The White House on Monday unveiled a new $160 million “Smart Cities” initiative that will boost federal research and leverage more than 25 new technology collaborations to help local communities tackle important issues.

The initiative includes a project with Detroit and Wayne State University, and its projects include efforts to reduce traffic congestion, fight crime, foster economic growth, manage the effects of climate change and improve the delivery of city services.

The funding includes more than $35 million in new grants and more than $10 million to build a research infrastructure by the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The Detroit-Wayne State partnership is one of more than 20 in the MetroLab Network. Backed with a $1 million from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the MetroLab Network will leverage university expertise to address challenges facing cities and regions across the country. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and WSU President M. Roy Wilson were among the signers of a letter to President Barack Obama on the effort.

“The Network will provide a platform upon which established and emerging city-university relationships can share successful projects, coordinate multi-city, multi-university research efforts, and compete for research and project funding,” the White House said, including projects with Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Houston and Memphis.

Also announced is up to $42 million in connected vehicle pilot projects — including $20 million for the installation of technology in midtown Manhattan and $17 million to address congestion in downtown Tampa.

The technology — which involves cars repeatedly sending wireless signals to each other — could help alert cars if an oncoming vehicle is about to disregard a stop sign. The funding is aimed at eventually allowing vehicles to talk to one another and with surrounding infrastructure, such as stoplights.

The technology can detect threats from hundreds of yards away and tell drivers if they can pass safely or make a left turn. It also involves vehicles getting signals from infrastructure such as traffic signals and bridges.

“Today’s announcement is a big step forward for the future of how we move in this country, from our rural communities to our biggest cities,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “It has been a core mission of the Department to support promising new technologies, and through these types of smart investments we are opening the door to a safer and cleaner network and expanding how future generations travel.”

New York City will install vehicle-to-vehicle technology in cars that frequently travel in midtown Manhattan, and vehicle-to-infrastructure technology throughout midtown. This includes upgrading traffic signals with vehicle-to-infrastructure technology along avenues between 14th Street and 66th Street in Manhattan. This same technology will be installed in Brooklyn.

“Up to 10,000 cars, buses, and limousines will eventually be retrofitted with this innovative technology that may significantly reduce traffic congestion, lessen greenhouse gas emissions and make drivers and pedestrians safer on the roads,” the department said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said the technology could reduce vehicle crashes not involving alcohol by 80 percent, while also reducing the 4.8 billion hours that Americans spend in traffic annually.

In 2012, the Transportation Department tested connected vehicles’ potential in the largest real-world pilot of the technology to date, with more than 2,700 equipped vehicles operating on the streets of Ann Arbor.

The push comes as the Federal Communications Commission considers narrowing part of the wireless spectrum now reserved for cars to “talk” to each other; that would open up more bandwidth for wireless connectivity for electronic gadgets. Congressional leaders, auto and electronic industry officials are backing a plan for testing to see if the spectrum can be shared.

Advocates think the connected vehicle effort also could help make autonomous cars an eventual reality.

The bill would allow states to use existing highway funding to invest in projects such as monitors on bridges that communicate whether the roadway is icy, or sensors that warn of nearby emergency vehicles or work zones.

In May, Foxx said the government is speeding up efforts to get government rules in place that would require wireless vehicle-to-vehicle communication in future cars and trucks.

Under a tentative timetable laid out in 2014, automakers aren’t likely to be required to install the in-vehicle communication devices until around 2020 — and even then, they will be phased in.

Last year, General Motors said it would offer vehicle-to-vehicle technologies starting with the 2017 Cadillac CTS that will go on sale late next year.

Also Monday, the White House said the San Francisco region is forming a collaboration to enhance public safety in preparation for the next Super Bowl.

The San Francisco 49ers, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, city of Santa Clara, Santa Clara Police Department, Arini Geographics, and Allied Telesis are announcing a new collaboration to create a smarter Levi’s Stadium and easier public transit system in advance of Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, 2016.

By: DocMemory
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