Category Archives: Mobility

Mobility refers to land use as it concerns mobility, all transportation modes including roads, aviation, public transit, pedestrian programs, bicycle programs, ground transportation, taxicab regulation, Lone Star Rail, core transit corridors, and related matters.

#DOTSmartCity update for April 5

Ce-oRgkUMAAS4I-With Mayor Adler and Austin transportation officials in DC today in connection with the city’s bid as a finalist for the DOT’s Smart City Challenge, we wanted you to get a quick rundown on the latest coverage of this topic.

“What the Smart City Challenge Means for Austin now and Long-Term”
by Matt Glazer, executive director of the Austin Young Chamber of Commerce
https://www.austinyc.org/smart-city-challenge-means-austin-now-long-term/

When fully implemented, these technological advancements would provide greater opportunities that are now limited by access to having a working car—not to mention the time to navigate our clogged roads. But here’s the best part, and I was pretty excited to hear this myself: Austin is already doing all these things.

In some form, every one of those transportation transformations is already underway in Austin. The City of Austin just partnered with the University of Texas at Austin on a big data project. Google is testing driverless cars in our neighborhoods, and General Motors and Lyft are exploring driverless ridesharing. And the City’s transportation department has been working towards linking all mobility options to Park & Ride centers.

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ICYMI: #DOTSmartCity Austin update

SmartCityChallengeFinalistsMap_0Mayor Adler is barnstorming across the country in support of Austin’s bid for the Department of Transportation’s $50-million Smarty City Challenge. This week, he flew to the World Economic Forum’s urban mobility conference in San Diego, and next week he and a delegation from the City of Austin’s Transportation Department will be in Washington, DC for a series of high-level meetings related to the Smart City Challenge.

In DC, Mayor Adler has meetings scheduled with the congressional delegation, Sen. John Cornyn, the White House, representatives of Daimler North America Corp., General Motors, Ford, Continental Automotive Systems, Leidos, NXP, Amazon Web Services, the Intelligent Car Coalition, and AAA.

Press roundup:

On Tuesday, Mayor Adler discussed Austin’s Smart City bid with newmayor energy business leaders at the energy summit. Michael Theis of the Austin Business Journal (who also took the photograph to the right) was there to record the Mayor making a bold promise: Win or lose, we’re going to do this.

Whether Austin wins the Smart City grant competition or not, Adler also said city leaders were committed to incorporating “intelligent transportation systems” — the term the federal Department of Transportation uses to describe the next-gen technologies that are the focus of the Smart City Challenge — into the city’s transportation infrastructure. …

“The challenge has been great. It served to catalyze the business community,” Adler told me after his speech. “Regardless, it is still something that we need to do in this city. We have to be smarter.”

Here’s KXAN’s story about the Mayor’s remarks. (Fun fact: That’s Theis in the baseball cap.)

Driverless shuttles coming to airport?

KEYE gave some airtime to one of the pilot programs in Austin’s Smart City application: driverless shuttle buses at the airport.

 

Mayor Adler going to DC to pursue Smart City Challenge

Mayor Steve Adler will be in Washington, DC on Monday and Tuesday of next week to continue preparations for Austin’s final submission to the Department of Transportation Beyond Traffic: Smart City Challenge. The announcement of Austin’s inclusion as a finalist for the Smart City Challenge during the South by Southwest festival has energized our community, and Mayor Adler is seeking to capitalize on the momentum to realize the opportunity to become the city that shows the rest of the country how to use technology to make mobility safer, cheaper, cleaner and more effective for everyone.

“The Smart City Challenge is a rare opportunity to foster innovation where we need it most in the city that does it best,” said Mayor Adler. “No city is better suited to realize the potential of the Smart City Challenge, and no city needs the technology solutions more.” Continue reading →