The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) has released its new public policy ‘roadmap’ that provides recommendations on how to advance the research and deployment of transformational and intelligent transportation technologies.
Specifically, the document, The Road Ahead: The Next Generation of Mobility – A Public Policy Roadmap for 2017, provides recommendations on policy issues that are shaping the next generation of transportation driven by robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, wireless communications, and cloud computing. Issues include cybersecurity/privacy, looking for new and long-term funding and financing options around much needed transportation investment, issues around easing the transition to automated and connected vehicles, increasing integration of technologies that improve the operational life and efficiency of the USA’s road networks, and energizing new business models of passenger and freight mobility.
The roadmap was developed in consultation with ITS America’s unique membership, which brings together all the key stakeholders in the USA’s intelligent transportation movement, including established and emerging private companies, state and city department of transportation officials, as well as leaders in the academic and research communities. Together, the organization and its membership are determined to make the next generation of mobility a reality by building a transportation infrastructure that is the technological envy of the world. The roadmap focusses on three areas of technology and service clusters that are forming around:
• Vehicles, including connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) and delivery drones;
• Infrastructure, such as the Internet of Things (IoT);
• Transportation users, such as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) and ‘When-I-Want-It/Where-I-Want-It Logistics’ models.
In the year ahead, ITS America will work with policy makers at all levels of government – federal, state and local – to rebuild and modernize transportation infrastructure with smart investments that create jobs, save lives, and cut costs by making use of underutilized transportation assets. The organization will also urge President Trump and Congress to build out transportation infrastructure by including roadmap recommendations in upcoming infrastructure proposals.
“Advancements in robotics, artificial intelligence, wireless communications and more, make this a pivotal moment for the USA’s leadership in the intelligent transportation arena,” said ITS America’s president and CEO, Regina Hopper. “This roadmap provides federal, state, and local policy makers with the tools to capitalize on this innovation, from automated vehicles, to highways and traffic lights that communicate in real time with drivers on the road. Now is the time to jumpstart the economy and save thousands of lives per year.”
Jill Ingrassia, immediate past chairman of ITS America and managing director of government relations and traffic safety advocacy at the AAA, commented, “Innovations like connected and automated vehicles have the potential to dramatically impact transportation safety and will help move us toward the goal of zero deaths on the nation’s roads. It’s time for Congress and the administration to work together to facilitate the implementation of modern, innovation-driven transportation policies that will result in safer, more reliable and efficient mobility, helping to save lives across the country.”
