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Columbus, Ohio Wins $50 Million Prize in U.S. DOT’s Smart City Challenge

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Jennifer van der Kleut

News broke this week that the city of Columbus, Ohio has beaten six other cities to win the $50-million prize in the Smart City Challenge.

Cities from across the country were invited earlier this year to pitch their intelligent-transportation project ideas to compete for $50 million in funding. Recently, the seven cities of Columbus, Ohio; Austin, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Kansas City, Missouri; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; San Francisco, California and Portland, Oregon were named the seven finalists, and were invited to Washington, D.C. to formally pitch their project ideas to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on June 3.

For the prize, $40 million in funding is coming from the USDOT, as well as $10 million from a private grant from the company Vulcan, explained the website ColumbusCEO.com.

In addition, the public-private partnerships Columbus formed to help them win the bid will be investing another $90 million in grants for the project, bringing the total funding to $140 million.

Partnership members including Battelle, AEP, Ohio State University, Nationwide, Honda, L Brands, Cardinal Health and others, according to ColumbusCEO, many of which were brought to the table by Columbus’ new mayor, Andrew Ginther.

Columbus’ winning idea consisted of a plan to “link neighborhoods and improve mobility for residents while encouraging additional growth, and to provide an environment for new and existing technology companies to locate in the city,” reported the website Transport Topics.

To be more specific, ColumbusCEO.com described the project as a plan to “use the opportunity to connect workers in high poverty neighborhoods with jobs, improve access to education and prenatal care, and reduce traffic congestion.”

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio confirmed Columbus’ win this week, and said he and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx were impressed by how many companies and CEOs the city was able to bring to the table to collaborate for their innovative project.

“Mayor Ginther and the city’s partners demonstrated a commitment to smart growth that makes the city better for all residents. And that’s why I worked so hard to support Columbus’s efforts,” Brown said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with local leaders and community members to realize the vision of a first-of-its-kind transportation system that increases access to jobs, links neighborhoods, and improves real-time information in a sustainable, safe way.”

An additional prize coming to Columbus is $1.5 million worth of electric vehicle chargers and mobile solar generators donated by DC Solar Solutions, the largest manufacturer of mobile solar technology in the country, Transport Topics indicated.

A press conference is expected to take place sometime on Thursday, June 23 in Linden, one of the Columbus neighborhoods that will benefit from the project.

U.S. Finalists for Smart City Challenge Announced, Will Now Compete for $40 Million in Funding

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Jennifer van der Kleut

At the SXSW Festival over the weekend, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the seven finalists for a unique challenge that could garner the winning city $40 million in funding to transform their town into a driverless “utopia.”

As Gizmodo explains, the country’s Smart City Challenge is a “fast-track initiative” to get cities thinking more about smart, high-tech solutions to urban transportation-with a particular focus on autonomous vehicles.

After receiving proposals, Foxx announced seven finalist cities that will compete for $40 million in funding from the Department of Transportation (DOT) for the implementation of their ideas.

The seven finalist cities are:

  • Austin, Texas
  • Columbus, Ohio
  • Denver, Colorado
  • Kansas City, Missouri
  • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Francisco, California

Gizmodo reports that the challenge was initially announced across the country in connection with the DOT’s “Beyond Traffic” report, which warned cities that if they didn’t start preparing for autonomous transportation soon-a big push by the Obama administration, which recently pledged $4 billion to help make it happen-they could find themselves wasting millions on infrastructure improvements that become obsolete as the technology becomes the new norm.

The competition was specifically open to midsize cities with populations between 250,000 and 850,000. Finalists were selected based on “how well their proposals match the DOT’s goals — and how likely they look to succeed,” CNET said.

CNET reports that DOT representatives were “blown away” by the quality of the 78 submissions they received from cities all over the country. In fact, they had initially planned on five finalists, but added an extra two because they were so impressed.

The seven finalist cities will now receive $100,000 each and begin work with some of the world’s most powerful tech companies to fine-tune and streamline their project ideas.

The winning city, to be announced in June, will not only receive up to $40 million in funding from the DOT, but Gizmodo reports they “will receive tools and assistance from several partners, including data storage by Amazon Web Services, driver-assistance tech from Mobileye, a 3D modeling platform from Autodesk, and a V2V communication system from NXP.”

The winner will also get up to $10 million more from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s company Vulcan, “which is focused on vehicle emissions reduction and helping cities to stop climate change.”

“I want our country to lead the world in transportation again,” Foxx said. “Unfortunately we got into this practice of thinking small, and we can’t afford to do it anymore if we’re going to lead the world in economic growth and quality of life and pass along a country that is better than the one we inherited,” Foxx told Gizmodo.

Google, GM, Lyft to Testify Before Congress on Importance of Autonomous Car Technology and What Government’s Role Should Be

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Jennifer van der Kleut

Executives from some of the biggest names in the autonomous car race will testify on Capitol Hill next week on the importance of autonomous car technology in making driving safer, as well as offer advice on what the government’s role should be in crafting appropriate legislation to help America get there.

According to Reuters, Chris Urmson, the head of Google’s self-driving car project, along with executives from General Motors (GM), Delphi Automotive and ride-hailing app Lyft will be speaking before a Senate committee led by Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican that heads the Senate Commerce Committee.

Inverse reports that representatives from two Duke University departments-the Humans and Autonomy Lab and Duke Robotics-will also be joining them at the hearing.

Reuters reports that the committee wants to hear from these company reps on “advancements in autonomous vehicle technology and its anticipated benefits for Americans.”

In addition, the committee wants to hear their thoughts “on the appropriate role of government in promoting innovation, including removing unnecessary hurdles, and their strategy to grow consumer adoption of this new technology.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in January of this year that his goal was for the federal government to remove legislative obstacles to the development of autonomous and connected-car technology, and to develop a consistent national policy for testing within six months.

At the same time, the Obama Administration announced $4 billion in funding for autonomous and connected-car testing along designated corridors nationwide.

For more information about the hearing as well as a link where you can stream the hearing live, visit the Senate committee’s website.

Foxx — Cut Regs, Get Driverless Tech to Market

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Burney Simpson

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today said driverless technology represents a new step in the evolution of transportation, and the federal government should review regulations slowing its development.

“We need to reach out to those innovating in (the driverless) space, and find those regulations that are preventing this technology from getting to the marketplace,” said Foxx in his comments to the Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Foxx said that autonomous and connected vehicle technology represents a new stage in transportation development.

Man moved by foot, then created vehicles he controlled, he noted. “Now the technology can make more decisions” and take over some of the vehicle control.

Those decisions are very complex, and the Department of Transportation and the research community must test the technology and ensure it is safe, he said.

Still, much progress has been made, said Foxx, who noted that both truck platooning and increasing mobility for people with disabilities are just two driverless areas that show great promise and are developing rapidly.

The $50 Million Driverless City Challenge

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Burney Simpson

Driverless technology is central to a $50 million urban design challenge along with proposed changes to the 5-Star Safety Rating System that the U.S. Department of Transportation announced this week.

The agency’s “Smart City Challenge“ asks city planners to demonstrate how they would use “advanced data, technologies, and applications” to cut congestion, improve safety, be green, and add jobs.

A city applicant must show how “innovations will connect people, vehicles, public transportation, and infrastructure through ITS, sharing economy, and other technologies.”

To participate, a city must submit its high-level vision of a Smart City by February 4, 2016. The DOT will announce five finalists in March, and the winner in June.

Get more details on the challenge here. Visit here to access a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that spells out the challenge for applicants.

The plan could include such technologies as self-driving vehicles, connected vehicles, and sensor-based infrastructure, according to the NOFO.

The winning city will be awarded $40 million from the DOT and $10 million from Vulcan Inc. The winner must work with Vulcan to secure the funding, the DOT said. Vulcan is focused on support infrastructure for electric vehicles.

The DOT is holding a Smart Cities Forum on Tuesday, Dec. 15, at its Washington, D.C. headquarters.

5-STAR SAFETY ADDS CRASH AVOIDANCE

Also this week, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx proposed changes to the 5-Star Safety Ratings system that incorporate crash-avoidance and other driverless vehicle technologies. See release for a more detailed explanation.

A DOT video suggests blind-spot detection, nighttime visibility, lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking, and forward collision warning could be included as part of the changes.

The agency also seeks to use a new version of the crash-test dummy, and to change the crash tests to better determine how crashes affect passengers.

The proposal is available for public comment for the next 60 days, and the Federal Highway Traffic Safety Administration must review the ideas by end of 2016. If approved, the new ratings would go into effect in 2019 model year vehicles.

Last Friday Foxx popped the champagne to celebrate as President Obama signed a five-year, $305 billion transportation bill (“Big Bucks for V2I, V2V in Transport Bill”).

Photo by Ted McGrath, 2015 Vancouver – The Next Train is to the Waterfront

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx Discusses Washington’s Work on Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Technology

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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx spoke during a summit for millennial entrepreneurs hosted by The Washington Post this week, and took a few moments to discuss connected and autonomous vehicle technology.

Foxx said that there are different debates behind connected versus automated cars, and that he expects that converging the two technologies is the true future of transportation.

Foxx said Washington is working on a set of laws and guidelines to pave the way for both technologies.

“We want to see both technologies move along, and we [the federal government] want to do the best we can to help them,” he said.

Watch video of Foxx’s comments on The Washington Post’s website.

Also recently, Foxx announced that the Department of Transportation’s field testing into allowing vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and WiFi communications to share the DSRC spectrum should be completed by the end of the year.

V2I Spectrum-Sharing Field Test is Ongoing

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Burney Simpson

Field tests of a program that allows Wi-Fi and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications to share a sector of the radio frequency spectrum are scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

The testing of the 5.9 Gigahertz (GHz) band follows the May 13 announcement by Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx that the DOT would expedite research into sharing the band with unlicensed users, such as consumers and businesses.

In 1999 the Federal Communications Commission set-aside the 5850 to 5925 segment of the spectrum for Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) to improve roadway safety. The Department of Transportation has been devoting this space, known as the 5.9 band, to V2I communications. The FCC regulates the use of the spectrum.

The week before Foxx’s announcement, officials from Cisco Systems, GM and others met with FCC commissioners to discuss testing a program Cisco called “Listen, Detect, and Avoid” protocol that could allow for use of Wi-Fi in the 5.9 band without interfering with DSRC.

Cisco has allied with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Global Automakers, two trade groups representing auto OEMs, in its development and promotion of Listen, Detect, and Avoid. A second DSRC-sharing proposal from Cisco competitor Qualcomm was turned down by the FCC.

A letter from Global Automakers to the FCC pledged to complete field testing of the Cisco concept by the end of this year.

Spectrum sharing proponents argue that Wi-Fi needs more bandwidth due to the exponential growth in the use of tablets and smart phones since the 1999 FCC set-aside.

However, some in the transportation industry active in DSRC and autonomous vehicles have been wary of the idea.

Shortly before Foxx requested the speed up of work on V2V and V2I technology, an independent committee of transportation experts recommended the DOT move slowly with sharing the DSRC spectrum with Wi-Fi uses.

The Transportation Research Board in April sent a report to Foxx that warned “proposed spectrum sharing in the 5.9 GHz band is the most serious risk and uncertainty for the program, but it is not the only one.”

The report, prepared at the request of the DOT, noted that there were many “unknowns and uncertainties” regarding implementation of DSRC by the government and industry.

In addition, Peter Sweatman, director of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, testified to a Congressional committee this year that he had reservations about spectrum sharing (“GM to Congress: We’ll Test Wi-Fi in DSRC Spectrum”).

“Our entire ecosystem of companies (are) committed to V2V using the 5.9 GHz spectrum,” Sweatman told the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade. “Spectrum must be protected for (V2V) safety performance (which) depends on the absolute reliability of messages, as well as certainty in spectrum availability, in the mode that has been fully tested.”

States Get to Second Gear on Autonomous Driving Proposals

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Burney Simpson

Autonomous and driverless technology proponents should check out a handy guide from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) on recent legislative proposals at the state level that address the technology.

Sixteen states introduced legislation touching on autonomous vehicles in 2015, according to the NCSL, up from 12 in 2014, and six in 2012.

Only two bills passed in 2015, but nine were carried over, meaning they could be heard in their state’s next legislative session.

Actually, a little more progress occurred. The NCSL notes that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in June announced the state would be expanding its Virginia Automated Corridors for driverless testing. (See “Va Tech Leaves ‘Em Eating Its Dust in Race to be Top Driverless Test Track,” June 7, 2015). And Utah passed a bill calling for the testing of connected vehicle technology this year.

States can be slow in enacting anything new; legislation often fails once, twice or three times before making it through both the senate and the house chambers, and getting signed by the governor.

The NCSL guide also provides a one-paragraph description of the proposed legislation so you get a sense of the state’s approach without asking a translator to cut through the legalese.

In addition to the legislative list, a US map shows the six states and District of Columbia that have enacted autonomous vehicle legislation. North Dakota and Tennessee this year passed the legislation, joining California, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, and DC, in the cool car club.

The NCSL guide joins the Stanford University Center for Internet and Society pages on Automated Driving and Legislative Action that tracks this topic at the state level.

Why should the autonomous driving industry care what’s going on in individual states?

For one, because that’s where the work is being done. Hundreds of companies and thousands of researchers are working on driverless technology all across the U.S., and the rules and regulations in their state impact their work.

Second, the federal government has problems passing much of anything. The U.S. Congress has been kicking the Department of Transportation budget down the road this year, and 2016 is an election so it will probably get even worse.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has been a strong voice for autonomous technology. And the US DOT recently awarded $42 million to three connected vehicle projects in Florida, New York, and Wyoming.

But Foxx can only do so much while Congress battles itself. Until that gets solved, check out the action at the state level.

Map graphic by NCSL.