USDOT releases FY 2022-2026 Research, Development and Technology Strategic Plan

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) released its Research, Development and Technology (RD&T) Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2022-2026. The new RD&T Plan continues the department’s leadership role in supporting, fostering, and safeguarding transportation innovation, so it meets strategic priorities and objections articulated in the U.S. DOT Strategic Plan. It is also a call for innovation, guided by the Innovation Principles the department rolled out in 2022.

“We recognize the work of research, development and technology deployment takes collaborative effort across the public, private, academic and non-profit sectors,” said U.S. DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and Chief Science Officer Dr. Robert C. Hampshire. “In this time of rapid change and experimentation, research must drive the learning necessary for the public sector to keep pace with technological advancement and to adapt to evolving socio-economic needs. By providing a vision for a future transportation system made possible by research, we seek to foster collaborative innovation to create a better transportation future for all.”

The RD&T Strategic Plan supports U.S. DOT’s mission to deliver the world’s leading transportation system, serving the American people and economy through the safe, efficient, sustainable and equitable movement of people and goods. The plan provides a long-term vision for how research and technology deployment can help transform the U.S. transportation system while guiding transportation research, development and technology deployment activities over the next five years.

This RD&T Strategic Plan will also guide the more than $5 billion in research activities funded through the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which created new programs to drive innovation, create jobs and support the deployment of transformative technologies, including:

• Providing $500 million in funding to the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation Program to kickstart a new generation of smart city innovation.
• Investing in University Transportation Centers that work on climate, equity, and innovation, including at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other minority serving institutions.
• Establishing an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Infrastructure to scale up research and development efforts to keep pace with and to drive innovation.
• Authorizing $50 million per year in funding to establish a new Open Research Initiative to accelerate the achievement of the department’s priorities and goals by funding unsolicited research proposals that yield disruptive technologies with high-impact potential.

To read the full FY22-26 RD&T Strategic Plan, click here.