Using Commercial Vehicle Telematics as a Highway Probe Data Source

The purpose of this technical paper is to discuss the project advanced by Calmar Holdings and Telematics LLC in partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to explore the potential of using telemetry data as a source of traffic information. These data, already collected by commercial vehicle operators for fleet management purposes, are being used to determine traffic and highway conditions for use by transportation agencies. This research and development effort determined that it is possible to use privately collected and owned real-time fleet telemetry data to determine highway and traffic throughout the entire highway network where and when a non trivial population of commercial vehicles are present. In addition, commercial vehicle telematics holds vast potential for various transportation applications involving transportation planning, traffic management and highway operations.