The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for a combined $6.5 million to fund demonstration projects focused on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for transit buses and Automated Transit Bus Maintenance and Yard Operations.
The two areas of interest are part of five demonstration topics identified in FTA’s Strategic Transit Automation Research Plan, but Associate Administrator of Communications and Congressional Affairs Paul Kincaid says the ADAS and automated bus yard operations demonstration projects have a central theme: safety.
“Safety is the North Star of the [U.S. Department of Transportation]. We’re looking at this NOFO to help transit agencies gain efficiencies for workers and the folks they serve, but it will also help make transit agencies safer,” said Kincaid.
The $5 million funding opportunity for ADAS for transit buses can be for projects with use cases that smooth acceleration and deceleration, improve emergency braking, operate in narrow lanes, deliver precision docking and platooning.
The $1.5 million funding opportunity for Automation for Maintenance and Yard Operations Demonstration will be for projects with use cases that automate parking, recall or deliver precision movement for fueling, recharging, maintenance, disinfection and/or bus washing.
The automated bus yard operations opportunity is the first phase of a potential two-phase demonstration, dependent on funding availability. FTA says the first phase will be a 12-month concept of operations with the second phase envisioned as a 12-24-month operational demonstration on a transit property.
Workforce engagement, training and skills development activities related to ADAS or automated bus yard operations are eligible to apply for the funding, as well.
“This is not about automating all bus travel,” explained Kincaid. “It’s about recognizing that it is difficult to be a bus operator. It’s a tough job, it’s a fatiguing job, it’s a long duration job. We’re trying to make that tough job just a little bit easier. Automation is a long view into the future, but right now, if we can make it easier to pull up to curbs, make it easier to avoid pedestrian collisions or make it easier to operate the bus in a closed environment like maintenance yards, it’s going to be a good day for bus operators and the folks who work with them at transit agencies.”
The NOFO for the ADAS for transit buses and Automated Transit Bus Maintenance and Yard Operations was published in the Federal Register on Sept. 22, 2022. The deadline to submit applications for interested parties is Nov. 21, 2022.
