In last month’s newsletter, we took a glimpse into FMCSA’s regulatory agenda for 2019. Since January is the month the world’s largest transportation research meeting is held each year in Washington, DC [i.e., the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, and 2019 is its 98th annual get together!], we thought it would be timely to highlight some of FMCSA’s safety-focused research projects. Here’s a title and brief description of some of the more significant research projects, with an expected completion date for each:

1. Accelerating SmartPark Deployment – Goal is to assess the status of deployment of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) for truck parking, evaluate opportunities and barriers, and develop a strategic plan to accelerate ITS deployment for truck parking (Fall 2018: final plan is overdue)
2. Accelerating the Adoption of Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) Systems in CMVs – Goal is to determine the barriers to nationwide adoption of AEB systems, and identify/recommend ways to overcome those barriers in order to accelerate adoption (Fall 2018: final report is overdue)
3. Baseline Safety Performance Measures for Highly Automated CMVs – Goal is to determine baseline safety measures and parameters for future automated CMV and truck platooning pilot tests (Final report due Spring 2019)
4. CMV Driver Commuting Time – Goal is to examine the effects of “excessive commuting on safety and driver fatigue.” (Final report is due in first half of 2019)
5. Civil Fines and Motor Carrier Safety – Goal is to assess the effectiveness of current settlement practices and identify which approaches are most likely to change non-compliant carrier and driver behavior (Final report due Summer 2019)

To read more about these research projects, and many others, go to https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/research-and-analysis/active-research-projects