ITS JPO Takes Center Stage at ITS America Conference & Expo: A Message from ITS JPO Director Brian Cronin

The present and future of road-user safety were on full display April 23 – 25 as the annual ITS America Conference & Expo took over the Phoenix Convention Center in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Vendors, state and county departments of transportation, and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO) converged in the desert to share information, attend informational sessions, and plan for the future of roadway safety as supported by intelligent transportation systems (ITS).

A video of my fireside chat with Federal Transit Administration Acting Administrator Veronica Vanterpool and ITS America President and CEO Laura Chace during the April 25 plenary session is available to view here. I also had the opportunity to speak on ITS TV, my conversation can be found here: U.S. DOT Digital Infrastructure Developments (youtube.com).

The conference provided attendees with opportunities to network with other professionals, to share ideas and lessons learned, and to experience educational concepts with the potential to improve the road-user experience in our own communities. Over 375 attendees visited the USDOT booth to learn how USDOT is accelerating V2X deployments, supporting research and deployments, and providing numerous ITS resources for ITS practitioners. This year the USDOT had an expanded presence in the exhibit hall. The Phoenix Convention Center was a perfect venue for such an event, and I’d like to personally thank the City of Phoenix for being a great host city and the ITS America Conference & Expo organizers for their hard work in putting together an incredible week of activities.

Photo: USDOT

I’d also like to thank representatives from the following organizations who took time out of their busy conference schedules to sit down with USDOT and film interviews regarding their own vehicle-to-everything (V2X) deployment experiences: Arizona Commerce Authority, Brandmotion, Contra Costa Transportation Authority, Georgia Department of Transportation, HAAS Alert, Integral Blue, Kapsch TrafficCom USA Inc., NoTraffic, P3Mobility, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Utah Department of Transportation, and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

We are thrilled to have heard so many success stories regarding V2X deployments, and we look forward to sharing their stories with you soon.

The ITS JPO was delighted to host deployment demonstrations and office hours for the ITS4US deployment program. The four ITS4US deployment sites are the Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency in Dallas County, Iowa; the Georgia Department of Transportation in Gwinnett County, Georgia; the University of Washington with multiple sites in Oregon, Washington, and Maryland; and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority in Buffalo, New York.

The conference also served as the location of a FCC 2nd Report and Order listening session.  presented by ITS JPO Next Generation Wireless Transportation and Security Credential Management Systems (SCMS) program manager Justin Anderson. Questions from the 1st Report and Order and new topics related to LTE-V2X communications were discussed with USDOT presenting potential options for future discussions with the FCC. The industry stakeholders that participated provided excellent feedback and we will be conducting future listening sessions at the OmniAir Plugfest on May 14 and 16 and will be hosting a virtual listening in late May.  Please contact Justin (justin.anderson@dot.gov) if you are interested in participating in the future.

The ITS JPO was particularly excited to host over 75 attendees for a half-day foundational V2X training session through the ITS Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program. Managed by J.D. Schneeberger (john.schneeberger@dot.gov), the PCB Program is the USDOT’s primary initiative for educating current and future transportation workers about intelligent transportation technology. If you weren’t able to attend the April conference in Phoenix, I hope you will join us for a future training session as we are planning to take this show on the road!

Egan Smith, ITS JPO Managing Director, also hosted several group discussion sessions with transportation leaders to discuss the development of the next ITS JPO Strategic Plan. These sessions and participating in the ITS America Conference allows ITS JPO to exercise continued leadership in providing transportation technology solutions through effective communication and engagement.

For the full list of presentations, sessions, and committee meetings, please visit Intelligent Transportation Systems - Communications (dot.gov).

As ITS technology continues to evolve and V2X deployments continue to find success, the USDOT is working with industry and other stakeholders to continue adopting these technologies and strategies nationwide. Together, we can create a safer and more reliable transportation network for all road users.

Brian Cronin, Director, ITS JPO

Posted 5/6/24