Skip to main content

USDOT releases plans for the future of ITS

The USDOT has released a new plan for ITS research and priorities for the second half of the decade. The new ITS Strategic Plan 2015-2019 outlines the direction and goals of the Department’s ITS Program and provides a framework around which the ITS Joint Program Office and other Department agencies will conduct research, development, and adoption activities to achieve them. The ITS Strategic Plan’s framework is built around two key ITS Program priorities, realising connected vehicle implementation and a
December 16, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The USDOT has released a new plan for ITS research and priorities for the second half of the decade. The new ITS Strategic Plan 2015-2019 outlines the direction and goals of the Department’s ITS Program and provides a framework around which the ITS Joint Program Office and other Department agencies will conduct research, development, and adoption activities to achieve them.

The ITS Strategic Plan’s framework is built around two key ITS Program priorities, realising connected vehicle implementation and advancing automation.

Realising connected vehicle implementation builds on the substantial progress made in recent years around design, testing, and planning for deployment of connected vehicles across the nation.

Advancing automation shapes the ITS Program around the research, development, and adoption of automation-related technologies as they emerge.

The priorities reflect stakeholder feedback on the need for the ITS Program not only to conduct research, but also to help with deployment and implementation of specific technologies related to connected vehicles and automation. The priorities indicate where the bulk of transportation research and innovation is heading. They are not exclusive of other technologies or research areas.

In addition, the ITS Strategic Plan includes program categories to provide the necessary structure for research, development, and adoption of ITS technologies. These include: Connected vehicles; Automation; Emerging capabilities; Enterprise data; Interoperability; and Accelerating deployment.

The ITS Strategic Plan was developed with significant stakeholder input from all relevant parties, both within and external to the Department. Close collaboration with all surface transportation modes (highways, rail, transit, motor carriers) and other agencies within the USDOT, such as the 834 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, helped shape the direction of the plan.

Related Content

  • USDOT seeks applications for new FASTLANE grant program
    February 29, 2016
    The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) is soliciting applications for the Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) grant program, a new program in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to fund critical freight and highway projects across the country. The FAST Act authorises US$800 million in funding for the FASTLANE program for fiscal year 2016, with 25 per cent reserved for rural projects, and 10 per cent
  • Does enforcement merit a place in the EU's ITS action Plan?
    February 3, 2012
    Colin Wilson, IBI Group, looks at the implications for enforcement of the European Commission's new Action Plan for the Deployment of ITS in Europe
  • US economic stimulus package highlights ITS technology
    July 17, 2012
    US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood talks to ITS International about economic stimulus funding and the absolute need to maintain and increase the use of technology in transportation. Of the total of $787 billion of funding announced under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the economic stimulus package which was signed into law by US President Barack Obama on 17 February 2009, $48.1 billion will go to the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). Of that, $27.5 billion is for highway in
  • Remote remedies help US authorities identify bridge deficiencies
    September 6, 2017
    Every day 185 million vehicles – cars, trucks, school buses, emergency response units - cross one or more of America’s 55,710 'structurally compromised' steel and concrete road bridges, the highest concentration of which are in Iowa (nearly 5,000), Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Nearly 2,000 of these crossings are located on interstate highways, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's recent analysis of the US Department of Transportation's 2016 National Bridge Inventory.