Metro Magazine, June 2017

Passengers only At the recent UITP Summit in Montreal held in mid May I got the chance to see this technology in action during the AV demos put on by two private operator firms and their vehicle supplier partners Keolis Navya and Transdev EasyMile The driverless electric shuttles were similar in form and function and maneuvered their way around the path next to the exhibition site the Palais de congrés fairly quietly with relative ease A steady stream of curious attendees waited in line to take their turn to ride According to Transdev more than 1600 people rode the self driving shuttle Track mapping and more Autonomous vehicles arent the only application benefiting from LiDAR technology In addition to its use in AV applications LiDAR is also helping provide the San Diego Metropolitan Transportation Systems MTS rail division with valuable track data See pg 8 Using a special software tool and a roof mounted camera on a light rail vehicle MTS is able to obtain pinpoint accurate data on the agencys 106 miles of track providing clarity about the work ahead even before employees step foot on the right of way The agency also found this system to be beneficial in the classroom as a training tool for rail operators and a useful way to analyze permit requests Additionally much like LiDARs use with AVs rail industry suppliers have developed rail safety products utilizing the obstacle detection technology to spot objects in railway grade crossings See pg 50 Consultant conversations AV technology was also a topic of discussion in our annual Consultant Roundtable pg 12 where we asked top executives to weigh in on various transportation related themes According to one of our featured consultants HNTBs Diana Mendes The whole autonomous vehicle and ridesharing evolution thats happening really can be a boon for public transportation systems because it expands their reach in an affordable way and makes them more accessible to a broader range of people Mendes also talked about the importance of partnerships not only public private but partnerships across agencies with an aim at looking for efficiencies and making decisions that move the needle on the total transportation system not just projects or modes She added that its key to look at the performance of a transportation system across a broad range of metrics regionally to help transit agencies prioritize projects and get the biggest return on investment Consultants also talked about the trends helping these transit projects reach completion sooner Were seeing growing interest in design build and other forms of alternative project delivery including public private partnerships explained WSPs Greg Kelly Public private partnerships played a crucial role in the development of M 1 Rails recently opened QLine streetcar in Detroit one of the light rail projects included in this issue along with Sound Transits light rail plan and Valley Metros expansion in the Phoenix area pg 29 We hope you enjoy the issue LiDAR technology is getting a lot of press these days most notably for its use with autonomous vehicles AVs LiDAR short for light detection and ranging is much more accurate than GPS It works by emitting short pulses of laser light to precisely pinpoint the vehicles location on a map and detect the movement of nearby pedestrians and objects in its path 4 mETRO mAGAZINE JUNE 2017 metro magazine com point of departure Autonomous technology is a boon for public transportation Janna Starcic Executive Editor janna starcic@ metro magazine com Autonomous vehicle and ridesharing can be a boon for public transportation systems because it expands their reach in an affordable way and makes them more accessible to a broader range of people