Skip to main content

San Diego and US Marine Corps partner on smart city development

The City of San Diego has partnered with the US Marines to develop smart cities technologies such as drones - or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) - and smart streetlights. The Californian city’s authorities will meet with the Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM) regularly to exchange technology ideas, review the status of ongoing projects and identify new areas of collaboration. The partners say they will also utilise working groups to review issues and develop actions plans relating to mobility,
March 11, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

The City of San Diego has partnered with the US Marines to develop smart cities technologies such as drones - or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) - and smart streetlights.

The Californian city’s authorities will meet with the Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM) regularly to exchange technology ideas, review the status of ongoing projects and identify new areas of collaboration. The partners say they will also utilise working groups to review issues and develop actions plans relating to mobility, security and public works.

San Diego wants to include the Marines in a pilot programme to advance the testing of UAS for the 324 US Department of Transportation.

Additionally, the partners will collaborate on the city’s ‘Get it Done’ app, which allows users to report problems and request improvements for neighbourhoods. It uses GPS information embedded within photos to automatically update addresses and locations.

According to the city’s government, San Diego has 3,200 smart streetlights which come with smart sensors that reduce energy costs by 60%.

In 2018, San Diego was chosen to participate in the Federal Aviation Administration’s UAS programme to test a range of advanced drone missions over the next few years.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Creative finance enables parking progress in LA
    March 15, 2016
    David Crawford investigates an innovative public/private partnership. Los Angeles entered the second decade of the 21st century facing major challenges to its parking operations. With a population of 3.8 million, and its car-oriented culture still predominant, the city's parking meters were technically outdated - with most only accepting coins and many regularly out of service - resulting in a substantial loss of revenue. This coincided with a number of Californian cities looking to parking income to boost
  • US enforcement regulation to deliver clearer guidelines?
    February 2, 2012
    Jim Tuton of American Traffic Solutions looks at the evolution of automated enforcement in North America "Technological regulation will become more sophisticated at the federal level, giving states clearer guidelines" Jim Tuton In just 20 years, photo enforcement in North America has grown from a single speed camera in a small town in Arizona to thousands of photo traffic enforcement cameras which are now operating in 350 communities spread across 27 states and three Canadian provinces. Most of these p
  • Volocopter completes first Saudi eVTOL flight
    June 30, 2023
    Urban air mobility firm is collaborating with Neom smart city development in Saudi Arabia
  • 5G or not 5G?
    April 16, 2019
    Just a few years ago, there was only one solution in terms of communications protocols for delivering vehicle connectivity. Now, road operators and vehicle manufacturers face choices – including a moral choice, perhaps. Jason Barnes looks at the current state of play There is a debate raging in the ITS world over future communications protocols. Asfinag, Austria’s national strategic road operator, has announced it will from 2020 be using ITS-G5 to support cooperative ITS (C-ITS) applications (‘First thin