This week, MET Labs, Federal Signal Technologies, Concurrent Technology Corporation, and OmniAir Consortium, Inc. are performing a 4th round of regression testing on Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) Vehicle Awareness Devices. The testing is being performed at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The Vehicle Awareness Device specification produced by the U.S. DOT has undergone updates – the latest as recent as last week – and device manufacturers have now incorporated these new requirements into their products in time for this week’s testing.
A last round of regression testing has been scheduled for December and this testing will be performed at MET Labs in Baltimore. For testing that requires vehicles moving at certain speeds and for measurements requiring an open field, testing will be performed at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey. In addition to using the racetrack, MET Labs has also received permission from the city of Millville to use an open adjacent field.
The December regression testing is for device manufacturers to fine tune their devices before they move into official Qualification testing in the first quarter of 2012. Qualification testing will be performed at MET Labs. Devices that comply with the specification based on the Qualification testing will be picked for the U.S. DOT Safety Pilot Model Deployment. The pilot will commence in late 2012 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and will include at least 2,500 vehicles fitted with these DSRC radios. The purpose of this safety pilot is to ascertain how effective these devices are in mitigating accidents involving vehicle-to-vehicle collisions.
Read about previous testing for this program.
Read about other types of automotive testing.
Testing should be done a lot more. It is the only way to know for sure if the product were going to produce and sell is effective and is functioning. Safety is always first.