ACE Program: AV Truck Maintenance, Testing, and Storage Support Aberdeen (Phase 2)

Project Goal:

This effort supports the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA’s) Automated Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) Evaluation (ACE) Program. This support contract allows FMCSA to: 1) store and properly maintain its three Class 8 test tractors and trailers at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center, Automotive Technology Evaluation Facility (ATEF) in Maryland; 2) safely execute test cases on the test track at ATEF; and 3) collect and access test data.

Background:

The three ACE Class 8 tractor semi-trailers will be stored and maintained at ATEF to be used as test vehicles for future FMCSA research opportunities as part of its ACE Program. As FMCSA begins to consider the use of automation by commercial drivers, it will be critical to understand the parameters under which these systems can be used safely at various levels of automation and human factors limitations.

Summary:

The U.S. Army Aberdeen ATEF will store, maintain, and run safety-based automated CMV evaluations on FMCSA's three Class 8 tractor semi-trailers. FMCSA is aligning its automated CMV testing efforts with other USDOT modes; FHWA, MARAD and NHTSA.

Contractor:

U.S. Army Aberdeen