Skip to main content

‘Overwhelming response’ to USDOT Smart City Challenge

Medium-sized cities across the US have submitted applications for the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Smart City Challenge. According to US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, 77 cities from Reno to Rochester and Anchorage to Albuquerque have applied to enter the competition, which seeks to create an innovative, fully integrated model city that uses data, technology and creativity to shape how people and goods move in the future. The USDOT will award the winning city up to US$40 million to imp
February 9, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Medium-sized cities across the US have submitted applications for the 324 US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Smart City Challenge. According to US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, 77 cities from Reno to Rochester and Anchorage to Albuquerque have applied to enter the competition, which seeks to create an innovative, fully integrated model city that uses data, technology and creativity to shape how people and goods move in the future.

The USDOT will award the winning city up to US$40 million to implement bold, data-driven ideas that make transportation safer, easier, and more reliable. Additionally, Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Inc. intends to award up to US$10 million to the challenge winner to support electric vehicle deployment and other carbon emission reduction strategies, while Mobileye announced that it would outfit the entire fleet of the winning city's public bus system with its Shield + driver-assistance safety technology.

Applicants from cities across the country were asked to include a range of innovations and data-driven platforms to anticipate and address community needs. Specifically, the USDOT is looking at how to integrate multiple innovations such as automated vehicles, the sharing economy, and other technologies into a network that connects people to their intelligent transportation system.

Five finalists will be announced at SXSW in Austin on 12 March. These finalists will each receive US$100,000 to hone their proposals and develop applications for the final selection process scheduled for June 2016. Vulcan will work with the USDOT to assist the five finalist cities with technical guidance and other support in keeping with its commitment to leverage technology, investments, and philanthropy to drive a low-carbon future.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Strong demand for TIGER grants
    May 16, 2014
    Applications to the US Department of Transportation for its sixth round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants totalled US$9.5 billion, 15 times the US$600 million set aside for the program, demonstrating the continued need for transportation investment nationwide, according to an announcement by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. The Department received 797 eligible applications, compared to 585 in 2013, from 49 states, US territories and the District of Columbia.
  • Four finalists for Detroit's Sustainable Cities Challenge
    June 25, 2025
    Ideas seek to improve efficiency of freight operations in Eastern Market area
  • USDOT announces additional funding for low and no-emission vehicles
    September 28, 2015
    The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced the availability of US$22.5 million through the latest round of the low or no emission vehicle deployment program (LoNo) that will help deploy the next generation of energy-efficient vehicles nationwide. The funds are intended to encourage adoption of green technologies in transit buses, such as hydrogen fuel cells and electric and hybrid engines. The program focuses on commercialising the cleanest and most energy-ef
  • Freight poses growing problem for city authorities
    March 3, 2017
    Wes Guckert considers possible solutions and countermeasures to the problems of increased freight deliveries in growing cities. In January 2016, the US Department of Transportation (USDoT) conducted a session on the SmartCity Challenge and Urban Freight and Logistics. This session was a follow-up to the USDoT report titled, Beyond Traffic 2045.