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San Diego State University to Study Automated Vehicle Tech

The $28 million project administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation links the university with two other major players in the mobility field: Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

(TNS) — The San Diego region is poised to become a research hub for self-driving vehicles.

The federal government recently chose San Diego State University to join a roughly $28 million project aimed at studying safety issues associated with emerging vehicle technology, from automated warning systems to driverless cars.

The project administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation links the university with two other major players in the mobility field — Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. The federal grant delivers $2.8 million a year over five years and brings in matching funds from state and private sources. The project has been dubbed Safety through Disruption (SafeD): Goal Zero.

The grant could eventually help launch a full-scale transportation research program at SDSU, said Sahar Ghanipoor Machiani, professor of transportation engineering at the university and director of the new research program.

“SDSU offers the only transportation engineering program in San Diego, and the new university transportation center will help us in our efforts to build upon our teaching and research capacity in preparing the next generation of transportation engineers,” she said.

The first phase of the transportation project in San Diego will focus on how to prepare drivers to use advances in automated technology, such as autopilot functions that require drivers to take control of a vehicle in emergency situations.

“Our training systems, our licensing system needs to be updated considering all these changes that are happening in our transportation world,” Machiani said. “We’re going to look at guidelines and protocol that need to be developed for training drivers for autonomous vehicles.”

This new funding comes shortly after the San Diego region was identified by U.S. DOT as one of 10 “proving grounds” around the country for testing autonomous vehicles and sharing the results with other researchers. Officials are looking at using the region’s system of carpool and bus lanes — especially Interstate 15 and the South Bay Expressway — and surface streets in Chula Vista.

©2017 The San Diego Union-Tribune, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.