Automated transportation terms

Find terms and definitions related to automated and connected transportation:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Intelligence that is learned, displayed, and carried out by machines. An “intelligent” machine perceives its environment and then takes actions that maximize its chance of success at some goal.
• Advanced Driver-Assistance System (ADAS) – A complex combination of various components that can be defined as systems where perception, decision making and operation of the automobile are performed by electronics and machinery instead of a human driver, and as introduction of automation into road traffic.
• Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) – A vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input. A human may select a destination but is not required to mechanically operate the vehicle. Autonomous vehicles sense their surroundings with such techniques as radar, LIDAR, GPS technology or computer vision. Advanced control systems on board the vehicle then interpret the sensor information to identify the appropriate navigation paths and obstacles and interpret the relevant signs.
• Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) – A communications protocol developed to address the safety critical issues associated with sending and receiving data among vehicles and between moving vehicles and fixed roadside access points. These provide low-latency data-only V2V and V2I communications.
• Internet of Things (IoT) – A network of physical objects—devices, vehicles, buildings, machines and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data. In its simplest terms, the IoT is about physical “things” with the ability to sense, actuate and communicate.
• Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) – An expensive, but extremely accurate technology, which is effectively a Laser based version of Radar and used in autonomous vehicles. The LIDAR unit, usually sits on top of the vehicle roof to enable unhindered 360-degree view of the area surrounding the vehicle. Lasers spin at about 900 rpm and create a detailed 360-degree 3D map of the surrounding environment in order to view all obstacles in real time. This unit bounces laser beams off object surfaces up to 100m around the autonomous vehicle and then builds a 3D picture from this raw data via the vehicles microprocessor, to accurately determine the identity and distance of the object.
• Machine Vision – A technology used to provide imaging-based automatic inspection and analysis for such applications as automated inspection, process control and robot guidance, usually in the industry. Machine vision is a term encompassing a large number of technologies, software and hardware products, integrated systems, actions, methods and expertise.
• Real Time Data (RTD) – Data that are collected continuously and made available for immediate processing. Vehicle RTD includes information about vehicles such as current fuel consumption, braking behavior and temperature and information on the current level of traffic or the state of the road ahead.
• Real Time Traffic Information (RTTI) – A service that provides drivers with information about the current state of traffic in a road network. It is updated to show how conditions are changing and may apply to all or part(s) of the road network.
• Roadside Unit (RSU) – A DSRC transceiver that is mounted along a road or pedestrian passageway. An RSU may also be mounted on a vehicle or is hand carried, but it may only operate when the vehicle or hand carried unit is stationary.