The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) intends to award a total of $2.4 million in contracts to 12 American small businesses from across the country to leverage advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve transportation.
With funding from the USDOT Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, the Complete Streets AI Initiative is a multi-phase effort to develop robust new decision support tools for state, local, and Tribal transportation agencies that assist in the siting, design, and deployment of Complete Streets, which are streets and networks that prioritize safety, comfort, and connectivity to destinations for all people who use them.
"Innovation in the AI and transportation sector is happening at unprecedented speed, and the Biden-Harris Administration is dedicated to responsibly using this emerging technology to address some of our most pressing transportation challenges," said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "The funding we're announcing today supports our country's small businesses and startups so they can harness cutting-edge advancements, deploy them in local communities, and make our streets safer."
Basic data about parts of the transportation network like roadway assets (such as bike lanes and sidewalks) and traveler volumes (such as counts of pedestrians and bicyclists) are often incomplete or unavailable. These projects will demonstrate the potential of novel, AI-based data generation and processing methods to produce useful content to assist state, local, and tribal transportation agencies in developing Complete Streets. Phase I awards will serve as proof-of-concept projects utilizing multiple data sources and tools with the potential to be further tested and deployed in follow-on Phases.
"Complete Streets are easier to plan with more complete data. This is a bold effort to build out that data along with the technology platforms that make it easy to use," said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and Chief Science Officer Dr. Robert C. Hampshire.
The 12 Phase I contracts of $200,000 each will be awarded to a diverse set of companies from coast to coast.
The SBIR program, administered for the Department by the Volpe Center in Cambridge, MA supports investments in all modes of transportation that improve the safety, sustainability, and resilience of the Nation’s transportation assets, and provides opportunities for small businesses to explore innovative technologies.
