America needs transportation technologies that decrease the long-term costs of transportation infrastructure, increase system safety, enhance infrastructure resilience, and make America more globally competitive. Adapting the successful innovation model pioneered by DARPA and ARPA-E, in 2023 U.S. DOT launched the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Infrastructure (ARPA-I) to fund the development of high-risk, high-reward, next-generation transportation technologies that will maintain America's position as a global leader in the sector.

ARPA-I's partnership with the U.S. DOT Volpe Center has helped the agency to gain early traction in its fast-paced mission. The U.S. DOT Volpe Center's federal status, innovative culture, multidisciplinary expertise, and established partnerships across U.S. DOT and the broader transportation enterprise compliment the ARPA-I model. Over the course of the past year, a U.S. DOT Volpe Center team has provided critical support, and operational planning, while assisting in various aspects of ARPA-I's project and program development.

As an integral part of the team, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center has supported ARPA-I's preliminary strategic thrusts.

Open and Exploratory

In August 2025, ARPA-I launched a new Ideas Challenge, the agency's open call to American innovators across the public and private sectors to help transform the future of transportation. The Challenge provided an opportunity for individuals and entities to submit breakthrough ideas and innovative concepts that will improve safety, lower costs, and enhance America’s infrastructure. Winning teams are eligible for cash prizes awarded at a maximum of $1 million. The ARPA-I Ideas Challenge Stage 2 kicked off in February 2026, with U.S. DOT announcing the Final Four teams in May 2026. The 2026 Ideas Challenge Finals Event is slated for September 2026, where the Final Four will pitch their concepts to an esteemed panel of U.S. DOT leadership and invited guest judges, and where the final winners and prizes will be announced. The U.S. DOT Volpe Center team continues to provide substantial support to the Ideas Challenge.

"From the Wright Brothers to the Apollo missions, America invented transportation innovation…Our new Ideas Challenge will continue that proud tradition and support the development of new 21st century technologies to launch us forward. Start your imagination engines!"

Sean P. Duffy
U.S. Transportation Secretary

The U.S. DOT Volpe Center dedicated substantial resources to help develop and implement Stage 1 of the Ideas Challenge in the span of two months, from start to finish. This includes support to develop the Ideas Challenge solicitation, conduct a webinar, coordinate the Challenge website and online resources, develop and guide the review process, and plan the awards event. The review process involved reviewing nearly 450 submissions from across all transportation modes and with technologies as varied as AI, advanced air mobility, robotics, quantum computing, and more. The review process involved staff from all Operating Administrations and resulted in a final list of 15 prize winners being invited to an in-person event with the Secretary of Transportation at U.S. DOT Headquarters. The Volpe Center team was deeply involved in all aspects of the Ideas Challenge. The Ideas Challenge provides ARPA-I and the Department with a concrete vision of what innovation in transportation can look like, and the Volpe Center team was instrumental in making it happen.

Knowledge

In a first of its kind partnership with MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Utah DOT, Colorado DOT, the Denver Regional Council of Governments, and U.S. DOT's Volpe Center, ARPA-I's Infrastructure Systems Insights through Geospatial-sensing for Holistic Transportation Solutions (INSIGHTS) project is exploring the use of advanced aerial LiDAR (light detection and ranging) to build digital models (“digital twins”) of transportation infrastructure, and create new tools to both better understand asset conditions and address challenges like the potential for rockslides and wildfires. The Volpe Center team facilitates the work with MIT Lincoln Laboratory, evaluates the data products, and maximizes utility of the INSIGHTS data for public agencies.

Construction

The ARPA-I eXceptional Bridges through Innovative Design and Groundbreaking Engineering (X-BRIDGE) program is focused on creating transformative materials, designs, and construction techniques that can deliver bridges at half the cost, in half the time, and with twice the lifespan. Through a cooperative agreement between ARPA-I and the University of Maine, this first project under the X-BRIDGE program will develop and integrate new advanced composite materials into bridge construction and accelerate bridge design and optimization through AI-assisted system engineering tools. The Volpe Center team supports X-BRIDGE by providing subject matter expertise and overall programmatic support.

Optimization

By applying optimization techniques to high-definition mapping for both passenger and freight transportation, ARPA-I is working to advance the safe, efficient integration of autonomous driving systems across modes. The Volpe Center team provides subject matter expertise and novel program area concepts in this developing area for ARPA-I.

The U.S. DOT Volpe Center will continue to partner with ARPA-I to accelerate the U.S. DOT's mission in bringing radical transformation to our transportation infrastructure and ensuring the safety, efficiency, and resilience of our transportation systems.

About the U.S. DOT Volpe Center

Since 1970, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center has advanced transportation innovation for the public good, providing multimodal applied research, collaborating with federal, state, and industry partners, and multidisciplinary technical leadership and expertise to solve complex transportation challenges. Learn more at www.volpe.dot.gov.