The automobile is one of the last frontiers of the wireless revolution. We live connected lives: at school, at home, at work. But, as drivers we're isolated, limited to what we can do hands-free, and not at all connected to drivers around us. More importantly, our cars are mobile islands, increasingly equipped with sensors that help the driver "see," but not able to communicate with their surroundings. That is changing. After more than a decade of intensive research, vehicles are poised to enter a new connected reality in which they constantly talk to each other, to pedestrians and bicyclists, and to smart devices at intersections and along the road. In this talk we will explore Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) technology for vehicle-to/from-everything (V2X) connectivity. We will examine the wireless technology itself, including challenges that the research community has had to overcome. We will consider the range of V2X applications for safety, driving efficiency, and automated driving. In the safety sphere alone, the US Department of Transportation estimates that DSRC can help prevent or mitigate 80% of crashes involving non-impaired drivers, which is why they are working to require DSRC as a safety feature in new cars. We will discuss the status of DSRC deployment in the US and around the world. Finally, we will examine some possible barriers to DSRC deployment being advanced by non-DSRC stakeholders. The connected car revolution will bring predictable safety and efficiency benefits. Perhaps just as importantly it is likely to be an innovation platform for benefits we have not yet imagined.
Dr. John Kenney is Director of networking research and a Principal Researcher at the Toyota InfoTechnology Center in Mountain View, California. He represents Toyota in international standards organizations and industry research consortia. He also represents Toyota in DSRC Spectrum Sharing discussions with the US Government and the Wi-Fi industry. He served as General Co-Chair of the IEEE SmartVehicles workshops 2014-16, and of the ACM VANET workshops 2011-12. His research focuses on DSRC congestion control, spectrum sharing, and communication performance enhancement. Prior to his work with Toyota, John was a member of the Tellabs Research Center and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame. He received his MSEE from Stanford and his Ph.D. from Notre Dame.
