Feds award $65M for advanced technology, driverless cars

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded nearly $65 million in grants to help communities around the country deploy advanced transportation technologies, including projects focused on self-driving cars.

{mosads}Thursday’s announcement comes as the administration continues its push to bring automated vehicles to U.S. roads in an effort to improve safety, enhance mobility, and reduce traffic and fuel use.

The DOT issued its first-ever federal guidelines for driverless cars and is expected to issue a rule by the end of this year requiring all new cars to have vehicle-to-vehicle communication.

“From automated vehicles to connected infrastructure to data analytics, technology is transforming how we move around our country, and some of the most exciting innovation is happening at the local level,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

“These grants will enable cities and rural communities to harness new technologies to tackle hard problems like reducing congestion, connecting people to mass transit, and enhancing safety.”

The grants are being provided through two different DOT initiatives. The “advanced transportation and congestion management technologies deployment” program doles out grants designed to help communities improve mobility and access to opportunity through advanced technology, while the “mobility on demand” sandbox program supports transit agencies using new mobility tools like smartphone apps and ride-sharing services.

Some of the grants include $11 million for Pittsburgh to install smart traffic-signal technology along major travel corridors; $6 million for Denver to use connected vehicles to alleviate congestion; and $1.2 million for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit to integrate ride-sharing services into its ticketing app.