USDOT awards grants for ADS demo projects

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) last week announced nearly $60 million in grants would be awarded to eight projects in seven states to test automated driving systems (ADS) on the nation's roadways.

The grants are aimed at projects that will generate safety data that will be used to inform rulemaking and foster collaboration among state and local governments and private partners, USDOT officials said in a press release.

“The department is awarding $60 million in grant funding to test the safe integration of automated vehicles into America’s transportation system while ensuring that legitimate concerns about safety, security and privacy are addressed,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

Among the recipients is the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) Transportation Institute, which will receive $7.5 million in funding for a project that will develop and demonstrate a fleet concept of operations to provide the trucking industry with guidelines on how to safety implement and benefit from ADS-equipped trucks.

The largest grant award — $8.4 million — went to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for a project that will explore safe integration of ADS into work zones by examining connectivity, visibility and high-definition mapping technologies.