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County staff hears vendor demos for emergency‑vehicle preemption; one‑time licensing model and $1.5M estimate discussed
Summary
Charlotte County staff and vendors demonstrated cloud‑based emergency‑vehicle preemption (EVP) and transit signal priority technology March 31; vendors described one‑time licensing for core EVP features, optional add‑on modules, per‑intersection and per‑vehicle one‑time fees, and a preliminary county‑scale estimate of about $1.5 million for 88 intersections.
Charlotte County traffic operations briefed the MPO March 31 on emergency‑vehicle preemption (EVP) technology and transit‑signal priority (TSP) offerings from vendor partners (Transportation Control Systems/Miovision and Opticom). The briefing described the technology options, claimed safety and response benefits, and provided preliminary county-scale cost estimates.
Traffic operations manager Rich Lisenby opened the item with an operational rationale: emergency vehicles in Charlotte County regularly face delays at signals. Vendors described how modern systems (cloud‑based processors in cabinets and vehicle units with geofencing) can automatically preempt signals when first responders approach, and added analytics that report 'heartbeat' and call volumes to help maintenance and planning.
Vendors said EVP can reduce response times by up to 25% on average (higher for larger apparatus) and reduce crash incidents where preemption is used. The vendors proposed a licensing model with one‑time perpetual licenses rather than annual subscription fees for the EVP core; optional camera/video detection, ATSPM, and other features are charged as add‑on licenses. Vendors supplied order‑of‑magnitude unit costs in the meeting: approximately $3,500 for a processor/core device per intersection, roughly $3,200 in intersection licensing, and about $3,600 per vehicle (license) if the vehicle requires a modem or dedicated device. County staff provided an inventory estimate of about 88 intersections and a vehicle fleet count that produced a preliminary system estimate of about $1.5 million.
Board members sought clarity on failure rates, cyber security, lifetime expectations and ongoing costs. Vendors stated their services meet federal/state APL testing, offered uptime figures exceeding 99.99% for cloud services, and described security arrangements (one‑way communications from cloud cores to cabinets; AWS certification; double authentication). They also acknowledged optional managed‑service models exist but recommended a perpetual, one‑time licensing approach with a 10‑year hardware life-cycle estimate for this county configuration.
Commissioners generally expressed support for staff to return with a clear scope, per‑intersection and per‑vehicle costs, recommended roll‑out priorities, and financing approaches (capital/CIP vs. managed service). Staff said they will work with vendors and public safety to produce a detailed cost proposal and recommended phasing rather than immediate countywide deployment.
