Following his remarks on the future of transportation during the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh last week, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx sat in a conference room on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University. Around the corner from his location, ride-hailing company Uber picked up passengers in an autonomous vehicle. Down the road, dozens of traffic lights that incorporate artificial intelligence and real-time sensor data provided smoother traffic flow for motorists and trimmed their travel times by nearly a third.
In Pittsburgh and elsewhere, the transportation future that Foxx had just finished describing is playing out very much in real time. Technology advances, in some cases, have made developments including autonomous driving possible. But in other areas, that transportation future is occurring now because of unconventional policies promoted by Foxx and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Car and Driver caught up with Foxx in Pittsburgh. The DOT chief, previously mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, reflected on the promise of autonomous and connected cars, the recent Smart City Challenge, the massive increase in traffic deaths, the potential of the shared vehicles unfolding right outside the window, and more. What follows is a transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for grammar and brevity.
Car and Driver: You announced two new grant programs this morning that focus on advanced transportation and mobility technology. Are these a...