ITS in Academics

ITS University Workshop #4
September 22-23, 2016 | ITS America Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Day 1 Presentation | September 22, 2016

(One) Federal Perspective on the ITS Workforce

Presenter: Alex Schroeder
Presenter's Org: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT)

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Slide 1: (One) Federal Perspective on the ITS Workforce

2016 ITS University Workshop

Alex Schroeder
Senior advisor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
U.S. Department of Transportation (on detail from US DOE/NREL)

Slide 2: Increasingly Complex and Intertwined Transportation Challenges

Safety
- 33,561 highway deaths in 2012
- 5,615,000 crashes in 2012
- Leading cause of death for ages 4, 11-27
Mobility
- 5.5 billion hours of travel delay
- $121 billion cost of urban congestion
Environment
- 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel
- 56 billion lbs. of additional CO₂

[This slide contains a column of three simple graphics, a column of three photographs, and another graphic. The simple graphics are, from top to bottom, a sign for a speed limit of 35 miles per hour, a two lane road with a directional arrow, and a car next to a recycling symbol. The photographs, from top to bottom, are of two cars that have been in a collision, an aerial view of heavy highway traffic, and a ground-level view of road traffic and exhaust from cars. The graphic at the right shows DOT at the top and DOE at the bottom with a bi-directional arrow between the two.]

Slide 3: Mobility - New mobility paradigm can have a range of impacts

Potential Energy Implications of Connected and Automated Vehicles

[This slide contains two images: (1) a clipart image of a two-lane road with a directional arrow and (2) a thick horizontal line divided into two sections by a dotted vertical line: the section on the left is labeled “Potential Decrease in Energy Consumption” with the text “-90%” next to it. On the right, the line is labeled “2050 Baseline Energy Consumption.” The section of the bar to the right is labeled “Potential Increase in Energy Consumption” and the text “+200%” is to the right of it.]

Slide 4: Emerging Transportation System Frameworks | Energy Efficient Mobility Systems (US DOE)

Today:

Vehicle level focus
Independent
Unconnected
Subject to behaviors & decisions

Tomorrow:

System level focus
Connected
Automated
In concert
Across modes
Managed behaviors & decisions

[This slide contains an image of several multi-level highways crisscrossing one another in an urban environment. The image is encircled by five segments. Clockwise from the top, they’re labeled “Connectivity & Automation,” “Urban Science,” “Behavior & Decision Science,” “Vehicles & Infrastructure,” and “Multi-modal.”]

Slide 5: Emerging Transportation System Frameworks | Beyond Traffic (US DOT)

Connected Vehicles
Vehicle Automation

→

Connected-Automated Vehicles
↓

→

Benefits

Order of magnitude safety improvements
Reduced congestion
Reduced emissions and use of fossil fuels
Improved access to jobs and services
Reduced transportation costs for gov’t and users
Improved accessibility and mobility

Internet of Things
Machine Learning
Big Data
Mobility on Demand

→

Smart Cities

[This slide contains three images: (1) an aerial view of cars travelling through an intersection, each surrounded by concentric circles to indicate that they are connected, (2) a computer-generated image displaying the signals being sent car to car in an intersection, and (3) a slow exposure image of a highway showing streams of light and streams of digital data. The top two images are labeled “Connected-Automated Vehicles” and are connected with an arrow pointing to the one below, which is labeled “Smart Cities.”]

Slide 6: US DOT Smart City Challenge

[This slide contains a chart categorizing elements of the U.S. DOT Smart City Challenge. There are three main categories: Technology Elements (highest priority), Innovative Approaches to Urban Transportation Elements (high priority), and Smart City Elements (priority). There are several subcategories to each main category.]

Slide 7: Potential Implications for the ITS Workforce

Technology is moving rapidly and barriers to entry are greatly reduced in some areas; government and academic institutions need to keep up
Interdisciplinary learning and research is becoming increasingly important
- Increased need for cross-disciplinary/agency teams and skill sets
- Chief innovation officer roles/embedded technologists can add capacity and provide for enhanced learning opportunities by all parties.
Increasingly complex systems require new approaches such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and enhanced approaches to data management and collection. These new approaches also require novel social and ethical considerations
Cybersecurity is a common theme in nearly all disciplines
Innovation is more than technology—it’s also culture, process, and a practiced skill. We need to teach people these things so that they bring them to the workforce.

Slide 8: Questions/Discussion

Alex Schroeder
alex.schroeder@dot.gov
202-366-9987

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