SmartPark Technology Demonstration Project, Phase II: Final Report

Lopez-Jacobs, Von · 2018 · ROSA P / United States. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

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Summary

This report details Phase II of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) SmartPark Technology Demonstration Project, aimed at addressing truck driver fatigue, a leading cause of truck incidents. Driver fatigue is often exacerbated by the difficulty of locating available overnight parking, which leads to non-compliance with hours-of-service regulations. The project sought to determine the feasibility of using intelligent transportation system (ITS) technology to provide real-time truck parking availability information to drivers, thereby facilitating safer rest practices. While Phase I validated detection technologies, Phase II focused on designing, deploying, and evaluating a comprehensive information dissemination system at two test sites on northbound Interstate 75 in Tennessee: a public rest area at Mile Marker (MM) 45 and a non-operational weigh station at MM 23. The deployed system utilized side-fired infrared laser scanners and Doppler radars at ingress and egress points to detect vehicle entry and exit. This data was processed by on-site processors and stored on off-site servers, with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras providing ground-truth validation. The system disseminated real-time availability data through four channels: dynamic message signs (DMSs) on the roadway, a public website, a mobile application, and an interactive voice response (IVR) phone system. The project also tested a reservation concept based on an honor system. Performance was evaluated against specific Component Performance Requirements (CPRs) and System Performance Requirements (SPRs), including targets for detection accuracy, system uptime, and classification correctness. The results indicated that the system successfully provided highly accurate parking availability information when properly managed. The system achieved 100% uptime for the traveler information dissemination components (SPR1) and maintained high accuracy in detecting vehicle presence (CPR1). However, vehicle classification based on length proved limited, with accuracy varying significantly by vehicle class and site. A critical finding was that the "check-in/check-out" detection method caused errors to compound over time; without daily calibration and management, the system’s accuracy degraded significantly within 1–2 days. Additionally, the reservation feature failed because it relied on an unenforced honor system, and truckers largely ignored it. Usage data revealed that DMSs were the most effective dissemination tool, reaching all passing motorists, while the mobile app and website saw limited adoption. The study concludes that while real-time truck parking information systems are viable and useful, they require active management to maintain accuracy due to the compounding nature of detection errors. The findings suggest that future deployments should prioritize robust communication infrastructure, consider alternative detection methods that do not accumulate errors, and replace static cameras with pan/tilt/zoom cameras for efficiency. Furthermore, the low uptake of standalone mobile applications indicates that parking data would be more effective if integrated into existing navigation platforms. The report emphasizes that technology alone is insufficient; successful implementation requires ongoing operational management and enforcement mechanisms for features like reservations.

Key finding

The system achieved 100% accuracy in detecting heavy trucks and maintained 100% uptime for the traveler information system, but classification accuracy for other vehicle classes was lower and the reservation feature saw negligible usage due to lack of enforcement.

Methodology

field_study

Provenance

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Topics

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• dms validation