Wireless Roadside Inspection (WRI) Research Project
Effective May 6, 2017, the Fiscal Year 2017 Consolidated Appropriations Act requires the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to discontinue its wireless roadside inspection pilot program through the remainder of FY 2017. FMCSA issued a stop work order in connection with the wireless roadside inspection pilot program. The Agency appreciates the contributions of motor carriers and other stakeholders that participated in the research program. However, FMCSA will not be collecting, monitoring, or reviewing data related to the wireless roadside inspection pilot program until Congress appropriates funds for it to do so. |
Goal
To improve safety and the efficient operations of trucks and buses operating on our Nation’s roads and highways by developing, testing, and evaluating a wireless inspection system that is designed to conduct electronic inspections at roadway speeds. Further, the research will support the development of a Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA)-led, nationally recognized electronic wireless inspection program.
Background
The WRI research project is implemented in three phases:
Phase I–Proof of Concept Test: Testing of commercially-available off-the-shelf (COTS) or near-COTS technology to validate the wireless inspection concept.
Phase II–Pilot Test: Safety and inspection technology maturation demonstration, system capabilities, and back office system integration.
Phase III–Field Operational Test (FOT): Full end-to-end system testing on multiple vehicles from multiple fleets within a multi-State corridor.
The project is currently in Phase III, the FOT, which builds on the recently completed pilot tests. These pilot tests showed that a national system may be feasible but required further refinement of interfaces between government and carrier information systems. The system is being tested as a potential tool to more efficiently identify drivers, vehicles, and carriers by evaluating uniformity, accuracy, capacity, and regulatory sufficiency.
Pursuant to Section 5513 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (P.L. 114-94), a report was provided to Congress in May 2016 to provide a determination that this research: (a) does not conflict with existing electronic screening systems, or create capabilities already available; (b) does not require additional statutory authority to incorporate generated inspection data into the safety measurement system or the safety fitness determinations program; and (c) provides appropriate restrictions to specifically address privacy concerns of affected motor carriers and operators. Report available at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mission/policy/design-and-implementation-wireless-roadside-inspection-systems-letter-report-congress.
Summary
The purpose of the WRI field operational test (FOT) was to develop and test a system that could identify commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) and potential registration, hours-of–service, and licensing compliance or safety violations that may have existed. A wireless inspection report would be sent to inspectors to enhance their ability to identify noncompliant CMVs. During the testing, FMCSA gathered data on certain violation areas from the participating carrier’s commercial vehicles during the 1-year data collection effort of the FOT. The following table contains the violation areas with citations that were examined.
Description of Violation | Type | Citation |
Minimum Insurance Violation | Insurance Issue | 387.7 |
Operating Authority Violation | Operating Authority | 392.9a(a) |
MCMIS Status is inactive. USDOT Registration Required. | Inactive | 392.9b(a) |
Carrier not found in SAFER. USDOT Registration Required. | Registration Issue | 392.9b(a) |
Driving after 60 hours on duty in a 7 day period. (Passenger carrying vehicle) | HOS Violation | 395.5(b)(1) |
Driving after 15 hours on duty (Passenger carrying vehicle) | HOS Violation | 395.5(a)(2) |
Driving beyond 11 hour driving limit in a 14 hour period. (Property Carrying Vehicle) | HOS Violation | 395.3(a)(3) |
Driving beyond 8 hour limit since the end of the last off duty or sleeper period of at least 30 minutes | HOS Violation | 395.3(a)(3)(ii) |
Driving beyond 14 hour duty period (Property carrying vehicle) | HOS Violation | 395.3(a)(2) |
Driving after 10 hour driving limit (Passenger carrying vehicle) | HOS Violation | 395.5(a)(1) |
Driving after 70 hours on duty in a 8 day period. (Passenger carrying vehicle) | HOS Violation | 395.5(b)(2) |
Driving after 70 hours on duty in a 8 day period. (Property carrying vehicle) | HOS Violation | 395.3(b)(2) |
Driving after 60 hours on duty in a 7 day period. (Property carrying vehicle) | HOS Violation | 395.3(b)(1) |
Carrier OOS Order - 90 day failure to pay fine | OOS Order | 386.83(a)(1) |
Carrier OOS Order - Unsatisfactory - Unfit | OOS Order | 385.13(a) |
Carrier OOS Order - New Entrant Revoked - Expedited Actions | OOS Order | 385.308(d) |
Carrier OOS Order - New Entrant Revoked - Failure of Safety Audit | OOS Order | 385.325(c) |
Carrier OOS Order - New Entrant Revoked - Refusal of Audit/No Contact | OOS Order | 385.337(b) |
Carrier OOS Order - Imminent Hazard | OOS Order | 386.72(b)(4) |
Carrier OOS Order - Intrastate Out of Service | OOS Order | 392.2 |
Carrier OOS Order - Operating Without Authority | OOS Order | 392.9(a) |
Operating a CMV without a CDL | CDL Violation | 383.23(a)(2) |
Operating a CMV while disqualified from holding a CDL | CDL Violation | 383.51(a) |
Operating a CMV without possessing a valid medical certificate | CDL Violation | 391.41(a) |
Operating a CMV with an expired medical certificate | CDL Violation | 391.45(b) |
Beyond creating a system that provided an accurate and timely inspection report to the roadside, this research was to support the Agency’s understanding of the following five areas:
Question 1: Did the Agency’s databases have the capacity to process potentially large amounts of data if the system had been deployed nationally through State/Private partnerships?
A replicate system of these databases was created during the testing and FMCSA attempted to process an amount of data that was commensurate to that of a national system to determine this.
Question 2: Did FMCSA have the capacity to ensure security and privacy protections?
The WRI processing system was developed to be installed in the Agency’s Portal environment. Because the Portal had been certified to meet the requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), FMCSA assured that, if deployed as a production system, all transmittal of data would meet security and privacy requirements.
Question 3: Did the information captured meet the regulatory sufficiency for compliance verification?
The roadside data gathered during the electronic inspection research were reviewed to assure the specific regulatory sections cited in the table above met legal sufficiency. Federal, State, and Industry partners were consulted throughout this process.
Question 4: What credit would have been provided to a carrier’s safety score for a compliant wireless inspection?
This project would have informed a public process through notice and comment, as a means to determine what level of credit should have been given for compliant inspections.
Question 5: How would a WRI process have been institutionalized throughout the States?
FMCSA would have worked publicly and in conjunction with CVSA to develop a nationally recognized electronic inspection program.
Outcomes
Currently in Phase III, the FOT will:
- Demonstrate WRI system by modifying an existing telematics system, equipping about 600 trucks with it, and collecting inspection data wirelessly over a 1-year period.
- Demonstrate carrier, enforcement, and compliance decision-making using WRI interfaces.
- Demonstrate WRI system instantaneous loading equal to a nationally-deployed system.
- Provide experience to revise the already existing WRI requirements, concept of operations, and architecture.
Milestones
August 2007: Phase I completed
November 2011: Phase II completed
December 2017: Phase III and final reports will be completed - ON HOLD
Funding
FY 2014: $1,105,000
FY 2015: $1,851,000
FY 2016: $760,000
FY 2017: TBD (partial year)
Current Status
The project was in Phase III. The FOT is discontinued effective May 6, 2017.
The proof-of-concept report can be found here: https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/57
The final report for Phase II can be found here: https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/180
Research Lead and Partners
Research Lead:
- Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
- Subcontractors to ORNL:
- Innovative Software Engineering (technology provider)
- North Dakota State University (IT development)
Participating States. Each applied for and received Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) High Priority grant funds to support the testing with their inspection personnel:
- Tennessee
- North Carolina
Participating Carriers. For the year-long data collection that began March 15, 2016, 753 vehicles have been equipped with WRI technology. There are 1,085 drivers from 61 participating fleets.
Last updated: Thursday, June 28, 2018