Skip to main content

Seven finalist cities for US Smart City Challenge announced

After what he called an ‘overwhelming response’, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced seven finalists for the US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Smart City Challenge. The USDOT has pledged up to US$40 million to one city to help it define what it means to be a Smart City and become the country’s first city to fully integrate innovative technologies – self-driving cars, connected vehicles, and smart sensors – into their transportation network. The finalists are: Austin, Texas;
March 15, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
After what he called an ‘overwhelming response’, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced seven finalists for the 324 US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Smart City Challenge.

The USDOT has pledged up to US$40 million to one city to help it define what it means to be a Smart City and become the country’s first city to fully integrate innovative technologies – self-driving cars, connected vehicles, and smart sensors – into their transportation network.

The finalists are: Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Kansas City, Missouri; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco, California, who will each get US$100,000 to further develop their proposals.

“The level of excitement and energy the Smart City Challenge has created around the country far exceeded our expectations,” said Secretary Foxx. “After an overwhelming response – 78 applications total – we chose to select seven finalists instead of five because of their outstanding potential to transform the future of urban transportation.”

The winner will be announced in June and will receive up to UAS$50 million, including US$10 million from launch partner, Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan to support electric vehicle deployment and other carbon emission reduction strategies.

Other partners that have already joined the Smart City Challenge include 4279 Mobileye, 2184 Autodesk and 5460 NXP.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • UK Labour leader considering plan to ban petrol cars
    December 13, 2016
    Labour Party leader Jeremy Corby is considering plans to ban the sale of new petrol cars in the UK, according to The Independent newspaper. The plan would form part of a broader package of measures to transform Britain into a low-carbon nation and would mean only zero- or low-carbon vehicles being sold after a set cut-off date, dramatically reducing air pollution and potentially saving thousands of lives. Corbyn is exploring plans to reduce the powers of the big six electricity providers by allowing a
  • Extreme weather highlights need for sustainable transportation
    October 21, 2024
    As hurricane and floods in parts of the US wreak havoc, USDoT is re-emphasising the importance of sustainability and resilience in infrastructure and operations
  • Carlos Moreno: ‘I’ve had a lot of death threats over 15-minute cities’
    May 4, 2023
    Carlos Moreno, inventor of the 15-minute city concept, talks to Adam Hill about misinformation, conspiracy theories and the attraction of ‘human smart cities’
  • Impact of US economic stimulus programme on ITS industry
    August 2, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on the public sector perspective in this second article exploring the impact of the US economic stimulus programme on the domestic ITS industry The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was enacted in February 2009 to help stimulate the US economy in the face of global recession. Of measures worth a nominal total of $787 billion, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) received just over $48 billion with which to promote short-term economic recovery and an additional $1.5 bil