September 2, 2025 • 29 mins
As he prepares to head out to Atlanta, Georgia, to attend the ITS World Congress, we check in with TTI Senior Research Engineer Bob Brydia about the latest advances in transportation technology, including recent projects in Texas and where things are headed with integrating innovative applications like artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles safely, securely and efficiently. Bob heads TTI's Systems Operations and Technologies Division and has more than 35 years of experience in transportation operations. | View Bob Brydia on Advanced Transportation Technology at the 2025 ITS World Congress
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Episode Transcript
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Allan Rutter (00:14):
Howdy everyone.
Welcome to ThinkingTransportation-- conversations
about how we get ourselves andthe stuff we need from one place
to another.
I'm Allan Rutter with the TexasA&M Transportation Institute.
One frequent meme abouttechnology is the lament we were
promised cars-- cars sort oflike the cliche from the 1960s
(00:37):
about if we can put a man on themoon, why can't we .
.
.
fill in the blank?
You know that flying car mememay soon be displaced by reality
, as unmanned aerial vehiclesfor passenger transport are
being tested in Texas now.
At the end of August a numberof my TTI colleagues will be
(00:58):
going to Atlanta, Georgia, toattend the ITS World Congress in
the aptly titled Georgia WorldCongress Center.
I thought it was a good time tocheck in with a colleague and
good friend who knows all abouttransportation technology Bob
Brydia.
Bob is a senior researchscientist and division head for
TTI's Systems Operations andTechnologies Division in our
(01:20):
Operations Research Group.
Bob has over 35 years ofexperience in transportation
operations, technology, andproject leadership.
Welcome back to the podcast,Bob.
Bob Brydia (01:32):
Thanks, Al, good to be back with you here today.
Allan Rutter (01:35):
So I mentioned this extensive experience.
How long have you been at TTI?
Bob Brydia (01:40):
I am entering my 30th year with the Institute and
still loving every second of it.
Allan Rutter (01:45):
Look that--d ecades and everything.
Let's first let our audiencemaybe get to know you a little
better.
How have you made the journeyfrom getting a civil engineering
degree to getting into systemsengineering and operations
technology stuff?
How did you get into this?
Bob Brydia (02:02):
Well, I started doing things with computers in
high school.
My college was the firstcollege in the country to
actually issue computers totheir incoming freshmen, and I
was the first class of that.
So I was kind of part of thenationwide guinea pig contest.
That should tell you how old Iam, given the timeframe for that
.
But then, you know, I'vealways, kind of, continued to
(02:24):
walk and talk in both sides ofworld.
So, on the informationtechnology side as well as on
the civil engineering side.
Marrying emerging technologiesand transportation is just
natural to me, because it's acombination of the two things
that I love the most.
Allan Rutter (02:41):
There you go.
S o let's talk a little bitabout what the ITS" in ITS
America actually stands for.
During the upcoming WorldCongress in Atlanta, what kinds
of transportation technology isgoing to be discussed?
Bob Brydia (02:55):
Well, as you know, of course, its stands for
intelligent transportationsystems.
Now, in the beginning of ITS,that really started to refer to,
essentially, sensors on theside of the road and multiple
different types of sensors,whether it was speed or volume,
or cameras and other things suchas weather stations, et cetera.
(03:15):
They would provide informationabout the roadway and the
current environment.
As we've gone on, its hasbecome a much broader term,
talking about all thesedifferent aspects of technology
automation, connectivity,digital infrastructure,
sustainability, mobility, all ofthose types of things.
And recently, of course, one ofthe words our audience has
(03:38):
certainly heard across a numberof areas is artificial
intelligence.
AI has really been in use in anumber of different avenues
related to the transportationindustry and is continuing to
increase.
I'm sure we'll see a lot of AIapplications and demonstrations
at the World Congress as well.
Allan Rutter (03:56):
So talk a little bit about one of the things you
mentioned there--digitalinfrastructure-- about how those
roadside sensors interact withand communicate with vehicles.
I'm reminded of one of thefirst projects I learned about
when I got to TTI about 11 yearsago.
You were part of a team thatwas developing a suite of tools
to help manage a massive $1billion expansion of I-35 from
(04:17):
Waco to Hillsboro and then laterfrom Waco to Temple.
This included radar sensors andcrash barrels at the beginnings
of work zones that couldmonitor travel speeds and detect
slowing or stop traffic andthen communicate that back to
drivers.
Talk a little bit about thatproject and the kinds of
experiments and learning aboutconnecting vehicles and the
(04:40):
roadway.
Bob Brydia (04:41):
Yeah, that project has fond memories for me as well
, Allan.
In fact, that project is stillgoing on, as construction in the
Waco District is still ongoing.
They're actually on the lastproject to upgrade the entire
portion of the corridor betweenAustin and Dallas-Fort Worth.
So the project that we did, orthe infrastructure that we set
up, was really-- as you said-- asystem of sensors that gave the
(05:05):
information about what trafficwas doing; i.
e.
, the speed, the congestion, anybackups, things like that, the
binds that were going by; and wetook all of that information
and fused it together in waysthat had never really been done
before.
So we were able to issuedifferent kinds of traveler
information in real time to thetravelers on that roadway
(05:26):
through different mediums--whether it was text messaging,
websites, or email alerts-- forfolks that wanted to check
before they left their home andwent on a trip, all of those
types of things.
As we've progressed, we've goneto less infrastructure on the
roadways and more of thecrowdsourced data.
That really cuts down on themaintenance aspect of it for the
(05:50):
infrastructure owner-operatorslike TxDOT, and that's really a
trend that the entire country isgoing to.
Allan Rutter (05:57):
Let's talk a little bit about some of the new
projects you and your TTIcolleagues are involved in that
involve vehicles andinfrastructure communicating and
interacting.
I think it's now referred to asV2X.
Bob Brydia (06:08):
Yes.
What we did on I-35 wasdefinitely an initial version of
a digital infrastructure typeof environment, and many of our
audience members might know thebackstory of digital
infrastructure andvehicle-to-vehicle or
vehicle-to-infrastructurecommunications w ith the USDOT.
It used to be called DSRC,Dedicated Short-Range
(06:31):
Communications, and now it'sbeing used as V2X, vehicle to
everything, and differenttechnologies are in use.
There's a whole set of reasonswhy the technology has evolved.
We won't go into that.
V2X is the one that's here tostay, and recently the USDOT
announced three grants acrossthe country for deploying and
(06:53):
showcasing V2X technologies toimprove safety and mobility.
So TTI was lucky enough to winone of those grants, along with
our grant partners in Utah andMaricopa County in Arizona.
So we're all working to set outa number of different use cases
, a number of differentenvironments in which V2X
(07:13):
technologies can help the driverand improve safety and mobility
.
A big aspect of that, of course, is that intersections and
vulnerable road users such aspedestrians and bicyclists, but
there's many other aspects ofinterest as well, such as
construction events or highcurve- speed warnings or
flooding situation, adverseweather, things like that.
(07:36):
So we've been putting togetherthe documentation to account for
the design aspects ofeverything that needs to be done
for that, and we've started todeploy the actual equipment
necessary to implement that, andin about six months or so we
should have all of our use casesdeployed.
I believe the other two granteesites are on the same schedule,
(07:58):
so we'll have some really goodnationwide testbeds for these
types of technologies.
And one of the big aspects, too, is also working on the
interoperability, so that we canprove that messages generated
in Utah and in Arizona and herein Texas can also be read by
everybody else and utilizedacross the board.
Allan Rutter (08:19):
So, in addition to this pretty impressive project
that we're doing with theFederal Highway Administration,
we're also involved withdemonstrating and helping the
Texas Department ofTransportation move into
innovations throughout all ofits 25 districts and all of
their divisions.
And I understand that you'reinvolved in helping them
(08:39):
coordinate that across the TxDOTenterprise.
Tell me a little bit about someof those innovations that we've
been seeing.
I know we have been involvedwith the Odessa TxDOT district
out in the Permian Basin.
Are there some innovations inthose same kinds of traffic
monitoring and work zonecommunications?
Bob Brydia (08:59):
Yeah.
So that's a really fun project,and I really want to commend
TxDOT for their approach tolooking at innovation as an
enterprise-wide need.
The concept of this projectoverall is to do at least two
projects with each districtacross a three-year time frame
that focus on being, kind of,those homegrown but fast-burn
(09:21):
type of projects, so they're notthe ones that are necessarily
going to be funded at a nationallevel for everybody.
They may be a little bit risky,but risky is okay, because you
can learn from something if itworks well; you also learn from
something if it doesn't workwell.
And then you take thoseprojects and you figure out how
to scale them so that, ratherthan just being in use in one
(09:43):
individual district, they can beused across the region or
across the entire state as anenterprise.
Some of the really neat projectsthat we've been involved in.
You mentioned Odessa.
So in Odessa we set up a queue-monitoring system on I-20 that
marries queue warning, which isbasically a warning that traffic
is slowing down and you'reapproaching the back of a queue
(10:05):
and you need to reduce yourspeed, in addition to travel
time and telling people what thetravel time is as they progress
through a work zone.
We're using a bunch ofinnovations in that.
Again, moving to thatthird-party data, and we've
combined all of thoseinformation alerts to drivers
within one system that switchesautonomously.
(10:25):
So once that data is known andthe program is running in the
cloud, it senses the changes inthe traffic and goes ahead and
uses its algorithms to updatethe messages on the signs about
every five minutes withoutanybody else having to be in the
loop and physically change amessage sign.
(10:46):
So it keeps the driver fullyinformed as to what's going on.
Allan Rutter (10:57):
It sounds like it's similar to the project on
I-35 a couple of years ago, inthat it's a large, multi-project
reconstruction of a majorinterstate, in a way that is
trying to get a lot ofconstruction done all at once so
that it can be over with.
But when you do that kind ofthing you really have to make
sure that everybody understands.
If something goes wrong, youneed to know about it.
Bob Brydia (11:16):
Right, and every aspect of this that we do is an
innovation and an iteration uponthe previous types of projects
and the previous implementationsthat we had.
So in Waco, where I said beforethat we started with a lot of
roadside sensors and then wentto third-party data, well,
that's now the standard thatwe're using in Odessa.
And then in Odessa we'vecombined the end-of-queue
(11:39):
warning as well as the traveltimes, which has never been done
before.
So now you have really aunified set of messages going
out to the drivers on the roadall being displayed on a
particular message board, andyou don't have to have one
message board telling you thetravel time and another one a
thousand feet up the streamtelling you that you're
(11:59):
approaching the end of a queueor anything like that.
So it really integrates all ofthat.
So that's been a bigenhancement to the types of
systems that we've been able todevelop.
Some of the other districtprojects within the large-scale
innovation project have beenrelated to artificial
intelligence and looking atusing machine learning to look
(12:20):
at railroad grade crossings, forexample, to understand when the
train is crossing and to givethat information to folks that
may need it the most, such asemergency service providers that
may need to go through thatcrossing to get to a call when
it comes in.
In that situation, theemergency service providers know
an alternate route, but it'stypically longer, and so they
(12:43):
need to know that as they leavethe station.
If the shorter route is beingblocked by a train, which now we
can detect with artificialintelligence and determine the
speed and how long it's going toblock that crossing, we can
give them accurate informationas to which route they should go
to respond to the emergency.
Allan Rutter (13:01):
It sounds like one of the things that the
department is trying to do issimilar to, I think, something
that was written about a coupleof years ago by economist Cass
Sunstein, which talks aboutnudging experimenting with
something in a small scale,seeing how it works, and then
going big, rather than trying todevelop all the costs and
benefits of something majorbefore you go do something,
(13:24):
Experimenting and eithersucceeding and failing fast and
learning from that.
Bob Brydia (13:30):
Yeah, I think that's a very accurate description of
what the department is doing andI think it's a very evolved
look at how the department cancontinue to innovate across this
very large state that we livein and get a lot of information
in quickly to see what could beapplicable across the entire
state by concentrating on oneparticular project within a
(13:55):
district.
There's 25 districts in TxDOT,so we have essentially 25
projects going on at the sametime and we use our TTI subject
matter experts, working hand-in- hand with our TxDOT brethren
, to look at these projects tounderstand what they can do, to
see what the benefits are, andthen, once the small scale
(14:17):
project is done, we look at thatto see should it be scaled up
to the entire state.
Allan Rutter (14:22):
So let's talk about some other ways that we've
been partnering with the folksat TxDOT about technology
innovation, and one of those hasto do with vehicle automation.
I was in Austin a couple ofweeks ago and both out at
TxDOT's offices in southeastAustin, down by the airport, you
drive by a facility that's gotdozens and dozens of Waymo
(14:45):
automated driverless vehiclesand you see those in downtown
Austin carrying Uber passengers.
A nd then, of course, on Texashighways we've seen autonomous
trucking companies perfectingtheir technologies, delivering
freight, currently with safetydrivers.
You've been involved with thegovernor's CAV Connected and
Automated Vehicle Task Force ledby TxDOT for a number of years.
(15:08):
Tell our listeners about whatthat task force is and what kind
of parties are involved.
Bob Brydia (15:15):
Yes, I've had the pleasure of being involved with
the CAV task force instituted bythe governor.
The people that are in thattask force represent state
agencies across the state ofTexas, but as well as the entire
nation.
In fact, we even have someinternational members.
We have six differentsubcommittees focusing on things
like safety, education, freightdata; all of those different
(15:38):
types of topics that are verycritical to continuing to
advance the technology and theinnovation, but doing so in a
safe manner, and that's reallythe critical aspect.
That task force wants to be thesingle source repository for
all of the latest and greatestinformation as to what's going
on in Texas, workingcooperatively with the private
(16:01):
sector as they continue toperfect their technologies, as
you said.
But then part of that isunderstanding how people are
going to use that, how peopleare going to want to use that,
and helping that adoption of newtechnologies take place.
Allan Rutter (16:17):
I think we've seen some recent actions on the part
of the Texas Legislature thispast spring that resulted from
some discussions and activity ofthe task force in the last year
.
Tell our listeners a little bitabout what got talked about and
what that resulted in.
Bob Brydia (16:37):
The task force does not make any legislative
recommendations.
That's the purview of thelegislators.
What we do do is look foropportunities, and those
opportunities might be on how weenhance our workforce to
further develop it to be readyfor these types of new
(16:57):
technologies that we're seeing.
It may be an opportunity towork with our folks at the
border to implement differenttypes of checking of all the
information that needs to bechecked before vehicles cross
into the state.
So that's really where thesetypes of opportunities exist.
So we have a voice, and that'san important voice to the
(17:20):
legislature, but we remain as aneutral party looking at best
practices and informing folksaround the entire ecosystem of
the automated vehicles about theright things to do.
Allan Rutter (17:34):
It sounds like it's one of the reasons why
Texas continues to be a placewhere developers and
manufacturers and othercompanies that use these
services feel comfortable aboutexperimenting within the state.
Bob Brydia (17:49):
Yes, Texas has been very open to having these types
of technologies, using that asan economic driver for the
entire state and seeing howthese technologies can help
contribute to the increase insafety and the reduction in
fatalities that they're lookingfor across all of the roadways.
Allan Rutter (18:08):
Let's maybe go back a little in history.
You talked about how ITS haschanged over time.
TTI has been involved in a lotof this transportation
technology over our 75-yearhistory.
What can you tell our listenersabout some of the innovations
or technologies TTI has helpedpioneer and develop over time?
Bob Brydia (18:30):
You know, TTI has such an incredible breadth of
expertise across so many areas.
In the beginning of ourorganization's existence we
worked on physical safetyaspects of things, so we learned
how to take the leftover paintbarrels from TxDOT and utilize
(18:51):
them in an arrangement thatbecame the forerunner to the
crash cushions that you seetoday on the roadway.
We've developed and testedbreakaway signs.
We've developed and testedthings related to guardrails and
all kinds of end treatments forguardrails.
We've done many things relatedto vehicle mechanics.
(19:12):
The capabilities of TTI relatedto pavement and that type of
infrastructure testing andfinding the right type of
pavement for the right type ofsituation are well known across
the nation.
And then in the operations side, we've done a lot of these
things related to looking at howthe traffic actually flows on
(19:32):
the roadway and how to continueto improve that.
So, all the way from the earlydays of ramp metering to looking
at HOV lanes and all of thosethings.
We've also set nationalstandards in terms of roadside
vegetation and looking at thebest type of materials to make
(19:53):
sure that the roadsides are safeas well as beautiful.
Part of the reason that you seewildflowers all over Texas is
because of things that TTI hasdone to influence those types of
roadsides that we have acrossthe state.
Allan Rutter (20:07):
TTI has also been involved in ITS America for a
number of years.
You're now one of our mostrecent TTI leaders on the ITS
America Board of Directors.
Tell our listeners a little bitabout TTI's involvement with
ITS America over time and whatit's like being on that board
today.
Bob Brydia (20:26):
Well, as a new board member, I can say that it's
invigorating and challenging anda wonderful opportunity, and
I'm very grateful for it.
I also feel, certainly, thatI'm following in the shoes of
giants and trying to fill themfrom the folks that had been on
the board previously.
That organization is awonderful national-level
organization looking to promotethe best practices and the best
(20:50):
aspects of how we improvetransportation safety and
mobility.
I would note that they alsohave state-level chapters or
regional chapters.
ITS Texas is a state chapter ofITS America and has a very
active membership.
In fact, there's an upcomingconference in November related
to ITS Texas, and so many of thefolks on the board of ITS
(21:14):
America started at the ranks oftheir individual state, like I
did, going through the ranks ofleadership in ITS Texas and then
moving up to the national level.
Allan Rutter (21:24):
What kinds of other people that you interact
with and learn from?
Bob Brydia (21:29):
The board's comprised of many different
types of folks.
Right, we have the privatesector on there.
We have the automotive OEMs onthere.
We have folks that arebrilliant in communications.
We have folks from otherresearch institutes in addition
to TTI to coming together andlooking at making
(21:52):
recommendations to nationalinfrastructure and national
transportation bills to try tocontinue to evolve the safety
and mobility of ourtransportation system.
Allan Rutter (22:04):
Well, it sounds like it's a really interesting
time to be involved in thiswhole connection between
transportation technology sothat safety can be improved and
mobility can be enhanced.
What do you see maybe happeningin the near-term future that
you and your colleagues at TTIor the folks that you're with at
ITS America?
(22:24):
What's out there that I haven'ttalked about yet?
Bob Brydia (22:28):
Well, I don't know what's out there that you
haven't talked about, becausewe've touched on a lot, but I
think the things that are reallygoing to take place in the near
future is certainly the digitalinfrastructure, the integration
of AI.
I think we will start to seemore and more and hear more and
more about digital twins, theconcept of replicating a
physical roadway in a digitalspace and then being able to
(22:52):
test things in that digitalspace before you test it on the
physical roadway.
Those things can be very simpleto incredibly involved, but
they can also facilitate a lotof planning and experimentation
that would previously only havebeen possible in the physical
space.
Allan Rutter (23:13):
It reminds me a little bit about some of the
technology we've had a chance tolook at on those autonomous
truck operations where not onlydoes the truck have a bunch of
sensors that allow it to seehundreds, if not thousands, of
feet ahead and behind it, butit's also in a digitally
rendered environment thatthey've captured before they
(23:34):
started the vehicle operating onitself.
It strikes me that what you'retalking about, digital twinning,
offers all kinds ofopportunities for not only
better planning, but for bettersituational awareness as you're
moving your vehicle around.
Bob Brydia (23:49):
That's absolutely true, and really the types of
freight vehicles that areoperating today on the roadways,
especially in Texas, areoperating at the very highest
levels of technology that we'veever seen in a vehicle and
within the digitalinfrastructure that they are
utilizing to move through thephysical space.
So they have run millions andmillions of miles in simulation
(24:14):
and millions of miles in reallife.
Every single one of those milesgets a digital imprint of
everything that happened andthey use all of that information
to improve the next digitalmile and then the next real mile
in the physical infrastructure.
So the developments ofautomated freight have been
remarkable to see and are onlygoing to continue to grow.
(24:37):
And you mentioned vehicles likeWaymo and other types of
robo-taxi operations.
We've seen them now in a numberof different cities, testing
different environments,different types of vehicles,
different types of sensors, andall of that is contributing to
the national experience as tohow we use those types of
(24:58):
vehicles to help improvepersonal mobility.
Allan Rutter (25:02):
And it's all being done with ubiquitous cameras on
everybody's hip, active bothinsurance and tort legal system.
Lots of people are there towatch when things go wrong, so
it makes sense that everybody'soperating with their eyes wide
open to make sure that progressis being made, both
(25:23):
incrementally, and learning ishappening with each successive
operation educating the next one.
Bob Brydia (25:30):
In my experience with the industry via the CAV
task force that we talked aboutpreviously, I can state with
confidence from my opinion thatthese companies do intend to
operate safely.
It's the only thing that makessense for their business case.
But I think from a more moralor ethical perspective they want
(25:52):
safety as their top priority.
They have established safety astheir top priority.
Nobody wants to go out and makea vehicle that is involved in
an accident or any type offatality or anything else.
We're trying to improve overalllife here quality of life,
quality of the transportationsystem and these folks that are
(26:12):
in the private sector developingthese technologies are full
force, trying to do that everysingle day with safety as their
top goal.
Allan Rutter (26:21):
Well, Bob, I can tell from our conversation today
that you have plenty of passionfor applying technology to
improving mobility, saving lives, increasing the infrastructure
system resilience.
What are some of the reasonsthat motivate you to show up for
work every day?
Bob Brydia (26:37):
Well, there's many, Allan.
I work with a great set offolks, right?
I mean you and I have beenfriends for a long time and have
had numerous conversationsabout all kinds of different
topics, so I have greatcolleagues like yourself that
are part of TTI and are part ofour network of folks across the
entire nation that are in thisspace trying to make
(26:59):
transportation better.
But transportation is also justfun.
I get to do something differentevery day really in the life of
a researcher and I'm able towalk and talk in both of those
fields the informationtechnology combining with the
engineering and kind of thehardcore civil engineering and
(27:19):
we're now seeing aspects ofengineering and development of
techniques and technologies thatwere never envisioned when I
was going through college.
So while that was a day or twoago, I'm very grateful and happy
to come to work every daybecause it's just fun, I work
with great people and I get totry to make an impact on the
(27:41):
world.
Allan Rutter (27:42):
Well, I really appreciate you taking time to
join us today to talk about howthings are changing and continue
to change.
Thanks for being part of ourpodcast.
Bob Brydia (27:51):
Thank you for inviting me back.
Happy to be here and talk aboutall the great things that are
going on in the world oftransportation, because there's
a lot of them.
Allan Rutter (28:02):
Bob has shared with us practical examples of
how Texas is at the forefront oftechnology that is transforming
transportation.
It's one of the many reasons Ienjoy being part of TTI--being
around so much research thatpromises to improve mobility and
increase safety.
Thanks for listening.
(28:22):
If you liked what you heard orlearned something, please take
just a minute to give us areview, subscribe and share this
episode.
I invite you to join us nexttime for another conversation
about getting ourselves thestuff we need from point A to
point B.
Thinking Transportation is aproduction of the Texas A&M
(28:44):
Transportation Institute, amember of The Texas A&M
University System.
The show is edited and producedby Chris Pourteau.
I'm your host, Allan Rutter.
Thanks again for joining us.
We'll see you next time.
Howdy everyone.
Welcome to ThinkingTransportation-- conversations
about how we get ourselves andthe stuff we need from one place
to another.
I'm Allan Rutter with the TexasA&M Transportation Institute.
One frequent meme abouttechnology is the lament we were
promised cars-- cars sort oflike the cliche from the 1960s
(00:37):
about if we can put a man on themoon, why can't we .
.
.
fill in the blank?
You know that flying car mememay soon be displaced by reality
, as unmanned aerial vehiclesfor passenger transport are
being tested in Texas now.
At the end of August a numberof my TTI colleagues will be
(00:58):
going to Atlanta, Georgia, toattend the ITS World Congress in
the aptly titled Georgia WorldCongress Center.
I thought it was a good time tocheck in with a colleague and
good friend who knows all abouttransportation technology Bob
Brydia.
Bob is a senior researchscientist and division head for
TTI's Systems Operations andTechnologies Division in our
(01:20):
Operations Research Group.
Bob has over 35 years ofexperience in transportation
operations, technology, andproject leadership.
Welcome back to the podcast,Bob.
Bob Brydia (01:32):
Thanks, Al, good to be back with you here today.
Allan Rutter (01:35):
So I mentioned this extensive experience.
How long have you been at TTI?
Bob Brydia (01:40):
I am entering my 30th year with the Institute and
still loving every second of it.
Allan Rutter (01:45):
Look that--d ecades and everything.
Let's first let our audiencemaybe get to know you a little
better.
How have you made the journeyfrom getting a civil engineering
degree to getting into systemsengineering and operations
technology stuff?
How did you get into this?
Bob Brydia (02:02):
Well, I started doing things with computers in
high school.
My college was the firstcollege in the country to
actually issue computers totheir incoming freshmen, and I
was the first class of that.
So I was kind of part of thenationwide guinea pig contest.
That should tell you how old Iam, given the timeframe for that
.
But then, you know, I'vealways, kind of, continued to
(02:24):
walk and talk in both sides ofworld.
So, on the informationtechnology side as well as on
the civil engineering side.
Marrying emerging technologiesand transportation is just
natural to me, because it's acombination of the two things
that I love the most.
Allan Rutter (02:41):
There you go.
S o let's talk a little bitabout what the ITS" in ITS
America actually stands for.
During the upcoming WorldCongress in Atlanta, what kinds
of transportation technology isgoing to be discussed?
Bob Brydia (02:55):
Well, as you know, of course, its stands for
intelligent transportationsystems.
Now, in the beginning of ITS,that really started to refer to,
essentially, sensors on theside of the road and multiple
different types of sensors,whether it was speed or volume,
or cameras and other things suchas weather stations, et cetera.
(03:15):
They would provide informationabout the roadway and the
current environment.
As we've gone on, its hasbecome a much broader term,
talking about all thesedifferent aspects of technology
automation, connectivity,digital infrastructure,
sustainability, mobility, all ofthose types of things.
And recently, of course, one ofthe words our audience has
(03:38):
certainly heard across a numberof areas is artificial
intelligence.
AI has really been in use in anumber of different avenues
related to the transportationindustry and is continuing to
increase.
I'm sure we'll see a lot of AIapplications and demonstrations
at the World Congress as well.
Allan Rutter (03:56):
So talk a little bit about one of the things you
mentioned there--digitalinfrastructure-- about how those
roadside sensors interact withand communicate with vehicles.
I'm reminded of one of thefirst projects I learned about
when I got to TTI about 11 yearsago.
You were part of a team thatwas developing a suite of tools
to help manage a massive $1billion expansion of I-35 from
(04:17):
Waco to Hillsboro and then laterfrom Waco to Temple.
This included radar sensors andcrash barrels at the beginnings
of work zones that couldmonitor travel speeds and detect
slowing or stop traffic andthen communicate that back to
drivers.
Talk a little bit about thatproject and the kinds of
experiments and learning aboutconnecting vehicles and the
(04:40):
roadway.
Bob Brydia (04:41):
Yeah, that project has fond memories for me as well
, Allan.
In fact, that project is stillgoing on, as construction in the
Waco District is still ongoing.
They're actually on the lastproject to upgrade the entire
portion of the corridor betweenAustin and Dallas-Fort Worth.
So the project that we did, orthe infrastructure that we set
up, was really-- as you said-- asystem of sensors that gave the
(05:05):
information about what trafficwas doing; i.
e.
, the speed, the congestion, anybackups, things like that, the
binds that were going by; and wetook all of that information
and fused it together in waysthat had never really been done
before.
So we were able to issuedifferent kinds of traveler
information in real time to thetravelers on that roadway
(05:26):
through different mediums--whether it was text messaging,
websites, or email alerts-- forfolks that wanted to check
before they left their home andwent on a trip, all of those
types of things.
As we've progressed, we've goneto less infrastructure on the
roadways and more of thecrowdsourced data.
That really cuts down on themaintenance aspect of it for the
(05:50):
infrastructure owner-operatorslike TxDOT, and that's really a
trend that the entire country isgoing to.
Allan Rutter (05:57):
Let's talk a little bit about some of the new
projects you and your TTIcolleagues are involved in that
involve vehicles andinfrastructure communicating and
interacting.
I think it's now referred to asV2X.
Bob Brydia (06:08):
Yes.
What we did on I-35 wasdefinitely an initial version of
a digital infrastructure typeof environment, and many of our
audience members might know thebackstory of digital
infrastructure andvehicle-to-vehicle or
vehicle-to-infrastructurecommunications w ith the USDOT.
It used to be called DSRC,Dedicated Short-Range
(06:31):
Communications, and now it'sbeing used as V2X, vehicle to
everything, and differenttechnologies are in use.
There's a whole set of reasonswhy the technology has evolved.
We won't go into that.
V2X is the one that's here tostay, and recently the USDOT
announced three grants acrossthe country for deploying and
(06:53):
showcasing V2X technologies toimprove safety and mobility.
So TTI was lucky enough to winone of those grants, along with
our grant partners in Utah andMaricopa County in Arizona.
So we're all working to set outa number of different use cases
, a number of differentenvironments in which V2X
(07:13):
technologies can help the driverand improve safety and mobility
.
A big aspect of that, of course, is that intersections and
vulnerable road users such aspedestrians and bicyclists, but
there's many other aspects ofinterest as well, such as
construction events or highcurve- speed warnings or
flooding situation, adverseweather, things like that.
(07:36):
So we've been putting togetherthe documentation to account for
the design aspects ofeverything that needs to be done
for that, and we've started todeploy the actual equipment
necessary to implement that, andin about six months or so we
should have all of our use casesdeployed.
I believe the other two granteesites are on the same schedule,
(07:58):
so we'll have some really goodnationwide testbeds for these
types of technologies.
And one of the big aspects, too, is also working on the
interoperability, so that we canprove that messages generated
in Utah and in Arizona and herein Texas can also be read by
everybody else and utilizedacross the board.
Allan Rutter (08:19):
So, in addition to this pretty impressive project
that we're doing with theFederal Highway Administration,
we're also involved withdemonstrating and helping the
Texas Department ofTransportation move into
innovations throughout all ofits 25 districts and all of
their divisions.
And I understand that you'reinvolved in helping them
(08:39):
coordinate that across the TxDOTenterprise.
Tell me a little bit about someof those innovations that we've
been seeing.
I know we have been involvedwith the Odessa TxDOT district
out in the Permian Basin.
Are there some innovations inthose same kinds of traffic
monitoring and work zonecommunications?
Bob Brydia (08:59):
Yeah.
So that's a really fun project,and I really want to commend
TxDOT for their approach tolooking at innovation as an
enterprise-wide need.
The concept of this projectoverall is to do at least two
projects with each districtacross a three-year time frame
that focus on being, kind of,those homegrown but fast-burn
(09:21):
type of projects, so they're notthe ones that are necessarily
going to be funded at a nationallevel for everybody.
They may be a little bit risky,but risky is okay, because you
can learn from something if itworks well; you also learn from
something if it doesn't workwell.
And then you take thoseprojects and you figure out how
to scale them so that, ratherthan just being in use in one
(09:43):
individual district, they can beused across the region or
across the entire state as anenterprise.
Some of the really neat projectsthat we've been involved in.
You mentioned Odessa.
So in Odessa we set up a queue-monitoring system on I-20 that
marries queue warning, which isbasically a warning that traffic
is slowing down and you'reapproaching the back of a queue
(10:05):
and you need to reduce yourspeed, in addition to travel
time and telling people what thetravel time is as they progress
through a work zone.
We're using a bunch ofinnovations in that.
Again, moving to thatthird-party data, and we've
combined all of thoseinformation alerts to drivers
within one system that switchesautonomously.
(10:25):
So once that data is known andthe program is running in the
cloud, it senses the changes inthe traffic and goes ahead and
uses its algorithms to updatethe messages on the signs about
every five minutes withoutanybody else having to be in the
loop and physically change amessage sign.
(10:46):
So it keeps the driver fullyinformed as to what's going on.
Allan Rutter (10:57):
It sounds like it's similar to the project on
I-35 a couple of years ago, inthat it's a large, multi-project
reconstruction of a majorinterstate, in a way that is
trying to get a lot ofconstruction done all at once so
that it can be over with.
But when you do that kind ofthing you really have to make
sure that everybody understands.
If something goes wrong, youneed to know about it.
Bob Brydia (11:16):
Right, and every aspect of this that we do is an
innovation and an iteration uponthe previous types of projects
and the previous implementationsthat we had.
So in Waco, where I said beforethat we started with a lot of
roadside sensors and then wentto third-party data, well,
that's now the standard thatwe're using in Odessa.
And then in Odessa we'vecombined the end-of-queue
(11:39):
warning as well as the traveltimes, which has never been done
before.
So now you have really aunified set of messages going
out to the drivers on the roadall being displayed on a
particular message board, andyou don't have to have one
message board telling you thetravel time and another one a
thousand feet up the streamtelling you that you're
(11:59):
approaching the end of a queueor anything like that.
So it really integrates all ofthat.
So that's been a bigenhancement to the types of
systems that we've been able todevelop.
Some of the other districtprojects within the large-scale
innovation project have beenrelated to artificial
intelligence and looking atusing machine learning to look
(12:20):
at railroad grade crossings, forexample, to understand when the
train is crossing and to givethat information to folks that
may need it the most, such asemergency service providers that
may need to go through thatcrossing to get to a call when
it comes in.
In that situation, theemergency service providers know
an alternate route, but it'stypically longer, and so they
(12:43):
need to know that as they leavethe station.
If the shorter route is beingblocked by a train, which now we
can detect with artificialintelligence and determine the
speed and how long it's going toblock that crossing, we can
give them accurate informationas to which route they should go
to respond to the emergency.
Allan Rutter (13:01):
It sounds like one of the things that the
department is trying to do issimilar to, I think, something
that was written about a coupleof years ago by economist Cass
Sunstein, which talks aboutnudging experimenting with
something in a small scale,seeing how it works, and then
going big, rather than trying todevelop all the costs and
benefits of something majorbefore you go do something,
(13:24):
Experimenting and eithersucceeding and failing fast and
learning from that.
Bob Brydia (13:30):
Yeah, I think that's a very accurate description of
what the department is doing andI think it's a very evolved
look at how the department cancontinue to innovate across this
very large state that we livein and get a lot of information
in quickly to see what could beapplicable across the entire
state by concentrating on oneparticular project within a
(13:55):
district.
There's 25 districts in TxDOT,so we have essentially 25
projects going on at the sametime and we use our TTI subject
matter experts, working hand-in- hand with our TxDOT brethren
, to look at these projects tounderstand what they can do, to
see what the benefits are, andthen, once the small scale
(14:17):
project is done, we look at thatto see should it be scaled up
to the entire state.
Allan Rutter (14:22):
So let's talk about some other ways that we've
been partnering with the folksat TxDOT about technology
innovation, and one of those hasto do with vehicle automation.
I was in Austin a couple ofweeks ago and both out at
TxDOT's offices in southeastAustin, down by the airport, you
drive by a facility that's gotdozens and dozens of Waymo
(14:45):
automated driverless vehiclesand you see those in downtown
Austin carrying Uber passengers.
A nd then, of course, on Texashighways we've seen autonomous
trucking companies perfectingtheir technologies, delivering
freight, currently with safetydrivers.
You've been involved with thegovernor's CAV Connected and
Automated Vehicle Task Force ledby TxDOT for a number of years.
(15:08):
Tell our listeners about whatthat task force is and what kind
of parties are involved.
Bob Brydia (15:15):
Yes, I've had the pleasure of being involved with
the CAV task force instituted bythe governor.
The people that are in thattask force represent state
agencies across the state ofTexas, but as well as the entire
nation.
In fact, we even have someinternational members.
We have six differentsubcommittees focusing on things
like safety, education, freightdata; all of those different
(15:38):
types of topics that are verycritical to continuing to
advance the technology and theinnovation, but doing so in a
safe manner, and that's reallythe critical aspect.
That task force wants to be thesingle source repository for
all of the latest and greatestinformation as to what's going
on in Texas, workingcooperatively with the private
(16:01):
sector as they continue toperfect their technologies, as
you said.
But then part of that isunderstanding how people are
going to use that, how peopleare going to want to use that,
and helping that adoption of newtechnologies take place.
Allan Rutter (16:17):
I think we've seen some recent actions on the part
of the Texas Legislature thispast spring that resulted from
some discussions and activity ofthe task force in the last year
.
Tell our listeners a little bitabout what got talked about and
what that resulted in.
Bob Brydia (16:37):
The task force does not make any legislative
recommendations.
That's the purview of thelegislators.
What we do do is look foropportunities, and those
opportunities might be on how weenhance our workforce to
further develop it to be readyfor these types of new
(16:57):
technologies that we're seeing.
It may be an opportunity towork with our folks at the
border to implement differenttypes of checking of all the
information that needs to bechecked before vehicles cross
into the state.
So that's really where thesetypes of opportunities exist.
So we have a voice, and that'san important voice to the
(17:20):
legislature, but we remain as aneutral party looking at best
practices and informing folksaround the entire ecosystem of
the automated vehicles about theright things to do.
Allan Rutter (17:34):
It sounds like it's one of the reasons why
Texas continues to be a placewhere developers and
manufacturers and othercompanies that use these
services feel comfortable aboutexperimenting within the state.
Bob Brydia (17:49):
Yes, Texas has been very open to having these types
of technologies, using that asan economic driver for the
entire state and seeing howthese technologies can help
contribute to the increase insafety and the reduction in
fatalities that they're lookingfor across all of the roadways.
Allan Rutter (18:08):
Let's maybe go back a little in history.
You talked about how ITS haschanged over time.
TTI has been involved in a lotof this transportation
technology over our 75-yearhistory.
What can you tell our listenersabout some of the innovations
or technologies TTI has helpedpioneer and develop over time?
Bob Brydia (18:30):
You know, TTI has such an incredible breadth of
expertise across so many areas.
In the beginning of ourorganization's existence we
worked on physical safetyaspects of things, so we learned
how to take the leftover paintbarrels from TxDOT and utilize
(18:51):
them in an arrangement thatbecame the forerunner to the
crash cushions that you seetoday on the roadway.
We've developed and testedbreakaway signs.
We've developed and testedthings related to guardrails and
all kinds of end treatments forguardrails.
We've done many things relatedto vehicle mechanics.
(19:12):
The capabilities of TTI relatedto pavement and that type of
infrastructure testing andfinding the right type of
pavement for the right type ofsituation are well known across
the nation.
And then in the operations side, we've done a lot of these
things related to looking at howthe traffic actually flows on
(19:32):
the roadway and how to continueto improve that.
So, all the way from the earlydays of ramp metering to looking
at HOV lanes and all of thosethings.
We've also set nationalstandards in terms of roadside
vegetation and looking at thebest type of materials to make
(19:53):
sure that the roadsides are safeas well as beautiful.
Part of the reason that you seewildflowers all over Texas is
because of things that TTI hasdone to influence those types of
roadsides that we have acrossthe state.
Allan Rutter (20:07):
TTI has also been involved in ITS America for a
number of years.
You're now one of our mostrecent TTI leaders on the ITS
America Board of Directors.
Tell our listeners a little bitabout TTI's involvement with
ITS America over time and whatit's like being on that board
today.
Bob Brydia (20:26):
Well, as a new board member, I can say that it's
invigorating and challenging anda wonderful opportunity, and
I'm very grateful for it.
I also feel, certainly, thatI'm following in the shoes of
giants and trying to fill themfrom the folks that had been on
the board previously.
That organization is awonderful national-level
organization looking to promotethe best practices and the best
(20:50):
aspects of how we improvetransportation safety and
mobility.
I would note that they alsohave state-level chapters or
regional chapters.
ITS Texas is a state chapter ofITS America and has a very
active membership.
In fact, there's an upcomingconference in November related
to ITS Texas, and so many of thefolks on the board of ITS
(21:14):
America started at the ranks oftheir individual state, like I
did, going through the ranks ofleadership in ITS Texas and then
moving up to the national level.
Allan Rutter (21:24):
What kinds of other people that you interact
with and learn from?
Bob Brydia (21:29):
The board's comprised of many different
types of folks.
Right, we have the privatesector on there.
We have the automotive OEMs onthere.
We have folks that arebrilliant in communications.
We have folks from otherresearch institutes in addition
to TTI to coming together andlooking at making
(21:52):
recommendations to nationalinfrastructure and national
transportation bills to try tocontinue to evolve the safety
and mobility of ourtransportation system.
Allan Rutter (22:04):
Well, it sounds like it's a really interesting
time to be involved in thiswhole connection between
transportation technology sothat safety can be improved and
mobility can be enhanced.
What do you see maybe happeningin the near-term future that
you and your colleagues at TTIor the folks that you're with at
ITS America?
(22:24):
What's out there that I haven'ttalked about yet?
Bob Brydia (22:28):
Well, I don't know what's out there that you
haven't talked about, becausewe've touched on a lot, but I
think the things that are reallygoing to take place in the near
future is certainly the digitalinfrastructure, the integration
of AI.
I think we will start to seemore and more and hear more and
more about digital twins, theconcept of replicating a
physical roadway in a digitalspace and then being able to
(22:52):
test things in that digitalspace before you test it on the
physical roadway.
Those things can be very simpleto incredibly involved, but
they can also facilitate a lotof planning and experimentation
that would previously only havebeen possible in the physical
space.
Allan Rutter (23:13):
It reminds me a little bit about some of the
technology we've had a chance tolook at on those autonomous
truck operations where not onlydoes the truck have a bunch of
sensors that allow it to seehundreds, if not thousands, of
feet ahead and behind it, butit's also in a digitally
rendered environment thatthey've captured before they
(23:34):
started the vehicle operating onitself.
It strikes me that what you'retalking about, digital twinning,
offers all kinds ofopportunities for not only
better planning, but for bettersituational awareness as you're
moving your vehicle around.
Bob Brydia (23:49):
That's absolutely true, and really the types of
freight vehicles that areoperating today on the roadways,
especially in Texas, areoperating at the very highest
levels of technology that we'veever seen in a vehicle and
within the digitalinfrastructure that they are
utilizing to move through thephysical space.
So they have run millions andmillions of miles in simulation
(24:14):
and millions of miles in reallife.
Every single one of those milesgets a digital imprint of
everything that happened andthey use all of that information
to improve the next digitalmile and then the next real mile
in the physical infrastructure.
So the developments ofautomated freight have been
remarkable to see and are onlygoing to continue to grow.
(24:37):
And you mentioned vehicles likeWaymo and other types of
robo-taxi operations.
We've seen them now in a numberof different cities, testing
different environments,different types of vehicles,
different types of sensors, andall of that is contributing to
the national experience as tohow we use those types of
(24:58):
vehicles to help improvepersonal mobility.
Allan Rutter (25:02):
And it's all being done with ubiquitous cameras on
everybody's hip, active bothinsurance and tort legal system.
Lots of people are there towatch when things go wrong, so
it makes sense that everybody'soperating with their eyes wide
open to make sure that progressis being made, both
(25:23):
incrementally, and learning ishappening with each successive
operation educating the next one.
Bob Brydia (25:30):
In my experience with the industry via the CAV
task force that we talked aboutpreviously, I can state with
confidence from my opinion thatthese companies do intend to
operate safely.
It's the only thing that makessense for their business case.
But I think from a more moralor ethical perspective they want
(25:52):
safety as their top priority.
They have established safety astheir top priority.
Nobody wants to go out and makea vehicle that is involved in
an accident or any type offatality or anything else.
We're trying to improve overalllife here quality of life,
quality of the transportationsystem and these folks that are
(26:12):
in the private sector developingthese technologies are full
force, trying to do that everysingle day with safety as their
top goal.
Allan Rutter (26:21):
Well, Bob, I can tell from our conversation today
that you have plenty of passionfor applying technology to
improving mobility, saving lives, increasing the infrastructure
system resilience.
What are some of the reasonsthat motivate you to show up for
work every day?
Bob Brydia (26:37):
Well, there's many, Allan.
I work with a great set offolks, right?
I mean you and I have beenfriends for a long time and have
had numerous conversationsabout all kinds of different
topics, so I have greatcolleagues like yourself that
are part of TTI and are part ofour network of folks across the
entire nation that are in thisspace trying to make
(26:59):
transportation better.
But transportation is also justfun.
I get to do something differentevery day really in the life of
a researcher and I'm able towalk and talk in both of those
fields the informationtechnology combining with the
engineering and kind of thehardcore civil engineering and
(27:19):
we're now seeing aspects ofengineering and development of
techniques and technologies thatwere never envisioned when I
was going through college.
So while that was a day or twoago, I'm very grateful and happy
to come to work every daybecause it's just fun, I work
with great people and I get totry to make an impact on the
(27:41):
world.
Allan Rutter (27:42):
Well, I really appreciate you taking time to
join us today to talk about howthings are changing and continue
to change.
Thanks for being part of ourpodcast.
Bob Brydia (27:51):
Thank you for inviting me back.
Happy to be here and talk aboutall the great things that are
going on in the world oftransportation, because there's
a lot of them.
Allan Rutter (28:02):
Bob has shared with us practical examples of
how Texas is at the forefront oftechnology that is transforming
transportation.
It's one of the many reasons Ienjoy being part of TTI--being
around so much research thatpromises to improve mobility and
increase safety.
Thanks for listening.
(28:22):
If you liked what you heard orlearned something, please take
just a minute to give us areview, subscribe and share this
episode.
I invite you to join us nexttime for another conversation
about getting ourselves thestuff we need from point A to
point B.
Thinking Transportation is aproduction of the Texas A&M
(28:44):
Transportation Institute, amember of The Texas A&M
University System.
The show is edited and producedby Chris Pourteau.
I'm your host, Allan Rutter.
Thanks again for joining us.
We'll see you next time.
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