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

  • Smartphone solution for parking performance
    March 31, 2017
    Automated parking offers optimised space utilisation and fewer damage complaints as David Crawford discovers. As cars become smarter, technology designed to make parking them more straightforward is developing in parallel. In turn, it is becoming clear that the places where vehicles spend much of their time will need to respond – more comprehensively than by supporting established aids such as smartphone-based parking location and reservation, or payment for time used.
    Read More
  • New approach to data handling aids development of smarter cities
    January 14, 2013
    David Crawford has been to the Irish capital to see a potent memorandum of understanding at work. An imaginative collaboration between the world’s largest IT company and one of Europe’s smaller capital cities is demonstrating a new approach to data handling that could have far reaching implications for urban public transport worldwide. A close working relationship between IBM and Dublin City Council (DCC) dates from 2010.
    Read More
  • New approach to data handling aids development of smarter cities
    January 11, 2013
    David Crawford has been to the Irish capital to see a potent memorandum of understanding at work. An imaginative collaboration between the world’s largest IT company and one of Europe’s smaller capital cities is demonstrating a new approach to data handling that could have far reaching implications for urban public transport worldwide. A close working relationship between IBM and Dublin City Council (DCC) dates from 2010. The IT giant was looking for a local transport authority as partner for testing IBM’s
    Read More
  • New approach to data handling aids development of smarter cities
    January 11, 2013
    David Crawford has been to the Irish capital to see a potent memorandum of understanding at work. An imaginative collaboration between the world’s largest IT company and one of Europe’s smaller capital cities is demonstrating a new approach to data handling that could have far reaching implications for urban public transport worldwide. A close working relationship between IBM and Dublin City Council (DCC) dates from 2010. The IT giant was looking for a local transport authority as partner for testing IBM’s
    Read More

Highlighted Content