USDoT awards $60m funding for ADS systems testing

The US Department of Transportation (DoT) is to provide nearly $60 million in funding for eight projects to test the safe integration of autonomous driving systems (ADS). US secretary of transportation Elaine Chao says: “The Department is awarding $60 million in grant funding to test the safe integration of automated vehicles into America’s transportation system while ensuring that legitimate concerns about safety, security, and privacy are addressed.” The USDoT is delivering the funding via the Autom
September 20, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

The 324 US Department of Transportation (DoT) is to provide nearly $60 million in funding for eight projects to test the safe integration of autonomous driving systems (ADS).

US secretary of transportation Elaine Chao says: “The Department is awarding $60 million in grant funding to test the safe integration of automated vehicles into America’s transportation system while ensuring that legitimate concerns about safety, security, and privacy are addressed.”

The USDoT is delivering the funding via the Automated Driving System Demonstration grant programme, which supports projects that encourage collaboration on ADS.

The biggest grant - $8.4m - will be awarded to Pennsylvania DoT to explore the safe integration of ADS into work zones by examining connectivity, visibility and high-definition mapping technologies.

The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station will receive $7m to develop and test ADS for rural roads without high-definition maps and with no or low-quality road signs or markings.

The University of Iowa is to use $7m to carry out a project that gathers and generates publicly-available data on rural roads to help safely integrate ADS into US roadways.

Meanwhile. the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (5593 Virginia Tech) Transportation Institute will be awarded to $7.5m to develop and demonstrate potential solutions for safe interaction of ADS-equipped vehicles in a corridor optimised for autonomous vehicles. A second grant of the same amount will be used to provide guidelines on how to implement ADS-equipped trucks.

Elsewhere in the US, Ohio DoT will be allocated $7.5m to conduct a demonstration focused on rural environments, cooperative automation and data collection to enable the development of ADS policies.

In California, the USDoT is to pledge $7.5m to the 7945 Contra Costa Transportation Authority in a project to demonstrate 567 SAE Level 3 and 4 vehicles using on-demand wheelchair accessible ADS-equipped vehicles.

Pennsylvania DoT is to utilise nearly $8.5m to explore the safe integration of ADS into workzones by examining connectivity, visibility and high-definition mapping technologies.

In Michigan, the city of Detroit has secured $7.5m to implement a software platform in a demonstration focused on mobility and safety.

Related Content

  • ITS America responds to FCC NPRM for spectrum sharing
    February 21, 2013
    Following the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking to open up additional spectrum for unlicenced wi-fi devices within the 5.9 GHz band which serves as the platform for connected vehicle technology, Scott Belcher, President and CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), issued the following statement today: “ITS America supports the need to explore spectrum sharing in the 5 GHz band and appreciates the chairman’s commitment to a pr
    Read More
  • Autonomous cars just years from reality says Verizon CEO
    September 10, 2014
    The technology exists to make self-driving cars an emerging reality in the next three to five years - if the country will build the infrastructure and the government will issue the necessary rules, the CEO of wireless communications company Verizon told the Detroit Economic Club on Monday. His comments, reported by the Detroit News, came the day after the announcement that Michigan will install cameras and sensors along 120 miles of Detroit freeways to connect cars wirelessly to highways and each other.
    Read More
  • Smoother running on Florida’s I-4
    March 11, 2025
    The Sunshine State is pioneering new implementations of V2X tech designed to smooth traffic flows and save lives. Andrew Stone shares the story so far…
    Read More
  • Texas moves to prevent wrong-way drivers
    May 30, 2014
    A study has shown the extent and ramifications of wrong way driving and proposed cost-effective countermeasures. Wrong way driving collisions occur relatively infrequently but the results can be devastating. Statistics from the US National Transportation Safety Board, an independent, federal all-modes agency, reveal that wrong way (WW) driving, account for only about 3% of accidents on high-speed divided highways but are much more likely to result in fatal and serious injuries.
    Read More

Highlighted Content