Volpe’s Beyond Traffic Speaker Series Final Report
Volpe’s Beyond Traffic 2045: Reimagining Transportation speaker series brought together nine top thinkers in business, technology, and transportation to discuss their visions for a safe and efficient transportation future. The final report for this series is now live, with summary articles and links to highlight videos from each speaker.
Beyond Traffic 2045: Reimagining Transportation continued the national dialogue started by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx’s Beyond Traffic 2045: Trends and Choices draft report, which outlines the stark realities and tough choices facing the U.S. transportation system.
“One of the most exciting findings of Beyond Traffic is that emerging technologies can drastically improve how we travel and how we move our country,” Secretary Foxx said in introducing Volpe’s speaker series. “Of course, our infrastructure is aging and struggling to meet current demand. And in the next 30 years, our country will have 70 million more people competing for the use of our roads, transit and rail networks, and airports, putting even more pressure on an already constrained system.”
The U.S. must always have a safe, reliable transportation system that can compete globally, but that won’t be possible unless we answer some big questions, according to the report:
- How do we build and pay for infrastructure and capacity needs?
- How can we do a better job maintaining infrastructure?
- What strategies can we use to reduce emissions?
- How can technology enhance safety and efficiency?
- How do we ensure our transportation system connects people to economic opportunities?
Throughout Beyond Traffic 2045: Reimagining Transportation, the following experts explored the emerging technologies and disruptive innovations that can help answer those questions, and that will shape the next 30 years of U.S. transportation:
- Andrew McAfee, PhD – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Ken Gabriel, PhD – Draper
- Chris Urmson, PhD – Google
- Anthony Townsend, PhD – Rudin Center, New York University
- Harry Lightsey – General Motors
- Donald Fisher, PhD – Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center
- Edward Bolton – Federal Aviation Administration
- John Cavolowsky, PhD – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- John Heywood, PhD – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
