DOT, Mobileye to Equip Smart City Challenge Winner
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Jan. 7, announced the latest partnership in the Smart City Challenge; the winning city's public bus system will receive the installation of Mobileye's Shield +TM technology on every bus. This is in addition to U.S. DOT's award of up to $40 million and an award of up to $10 million from the Challenge’s launch partner, Vulcan Philanthropy.
Mobileye’s Shield +TM driver assistance safety technology is designed to enable bus drivers in the selected city to avoid and mitigate imminent collisions and protect road users including cyclists, pedestrians, and motorcyclists. The winning city will need to work with Mobileye to secure this technology contribution. Once installed, the technology is designed to generate continuous, real-time data delivery, which will empower the winning city to make improvements to the safety and efficiency of its public bus system.
The announcement of this collaboration follows the December launch of DOT’s Smart City Challenge, a competition that will support the creation of a fully integrated, first-of-its-kind city that uses data, technology and creativity to shape how people and goods move in the future. The challenge is a collaborative partnership that aims to implement bold, data-driven ideas to make transportation safer, easier, and more reliable.
“Our department’s partnership with Mobileye significantly strengthens this Challenge, devoting additional resources to the winning city so it can further develop its own unique vision of what a fully integrated, forward-looking transportation network looks like,” said Foxx. “The funding and technology contributed by our private sector partners will assist the selected city in using data-driven information to make their transportation systems safer and more efficient and prepare for the future of transportation.”
During this Smart City Challenge, applicants are invited to submit ideas – designed to address or enhance community needs – across a range of innovation and data-driven platforms. Critical system improvements that increase safety, reduce carbon emissions, and enhance mobility are especially encouraged for review. Specifically, these innovations will connect people, vehicles, public transportation, and infrastructure through ITS, the sharing economy, and other technologies that improve the way Americans move, whether it be to drop off kids at school, pick up groceries, get to work, or receive critical services.
The Smart City Challenge builds on DOT’s Beyond Traffic draft report issued in February. Beyond Traffic reveals that our nation’s aging infrastructure is not equipped to deal with a dramatically growing population in new regions throughout the country and highlights the need for increased mobility options in developing megaregions. This public-private collaboration represents the DOT belief that creativity and innovation will be absolutely essential for meeting the significant transportation challenges of the future. Lessons learned from this competition will be used in other cities to improve networks nationwide and demonstrate a practical path to replacing carbon-based fuel consumption.
“Affecting transformative change in America’s transportation infrastructure is going to require innovative thinking and strong support from both the government and the private sector,” said Mobileye Co-Founder, CTO and Chairman Professor Amnon Shashua. “Secretary Foxx is leading the way in transforming government by embracing innovation and technology. We are excited to be working alongside the U.S. Department of Transportation on this Challenge, which motivates American cities and communities to embrace forward-looking solutions to transportation challenges they will be grappling with in the coming decades.”
The first round of applications is due Feb. 4. U.S. DOT will then announce five finalists in March, who will then compete for up to $40 million to be awarded to one city in June.
