When Policy meet technology — NYC Vision Zero project

New York City begins its Vision zero program in 2014, aiming to eliminate traffic death and injuries. While approaching to its ultimate goal, New York City has implemented not only on the policy forcemeat but also on technology. Telematics, the cloud platform which originally invented for increasing traffic efficiency, has been developed to Fleet office Real-time tracking(FORT). This system allows New York city traffic manager to monitor real-time location as well as receive alerts.

To fully realize vision zero, New York city also come up with Safe Fleet Transition Plan. Due to the fact, the truck has more blind points while driving. In this plan, they initiate a pilot — Forward Collision Warning (FCW) and Pedestrian Collision Warning (PCW). The purpose of the pilot is to prevent and eliminate traffic collision between trucks and vulnerable citizens. This technology will be primarily-installed in vehicles by manufacturers.

Along with FCW and PCW, they also point out the Automatic emergency braking system (AEB). The AEB system is factory-installed as well. As desired, AEB will activate after FCW and PCW alert driver. The AEB will take partial or full brake forcemeat, and it will vary depends on the vehicle’s weight and size.

My takeaway from these reports and technologies is that when city manager monitor the city, the more information gathered and merged from different departments allows them to make a reliable decision. This is why we need a FORT system. Moreover, once we implement all technologies(FCW, PCW, AEB) in real-world, the government has to provide policy benefit for vehicle manufacturers and encourage them. Last, manufacturers have to increase the accuracy of the AEB system, especially when it encounters human being while driving. In this way, the Vision Zero project will be feasible for more and more cities in the world.