Wanted: Data Scientists. Apply to: US DOT. When: ASAP
Burney Simpson
The US Department of Transportation yesterday drew several hundred city executives to a forum to discuss its $50 million Smart City Challenge that asks cities to use advanced data, technologies like connected vehicles and infrastructure, and other applications to reduce congestion, increase safety, reduce emissions, and build business.
(Get more details on the challenge here; an automatic download of a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) document is available.)
The Smart City Forum was a combination educational event and booster affair, with the usual talk of requiring bold visions and transformative solutions from millennial entrepreneurs who can build holistic paradigms across silos.
DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx spoke briefly, saying the Challenge should get cities thinking how to use technology to safely move more people in tighter spaces while maximizing quality of life.
“The transportation community – we get a tunnel vision. (The Challenge) is transportation showing how it plays a role in the life of a community,” said Foxx. “This is how you make transportation punch above its weight.”
DATA SCIENTISTS
There were five break-out sessions to address issues like freight, mobility, and Washington’s role in smart city design.
One vital need is finding a way to gather, securely store, and analyze the massive amounts of data generated from the 10-times-a-second messages coming from connected vehicles and road infrastructure.
This is the data that must be analyzed to figure out how to move more people in those tight spaces, and many local and state DOTs don’t have them on staff.
Cut to the chase — “How do we get data scientists into the transportation business?” asked Brian Cronin, team lead in the DOT’s Intelligent Transportation System office of research and demonstration, during a breakout session.
There was no immediate answer at the Forum but at least the problem was acknowledged.
The initial deadline for Challenge applications is February 4, 2016. The DOT will announce five finalists in March 2016, and the winner will be named in June.
The winning city will receive $40 million from the DOT and $10 million from the $2 billion privately-held Vulcan Inc., which seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions. (“The $50 Million Driverless City Challenge”).
Foxx’s DOT has become a force for connected technology, assuring funding for projects in the recently-passed $305 billion transportation bill, launching its Connected Vehicle Pilot Deployment Program, speeding up soon-to-be-released guidance and rules on V2I and V2V, and launching the Challenge which could “generate press and attention,” noted Mark Dowd, the DOT’s deputy assistant secretary, office of research and technology.
