. 73 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:27,960 TexDOT could plan for things like road maintenance, 74 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,360 traffic flow, and even air quality. 75 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:32,670 So this could mean smoother journeys 76 00:03:32,670 --> 00:03:34,500 and cleaner air for everyone. 77 00:03:34,500 --> 00:03:37,470 So having really good authoritative research 78 00:03:37,470 --> 00:03:40,590 that puts a number to some of these things 79 00:03:40,590 --> 00:03:43,470 really helps us remove some of that uncertainty, 80 00:03:43,470 --> 00:03:45,600 and allows us to plan for the future now. 81 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,050 And execute with more certainty. 82 00:03:49,050 --> 00:03:51,480 Pass on that value to Texans. 83 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,450 And for the public, that could mean huge benefits 84 00:03:54,450 --> 00:03:56,907 to travel time and safety, 85 00:03:56,907 --> 00:03:59,610 and the value of their tax dollars. 86 00:03:59,610 --> 00:04:00,780 - [Narrator] For more information, 87 00:04:00,780 --> 00:04:03,180 and to find the publication for this project, 88 00:04:03,180 --> 00:04:05,520 please visit the TexDOT Research Library 89 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:06,720 at the link shown below.