Chula Vista invites private sector to develop drone and AV programmes

The city of Chula Vista in California is inviting researchers to propose projects, partnerships and pilot programmes on unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and autonomous vehicles (AVs). The city has issued a ‘request for expressions of interest’ highlighting that city-owned facilities are now available to businesses and organisations. Eric Crockett, economic development director, says: “Chula Vista is the only city in the nation with federal recognition for both AV and UAS testing and validation in a real
March 7, 2019 Read time: 1 min

The city of Chula Vista in California is inviting researchers to propose projects, partnerships and pilot programmes on unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and autonomous vehicles (AVs).

The city has issued a ‘request for expressions of interest’ highlighting that city-owned facilities are now available to businesses and organisations.

Eric Crockett, economic development director, says: “Chula Vista is the only city in the nation with federal recognition for both AV and UAS testing and validation in a real-world environment.”

Available locations include an undeveloped 375-acre university site which is already being used by drone start-ups. For AV firms, the city is also offering 17,000 square feet of industrial space for vehicle maintenance.

“We’ve kept this solicitation as open-ended as possible because we want to encourage industry responses to be creative and innovative,” Crockett adds.

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Smart phones offer smarter way to pay for travel
    December 16, 2013
    David Crawford reviews developments in near field communications for mass transit payments. ‘A carefully-designed and well-implemented mobile near field communications (NFC) solutions can give passengers a compelling experience that will encourage them to make greater use of public transport.’ That was the confident conclusion of a recent joint White Paper drawn up by the International Association of Public Transport and the global mobile operators’ representative group GSMA.
    Read More
  • New opportunities in a data-rich future
    March 19, 2014
    Jason Barnes looks at where the detection and monitoring sector is heading. In the future, there will be no such thing as an un-instrumented road. Just a short time ago, that could have been a quote from a high-level policy document but with the first arrivals of vehicles with 802.11p connectivity – the door-opener to Vehicle-to-X (V2X) applications – it’s a statement which has increasing validity. The technology which uses our roads will also provide information on road conditions but V2X isn’t the only
    Read More
  • Platooning with Ease on the I-70
    July 15, 2025
    What would happen to truck platooning - a nascent technology - if the weather turns nasty? The I-70 Truck Automation Corridor Project in the northern US should provide some answers, reports David Arminas…
    Read More
  • The free and open internet is dead
    June 25, 2018
    A key US vote may have changed what internet service providers are allowed to charge and how they restrict content: Joe Dysart explains why this has consequences for ITS companies. While most people were rushing around last December, grabbing last-minute gifts for the holidays, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to drive a stake into the heart of the free and open internet. In a majority vote, the agency killed ‘net neutrality’ - a policy that has prevented your regional internet service
    Read More

Highlighted Content