ADVERTISEMENT

    Dublin’s Cresttek Leading the Way on Route 33 Smart Mobility Corridor

    No one is immune to change. Just consider your cell phone and the number of times it needs to update, or the rate at which new phone models are designed, or the proliferation of applications that you can download on it to make your life easier and simpler. It’s not stopping, and it’s actually getting faster. Industries are responding, and those in and around Columbus are no exception.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Cresttek, Dublin’s own design company specializing in the automotive, manufacturing and assembly, and general engineering industries, is currently adapting to the smart initiatives taking over the Central Ohio region’s roadways. Specifically, they’re the project leader for the Route 33 Smart Mobility Corridor, funded by a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) that was awarded to the City of Marysville and the City of Dublin.

    The corridor, which runs from the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty and down Route 33 to Dublin, will soon see the passage of 1,200 vehicles with onboard units (OBUs). Those OBUs will transmit data to roadside units (RSUs) to promote safer driving along that road connecting Columbus’ suburbs.

    For the next 18 months, Cresttek will be installing Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRCs) and putting OBUs on various city vehicles, like snow plows and school buses, and collecting the data that’s transmitted.

    “Marysville will have intersections that will have these RSUs as well as Dublin at all their intersections,” said Patrick Soller, General Manager at Cresttek. “We’ll have vehicles transmitting data up and down the corridor, and we’ll be able to create applications that improve the safety and congestion of the corridor.”

    What those applications would look like to drivers would be warnings about road conditions and traffic. RSUs collect data such as the GPS location or speed of the vehicle and the direction it’s heading. It can combine that data with other information, like weather and accident reports, and let drivers make better informed decisions while they drive. Soller describes this adaptation as being as natural as the implementation of the seatbelt.

    “In the future, all vehicles will probably have some type of telematics unit on their car that would transmit data, and that data could be used to warn the driver that the car in front of them is stopping quickly and they need to brake,” Soller said. “It can help you know to stop if there’s a closed lane or an accident ahead, or if they’ve drifted to sleep and are driving into the median.”

    This use of information has raised questions around cyber security as well as data ownership. Who gets to access, benefit and profit from the creation of data if not the data creators AKA drivers? Soller said the possibility of individuals gaining control over their own data is very likely in the future.

    “There are a lot of futurists trying to figure out if you would have to pay for your vehicle or how the ownership of the vehicle would operate,” he said. “Maybe the data that your vehicle is creating can pay for the vehicle itself, or you may be willing to spend more on a vehicle because it may generate money for you.”

    The pace of progress has outrun these conversations, and even legislation and regulation itself. With smart technology implementation in vehicles being such a brand new concept, no national standard exists for autonomous vehicles or connected vehicles. In many cases, the Society of Automotive Engineers is the entity to create guidelines and regulations around how new technology should be tested or certified, “so some of those are still being developed,” Soller said.

    Those regulations don’t have much time to catch up: “When you look at all the technological developments that have happened in the last 100 years, there’s been more that’s happened in that short time than anything our ancestors have experienced,” Soller said, “and the pace of change is happening much faster as well.”

    For more information, visit cresttek.com

    Our new technology series is presented by our partners in the City of Dublin.

    Dublin is a city of more than 47,000 residents located just northwest of Columbus, Ohio. The City of Dublin Economic Development team has a vision to make Dublin a Midwest IT Magnet through business leadership and sustainable workforce development. This commitment goes beyond short-term skills training to include long-term strategic and cultural support for the entire Dublin business community. Dublin is one of America’s Top 20 Creative Class Cities and is home to more than 20 corporate headquarters, an entrepreneurial center, 3,000+ businesses, world-class events and the urban, walkable Bridge Street District.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Subscribe

    More to Explore:

    IncludeHealth Makes Physical Therapy More Affordable, Accessible Through Technology

    Heading to physical therapy used to mean needing to get in the car, make your way through traffic, arrive at a certain location—and then do it all again to go home. But for many people, there’s a new option.

    Kinetics Noise Control Keeps Quiet in Dublin

    Kinetics Noise Control keeps things pretty quiet—in more ways than one. The company delivers services just as the name suggests: reducing noise.

    Nymbl Systems Puts Roots in Dublin After City Agreement

    An organization officially named as one of the "Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America" is calling Dublin home for the foreseeable future.The distinction for Nymbl Systems comes from Inc. Magazine, where company was ranked #690 out of 5,000 on the magazine’s list because they experienced approximately 890% growth from 2019-2022.

    COhatch to Open Entrepreneurial Village in Dublin

    The project will be a mixed-use, walkable development sitting on a 2.85-acre site directly behind the company's Dublin location.
    Lauren Sega
    Lauren Segahttps://columbusunderground.com
    Lauren Sega is the former Associate Editor for Columbus Underground and a current freelance writer for CU. She covers political issues on the local and state levels, as well as local food and restaurant news. She grew up near Cleveland, graduated from Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism, and loves running, traveling and hiking.
    ADVERTISEMENT