Notice of obligation of funds- VESS NHTSA 11.14.24.pdf

U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Notice of Obligation of Funds

Date: November 27, 2024

Subject: Obligation of funds to the Vehicle Electronic Systems Safety (VESS) Research

Support Contract

Notice Statement

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) plans to obligate additional Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds to meet BIL-mandated vehicle safety related research activities.

NHTSA has modified its existing Vehicle Electronic Systems Safety (VESS) research support multiple award contract to permit continuance of these necessary research activities through the issuance of task orders in fiscal year 2025. In order to ensure that NHTSA can implement the BIL-funded activities, the agency has increased the VESS contract’s shared ceiling to $110 million.

Background

BIL, also known as the “Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act” (IIJA), P.L. 117-58, mandated that NHTSA undertake motor vehicle safety and consumer information related activities that require NHTSA to perform additional vehicle safety research prior to their implementation. Additional research is needed in the areas of automatic emergency braking, illegal passing of school buses, automatic engine shutoff systems, crash avoidance technology, driver distraction, headlamps, and advanced impaired driving technology.

BIL authorized additional funding for NHTSA vehicle safety research generally, resulting in increased activity in a number of vehicle electronics research areas. These BIL funds will support increased research and development activities in Automatic Driving Systems (ADS), Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS), and motor vehicle cybersecurity.

BIL-Funded Research Increase

In order to implement BIL-funded research, NHTSA has increased the VESS contract’s ceiling amount, while maintaining the current research task areas. These ongoing research areas are:

1. Controlled-Environment Evaluation Facilities and Methods Includes test-track research to support evaluation of ADAS and ADS safety performance.

2. Virtual Environment Evaluation Includes the development of simulation and virtual environments of ADAS and ADS vehicle safety performance.

3. Vehicle Component Testing and Functional Safety Assessments

Includes identification and assessment of the application of functional safety assessment methods and results analysis for ADS systems.

4. Management of Field Operational Tests, Naturalistic Studies, and On-road Testing Includes field studies and pilot programs to assess safety, reliability, customer acceptance of emerging ADAS technologies.

5. Safety Impact Assessment Support Includes development of technology, simulations, models and data analysis to develop and apply safety evaluation frameworks for ADS/ADAS.

6. Cybersecurity and Vehicle System Software Research Includes evaluation of all aspect of vehicle cybersecurity risks to vehicle safety.

7. Vehicle Safety Communications Includes research on spectrum use and interoperability and the development of communication security procedures.

Following the obligation of additional BIL funds, NHTSA will issue task orders to continue research under the seven (7) research areas of the VESS contract for fiscal year 2025, in accordance with the BIL congressional mandates. The VESS period of performance remains unchanged and will expire in March 2026.