Roadway technology to grow with Texas A&M University, 3M partnership - Bryan-College Station Eagle

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute is expanding its partnership with manufacturing company 3M through a five-year agreement to continue collaboration on developing new roadway technologies.

A&M System officials said the development of the RELLIS Campus west of Bryan, and abundance of expertise and available facilities for research and testing, were factors in the decision to grow the partnership. Under the agreement, 3M will be able to seek the use of A&M System researchers, training and technical assistance while working on projects.

"We are very excited about our growing and valuable partnership between the A&M System and 3M," said Associate Vice Chancellor and RELLIS Campus Director John Barton in a statement. "The RELLIS Campus' test beds and proving grounds are the perfect place for the development of transformational technologies like these, and we are proud that 3M has chosen us as their partner on these important projects."

3M Connected Roads Program Manager Andrew Dubner said in a statement he expects the continued partnership between TTI and 3M to help facilitate the coming shift into connected infrastructure technologies -- a new frontier he believes will help make roadways a safer, more effective landscape on which forthcoming connected and automated vehicles can travel.

Paul Carlson, senior research engineer and a national roadway visibility expert, praised the latest agreement as a move that "expands on TTI's partnership and validates the significance of the redevelopment of the A&M System's RELLIS Campus, which is a unique facility that allows us to configure different testing scenarios to develop future transportation technologies."

Among the work being partnered on between the A&M System and 3M includes increasing the reliability of machine vision systems to function properly on wet roads and the development of new sign technology to inform drivers of important infrastructure information.

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