The term Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) involves applying advanced technologies, such as electronics, communications, and information processing to vehicles and transportation infrastructure.  ITS is an important research area for IMR because it shows great potential for improving safety and transportation efficiency, facilitating management of transportation systems, and influencing individual choices of mode, rate and travel time. ITS also is important because it can have a positive impact on the environment. ITS technologies can reduce diesel truck idling and unnecessary driving to search for parking, thereby cutting back on air pollution and reducing fuel consumption.

Some of the ITS technologies IMR is closely examining include virtual weigh stations, automated speed enforcement, changeable message signs and safety messages, and Wi-Fi at roadside rest stops. Past IMR ITS projects have included California’s Innovative Corridors Initiative.

Excessive speed is a major factor in motor vehicle accidents and thus, is an important focus of highway enforcement efforts.  Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) systems combine radar with cameras to enforce speeding laws.  A vehicle that is speeding is detected by radar, which triggers a camera to take a photograph or digitally records the license plate number, and the driver is issued a citation, usually through the mail.  ASE provides a cost-effective method to improve speed enforcement and allows police officers to focus on other enforcement priorities.

Changeable Message Signs (CMS), also called dynamic or variable message signs, are programmable signs used on highways nationwide to give drivers real-time information such as traffic updates, roadwork warnings, Amber Alerts, destination arrival estimates, parking information, and other traffic and safety related information. CMS allow motorists to take immediate action in response to information—to slow down or change routes, for example—leading to safer driving conditions and less congestion.

California’s Innovative Corridors Initiative (ICI) was a multi-year project to test a new approach for accelerating the deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies, products and services along major California corridors.  ICI governmental partners included Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the San Francisco Bay area, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, and the California Center for Innovative Transportation.

As part of their effort, ICI partners solicited proposals for ICI demonstration projects in conjunction with the ITS World Congress that was held in San Francisco in November 2005.  The purpose of these demonstration projects was to test and illustrate traveler services that could facilitate mobility (how people move or travel from place to place), convenience, and safety to travelers.