About

Economic Impact

The VTTI-affiliated Global Center for Automotive Performance Simulation (GCAPS) will have an overall economic impact of $147 million on Southern Virginia during its first 10 years of operation:

• 100+ direct and indirect jobs in the region
• 30+ global customers

The Virginia Smart Roads expansion is expected to:

• Have an overall economic impact of $285 million+ on the local area during its first decade
• Create 156 jobs in the region by 2026 (74 direct/82 indirect jobs)

Naturalistic Driving Studies

• VTTI is one of the largest repositories of naturalistic driving data in the world!
• The data from NDSs have helped VTTI researchers, federal and state agencies, auto manufacturers, and suppliers answer important questions about such driver risks as distraction, fatigue, inattention, and impairment.
• VTTI’s 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study was the first large-scale NDS ever conducted; results from the study continue to be analyzed and have been cited almost 3,000 times in technical literature.
• VTTI and partners worked to analyze more than 2 petabytes of continuous naturalistic driving data collected from more than 3,300 instrumented vehicles and 3,500+ participants for the Second Strategic Highway Research Program NDS (SHRP 2 NDS) awarded by the National Academy of Sciences.
• VTTI has led naturalistic driving studies in China, Canada, and Australia.
• VTTI’s NDSs have shown that looking away from the forward roadway just prior to the occurrence of an unexpected event is responsible for up to 90% of crash and near-crash events.
• The VTTI Driver Distraction in Commercial Vehicle Operations study found that texting while driving raises a heavy-truck driver’s risk of a safety-critical event by 23 times.
• The "23 times" message helped lead the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) to issue a call to end this aspect of distracted driving. Currently, 48 states and the District of Columbia have banned text messaging for all drivers.
• VTTI developed a teen driving program that provides monitoring and feedback via the VTTI data acquisition system.
• The Institute’s teen driving studies have shown that teens are four times more likely to be involved in a crash or near-crash while distracted, as compared to their adult counterparts. Teen fatalities are three times greater than adult fatalities.
• VTTI’s NDSs have shown that driver drowsiness is involved in about 15% to 20% of the crashes and near-crashes for both heavy trucks and light vehicles, a significantly greater factor in crashes and near-crashes than was previously thought.
• VTTI researchers completed the first large-scale, naturalistic motorcycle study for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation to explore motorcycle crash causation and develop crash countermeasures.
• VTTI launched the Automated Mobility Partnership (AMP), an industry partnership that leverages VTTI’s NDS data with the goal of promoting the development of tools, techniques, and data resources to support the rapid advancement of automated vehicles for AMP members.

Next-generation Vehicle Technology

• The Virginia Automated Corridors (VAC), a partnership with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Transurban, and HERE, provides an automation-friendly environment that government agencies, original equipment manufacturers, and suppliers can use to test and certify their systems.
• Safe-D National UTC researchers use the VAC/VCC to perform research such as evaluating how autonomous vehicles respond to emergency vehicles and assessing safety perceptions of transportation network companies by the blind and visually impaired.
• A VTTI-led team is tasked with providing NHTSA with technical translation options for existing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and related test procedures.
• Institute researchers are investigating how developers of highly automated commercial vehicles (HACVs) and their applications can ensure safe testing and deployment.
• VTTI works with major vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to test – and oftentimes develop – innovative vehicle technologies. Before a new vehicle even hits the road, many of its safety systems are first tested at VTTI.

Mobility & Infrastructure

• A VTTI-VDOT program uses a simulator that continuously applies a weighted load to test pavements, simulating the natural wear and tear caused by heavy trucks on roadways. This will help determine how different pavement designs and materials respond to load testing prior to integration on the road.
• A guide for pedestrian lighting is being developed that will include a research-based assessment of sidewalk and crosswalk safety (including those used by school age children), pedestrian/bicycle visibility requirements, and vehicle/pedestrian conflict points.