Program

 

9:00 Tour of Mcity
This is an opportunity to visit a real working testbed for automated vehicles on University of Michigan's campus.
Organizer: Derek Johnson, Univ. Michigan, Principal Engineer, Mcity
12:00 Lunch on your own 
1:00 Welcome from the CWWCE Past Commissioner – Sue Ellen Haupt, HSF NCAR
Moderator: Curtis Walker - NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) 
1:10 Welcome and Opening Remarks from US Department of Transportation (DOT) Ashley Nylen, Acting Assistant Director of Program Development & Strategy and Senior Strategist, Surface Automation & Safety - US DOT
1:30 Welcome from the Organizing Committee - Curtis Walker, NSF (NCAR)
1:40 Keynote Speaker: Bill Mahoney, Emeritus Research Applications Laboratory Director - NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Bio: Bill Mahoney led weather related research and development programs at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) for more than 37 years on a variety of topics including aviation, surface transportation, social sciences, intelligent forecast systems, wildland fire behavior prediction, and renewable energy. He has written or co-authored more than 50 papers and frequently presented NCAR’s work at national and international fora. Bill is a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and served as AMS Commission on the Weather, Water and Climate Enterprise, and is an AMS Fellow.
Moderator: Paul Pisano, Chair - TRB Road Weather Committee
Abstract: This talk will provide the context for this event and a bridge from the first AV & Meteorology Summit held in October 2018 at the NTSB in Washington, D.C. It will cover the current needs for improved integration of meteorological information with the automated vehicle industry and the goals, objectives, and outcomes from the first meeting and ongoing research and operational needs to advance automation and safety.
2:30 - Networking Break
3:00 AV Testbeds: Moderator: Curtis Walker, NSF NCAR
Testbeds are a critical resource in ensuring the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of automated vehicles and other emerging vehicle technologies. These testbeds also offer unique opportunities to assess the performance of automated vehicles during adverse weather conditions. Such experiments may promote the development of safety standards and certifications for the industry. This session will demonstrate such automated vehicle adverse weather driving use cases at various testbeds.
Panelists: Matti Kutila - VTT; Peter Jin-Rutgers; Derek Johnson - Mcity; Ron Gibbons - Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI); David Johnson - Federal Highways Administration (FHWA); Nick Goberville - Argonne National Laboratory
After introduction to the topic by panelists, discussion will be invited including audience participation.
4:55 Closing of Day 1
5:15 Icebreaker / Networking / Poster Viewing
8:00 Welcome to Day 2
8:05  Data Enablers Panel: Moderator - Bill Mahoney, NSF NCAR
Weather, road weather, and other environmental data are critical to enabling the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of autonomous vehicles and their associated systems across a wide variety of weather conditions. This panel brings together perspectives from OEMs and those who work closely with them to address these challenges.
Panelists: Connor McCann – Ford Motors; Scott Mackaro - Vaisala; Zach Asher - Revision Autonomy & Western Michigan Univ; Brenda Phillips – Univ Massachusetts, Amherst; Matti Kutila – VTT
9:35 - Networking Break and Poster Viewing (View Poster Session Here)
10:15 Federal Government and National Research Panel: Moderator - Paul Pisano, Chair - TRB Road Weather Committee and Brenda Boyce, Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH)
What is going to happen with certification? What meteorological information will be needed for AVs to operate safely? Join these representatives from FHWA, NOAA, and government labs to learn about and discuss plans to provide the information to make wide-scale use of AVs feasible.
Panelists: Curtis Walker and Amanda Siems Anderson - NSF NCAR; David Johnson - FHWA; Stephan Smith - NOAA NWS; Jeffrey Snyder – NOAA, National Severe Storms Laboratory
11:45 - Lunch Break Sponsored by Vaisala
1:00 State and City Initiatives on AVs: Moderators - Brenda Boyce, BAH; and Derek Johnson, Mcity
States and cities are making substantial progress on preparing for AVs through research and planning. Representatives from some of the forward thinking cities and states will discuss their progress.
Panelists: Mike Chapman – Colorado DOT; Kelly Bartlett – Michigan DOT; Kelly Porter – City of Fort Worth; Vince Garcia - Wyoming DOT
2:15 Joint Discussion Panel - discussion between panelists across federal, state and local panels with the data enablers panel
Moderator: Curtis Walker - NSF NCAR
Panelists: David Johnson - FHWA; Stephan Smith – NOAA NWS; Jeffrey Snyder – NOAA, National Severe Storms Laboratory; Mike Chapman – Colorado DOT; Kelly Bartlett – Michigan DOT; Kelly Porter – City of Fort Worth; Vince Garcia - Wyoming DOT; Connor McCann - Ford Motors; Scott Mackaro - Vaisala; Zach Asher - Revision Autonomy & Western Michican Univ.; Brenda Phillips - Univ Massachusetts, Amherst; Matti Kutila - VTT
3:00 - Networking Break and Poster Viewing (View Posters Here)
3:30 Forecast Providers for AVs:  Moderator - Sue Ellen Haupt, NSF NCAR and Brenda Boyce, BAH
A key to providing real-time weather information for AVs is having commercial forecast providers who understand what is needed and how best to provide it. This is an opportunity to hear from some of those providers on what is necessary to make this communication of real-time weather data successful.
Panelists: Chris Albrecht - Olsson; Scott Mackaro -Vaisala; Apoorva Bajaj - Climavision; DTN; Kevin Mahoney, DNT
4:40 Summary, Discussion and Follow Up:  Moderators - Curtis Walker, NSF NCAR & Derek Johnson, Mcity
Now that we have heard about research, thoughts from federal, state, and local authorities, it's time for the audience to join the conversation and help these groups make plans for research and collaborations needed for AV deployment.
4:55 Closing for Day 2
8:00 Welcome to Day 3
8:05 Data Concepts Panel: Moderator - Paul Pisano, Chair - TRB Road Weather Committee
Automated vehicle implementation and operation is a data intensive effort. Automated vehicles will need crucial near real-time and forecast information for decision support and safe operations. This data may include traffic mobility information, atmospheric weather (e.g., temperature; wind speed and direction; precipitation type, rate, and intensity; relative humidity) and road weather (e.g., pavement temperature; surface status [e.g., wet, ice, snow]; friction). This panel will discuss various data repositories and potential applications of these data in support of all-weather automated vehicle operation.
Panelists: Mike Hopkins – NOAA NWS Observations; Michael Pack – Regional Integrated Transportation Information System (RITIS); Tom Brummet - NSF NCAR; David Johnson-FHWA
9:05 AV Communication and Readiness: Moderator - Derek Johnson, Mcity
To be able to use weather information effectively, the vehicles must be equipped to receive real-time data. On-going efforts in this topic will be discussed.
Panelists: Anthony Magnan – Verizon; Vince Belanger – Mcity; Jim Meisner – Qualcomm
10:05 - Networking Break
10:25 Simulation Tools Panel: Moderator: Sue Ellen Haupt - NSF NCAR
Digital Twins are everywhere in the news and press releases. But what does it really take to build them? How does one define a Digital Twin? What is the state of the art in weather generation/simulation Should we be training AVs on data generated by AI?
Panelists: Derek Johnson – Mcity; Zach Asher - Revision Autonomy & Western Michigan Univ; Stephan Smith - NOAA NWS Director of the Office of Science and Technology Integration ; Brittany Welch - University of Utah
11:25 Summary Conversation: Moderators - Curtis Walker, NSF NCAR & Derek Johnson, Mcity
After our conversations over the past couple of days, what have we learned about AV readiness to ingest and use weather information, where are the gaps, and what should we be doing to fill the gaps?
11:55 Closing for Day 3 and Summit