Trends
Massachusetts is showing the way by going to the end users of the products and services governments buy. It’s good for suppliers as well, and produces better results for everyone.
Four regional groups have supported the construction of a $10 billion high-speed magnetic levitation train to Washington, D.C. Officials hope it will offer “opportunity to change the county and Northeast Corridor in a fundamental way.”
Four pilot projects in the Los Angeles region have been awarded $500,000 to grow zero-emission transportation efforts. Part of their focus will be connecting underserved communities to new travel opportunities.
The lack of technological awareness is becoming more difficult to work around as Congress is confronting the complexities of cryptocurrencies, facial recognition and digital privacy on an almost daily basis. It’s time for Congress to shake the dust off and catch up.
Companies like Facebook and Google have ushered in change — much of it positive — for individuals, communities and governments. But we still have a responsibility to ask whether they're serving the public interest.
As Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, continues to grow, transportation technology upgrades are inevitable and exciting. But officials don’t yet know which will solve the issues, so “they’re making plans for all of them.”
Colorado and California are already using technology that converts renewable energy into storable gas, and Maine hopes to be next. The technology could save Maine 75,000 megawatt hours of renewable power each year.
New technologies are poised to automate everything from infrastructure to traditionally human jobs, and some fear a coming robot takeover. But the real problem is it isn't happening fast enough.
Ford, Volkswagen, Honda and BMW all decided to follow California’s strict emission regulations, despite Trump’s proposed cutbacks. It's hard to match products to regulations that depend “on who’s in power.”
Cities are beginning to worry that a susceptibility to climate change could reduce the chance that partners will invest in them. No financial support means no funds for the infrastructure to protect against the climate.
Virgin Hyperloop, the Los-Angeles-based company, is looking for new locations to establish testing centers. West Virginia hopes to eventually be part of the high-speed travel technology phenomenon.
The state’s gas tax is becoming obsolete as more drivers are opting for electric vehicles, which don’t require gas. Oregon now is mixing incentives and higher registration fees to try to make up the money.
At an Arizona symposium earlier this month, stakeholders discussed what an autonomous vehicle future will look like. A big concern was liability, but others feared that regulations will limit the field’s innovation.
Two advocates of driverless vehicles have argued that Florida has a perfect combination for autonomous vehicles and they predict that 10 to 15 percent of vehicles could be self-driving by 2040.
Qualcomm joins the 5G race and is optimistic about its $65 billion serviceable market. The San Diego phone company then went even further to predict that by 2021, 5G smartphone sales will increase to 450 million.
The state’s new voting system encountered 45 issues in six counties during the November election. But officials are optimistic as “problems are mainly human-based” and can be trained away before March’s presidential election.
Connecticut wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and one way it’s tackling that is to introduce more electric vehicles. As long as coal and oil are still powering EV chargers, the state may miss its mark.
