• What are the benefits of automation?

Automated vehicles offer several potential benefits to our nation’s surface transportation system, including:

• Reducing the number of crashes caused by drivers or other conditions (e.g., weather and roadway conditions)
• Reducing aggressive driving
• Reducing travel time and improving travel time reliability
• Expanding the reach of transportation modes to underserved users, as well as providing "first mile, last mile" connectivity service for all users
• Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of existing transportation systems.

• What will automation efforts look like for the ITS JPO?

Responding effectively to automation requires a cross-modal effort, as the expertise on various aspects of automation resides in many parts of the U.S. DOT. Cross-cutting tools—such as evaluation methods, data access and exchanges, and development of other decision-making tools—support these three areas.

• How does the ITS JPO plan to advance automation?

The ITS JPO will advance automation by:

• Making human factors research results on interactions between users and automated technologies publicly available to deployers and policymakers
• Identifying, researching, and documenting needs related to infrastructure readiness to support automated vehicle testing, deployment, and integration for knowledge transfer
• Effectively documenting and communicating the safety implications of truck platooning through testing and real-world assessment
• Identifying and documenting new roles for automation technology to address transportation challenges in accessibility, mobility, and availability of transportation (for instance, in underserved communities)
• Using real-world demonstrations of cooperative automation to illustrate system performance benefits and spur public- and private-sector long-term investment, adoption, and use of these technologies