Five of the USA’s most innovative transportation organizations have joined the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) Leadership Circle, which brings together transportation and technology visionaries from the public, private and academic sectors as thought leaders on behalf of ITS America and the broader transportation community. Together, the Leadership Circle develops strategic approaches to improve the country’s transportation systems through innovative intelligent transportation solutions. The 36 established members of the Circle will be joined by the AAA, General Motors (GM), the Michigan Mobility Transformation Center, New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT and Parkmobile, bringing the total number of member organizations to 41.
The new members each have different areas of expertise and focus: established in 1902 by nine motor clubs with fewer than 1,500 members, the AAA is one of North America’s leading travel and transportation safety advocates, with 54 million members in the USA and Canada; General Motors is one of the world’s leading automakers and has recently announced plans to offer new semi-autonomous driving features and V2V communication capability in some of its 2017 Cadillac range; The University of Michigan (U-M) developed the Michigan Mobility Transformation Center as one of the country’s leading research and development institutions for connected and autonomous vehicles, which works with government and industry to improve safety, sustainability and accessibility through technology and innovation; NYCDOT is widely recognized not only as the USA’s largest municipal DOT, but also as one of the most progressive, with one of the most complex urban transportation networks in the world, the agency manages 6,000 miles (9,660km) of streets and highways; with 1,400 locations to date, expanding to 4,800 locations later this year, Parkmobile is the leading provider for on-demand and pre-paid mobile payments for on- and off-street parking.
“These companies and organizations represent the very best in transportation innovation and ingenuity,” noted Thomas E Kern, ITS America’s interim president and CEO. “Technology is helping revolutionize mobility and is central to advancing a safer, smarter, more efficient and sustainable transportation future. We are thrilled to bring these transportation leaders and innovators to the table to help find solutions to some of the key challenges facing our nation’s transportation system.”
