What's the future for CAV?

Watch the video to hear from experts across the country on the future of CAV: Where do we go from here? The future of connected and autonomous vehicles – Transportation TV (wpengine.com)

When it comes to connected and automated vehicles (CAV), people often ask “where do we go from here?” thus I was glad to see this video summary published by AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) last week.  I enjoyed moderating this excellent panel discussion at the annual meeting, and three big challenges have stuck with me:  

1.      Vision

It’s been noted time and again that we need a national vision to unify and expedite CAV deployment. The more I think about the construct AASHTO used to establish a vision for the future of transportation for state DOTs to deliver, the more applicability I see for that construct to be used across challenges and sectors, including a vision for deploying CAV:

·        Build a vision based on long-term and emerging trends across various sectors. Scenario-planning is at the heart of the first step. Use systems-thinking and focus on the why, not the what and how.

·        Establish a few moonshot projects to move the vision to action, with urgency. People remember John Kennedy’s famous moonshot speech because it was big and bold and had an ambitious deadline. They can overlook the more subtle power of moonshots coming from the goal which serves “to organize and the measure the best of our energies and skills”.

·        Build in latitude for partners to implement the vision using ranges of strategies. Big national goals benefit from multiple implementation paths that recognize political, physical and organizational contexts.   

 2.      Urgency

I appreciate Laura Demeo Chace, Intelligent Transportation Society of America, who continues to stress the importance of CAV to safety and makes the point quite clearly that “industry is ready to go” and we’re at a “make or break moment… if we don’t use [the spectrum], we risk losing it.” I also appreciate the specific example of improving school zone and school bus safety from Brad Stertz, (AUDI AG and PAVE Co-Founder). As recently as last Friday, AASHTO noted that two key senators are urging the FCC to accelerate approval of C-V2X waivers Senators Urge FCC to Support C-V2X Spectrum Needs – AASHTO Journal.

3.      Partnerships and personal commitment matters

Deployment depends on how well the public and private sectors work together – we need the ingenuity of the private sector and public sector principles to deliver better and faster for Americans. 

While it didn’t make it into the video, one of the most memorable moments from the session to me was Emmanuel Posadas’, Traffic Operations Manager, City of Gainesville, response to the question I asked, “With 4 years remaining of IIJA funding and rapid technology advances, we have an unprecedented opportunity to improve safety and advance transportation systems. What will you do in the next 4 years to make a difference?”

I’m curious – what are you willing to do to improve safety and advance transportation?