The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute聽recently received nearly $1 million in two grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation鈥檚 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to develop and enhance tractor-trailer educational programs.
鈥淭hese two grants will allow us to continue transforming our research into practice,鈥� said Rich Hanowski, director of the institute’s division of freight, transit, and heavy vehicle safety. 鈥淭he outreach initiatives will directly leave an impact on drivers and are supporting our efforts to save lives.鈥�
Rebecca Hammond and her team were awarded $490,000 to support the development of a series of interdisciplinary training materials to educate truck drivers on advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). According to Hammond, systems such as adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, automatic emergency braking, and more are becoming increasingly popular on cars and trucks and have the potential to mitigate crashes and save lives. However, there has been a lack of education and research around the use of these technologies in tractor-trailers.