Recently, some Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council Members visited the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to talk about possible synergies between the computing research community and DoT.

Established in 1966, the USDOT’s top priorities are to keep the traveling public safe and secure, increase their mobility, and have our transportation system contribute to the nation’s economic growth.

A number of topics were touched on that we will share at a later time. One important piece of information is a recent Request For Information (RFI) on the vehicle-to-vehicle security credential management system.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications, and concurrently released an extensive research report on the technology, as the formal start to the regulatory process. This notice, a RFI, seeks information related to the security system that will support V2V operations but will not be established by NHTSA regulation. This RFI will help the agency: (1) Become aware of private entities that may have an interest in exploring the possibility of developing and/or operating components of a V2V Security Credential Management System (SCMS); (2) Receive responses to the questions posed about the establishment of an SCMS provided in the last section of this RFI; and (3) Obtain feedback, expressions of interest, and comments from all interested public, private, and academic entities on any aspect of the SCMS.

You can find a USDOT guide on How Connected Vehicles Work here.

For more information about this RFI or to submit a response, please see the Federal Register website. All responses must be submitted by 11:59 pm ET on December 15, 2014.