University of California Institute of Transportation Studies

Roadway infrastructure is essential for fostering the continued economic growth in California. It is the backbone of transportation systems, facilitating the delivery of public services and moving people and goods across the state. Infrastructure assets are usually costly and require long-term investment. The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (SB 1) dedicated nearly $55 billion in funding for repairs and maintenance of the California’s highway system as well as for improvement of major transportation routes and corridors. With the advent of connected and automated vehicles (CAV) technology, these funds also provide a rare opportunity for transportation agencies to upgrade road infrastructure to support wireless vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. To better understand the benefits of upgrading infrastructure to support cellular communications, researchers at the University of California at Riverside (UCR), collaborated with the City of Riverside, CA, to develop a CAV testbed along a portion of University Avenue to test V2V and V2I applications.