Navigating Challenges of ADS Deployment in Rural Ohio

Date and Time: Wednesday, July 20: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Grand A-D

Sarah El-Dabaja

Transportation Engineer, Ohio Department of Transportation

PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION

In 2019, the DriveOhio-led team of public, private, and academic partners was awarded a $7.5 million Automated Driving Systems (ADS) Demonstration Grant from the USDOT to deploy ADS technologies in rural Ohio. The path to on-road deployments has been accompanied by several challenges and considerations unique to the rural Ohio driving environment, which will be the focus of this presentation. Diverse and sometimes inconsistent roadway features along with the tendency for unexpected events, dynamic obstacles, and connectivity limitations have shaped the selection of this project’s deployment routes, ADS stack, and mapping needs. Together, these factors will ultimately influence the quality and usefulness of the data sets that will be collected. Highlighting these challenges and lessons learned will help inform future ADS deployments in rural America.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Sarah El-Dabaja is a Transportation Engineer with the Ohio Department of Transportation, District 10 in Marietta, Ohio. Dr. El-Dabaja’s expertise spans both the professional field and academia. In her current position at ODOT, she assists with traffic/safety studies and serves as the District’s liaison with DriveOhio on the ADS project in rural Ohio. Her involvement with DriveOhio draws on her previous research into human factors aspects of connected and automated vehicles, which emphasized driver behavior, acceptance, and education. Dr. El-Dabaja’s experience as a researcher was developed during her time as a student at Ohio University, where she obtained her B.S.C.E, M.S.C.E., and Ph.D. while also teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in construction management, highway safety, transportation design, and traffic analysis. Dr. El-Dabaja continues to pursue her research interests in highway safety, human factors, and connected and automated driving systems as she aspires to advocate for safe and equitable transportation through both professional and academic avenues.

PRESENTATION FILE