Thought leaders, decision makers, and stakeholders from across the global transportation enterprise visit the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Volpe Center to discuss future transportation challenges, generate fresh approaches to emerging issues, anticipate trends, and inform decision making.

The Ongoing Transformation of the Global Transportation System, held from September to December 2017, convened seven distinguished experts in transportation entrepreneurialism, design, policy, and economics to explore challenges and opportunities affecting the advancement of multimodal transportation systems.

The themes these speakers discussed cut across each of U.S. DOT's strategic priority areas: safety, infrastructure, innovation, and accountability.

U.S. DOT Volpe Center Director Anne Aylward introduces the 2017 speaker series, The Ongoing Transformation of the Global Transportation System. (Volpe photo)

Speakers brought their bold visions for the transportation systems of tomorrow, from robot porters that can carry groceries, to cars that turn into airplanes.

They challenged transportation professionals to think critically about the cybersecurity implications of automation, how humans and autonomous systems interact, the impacts that autonomous cars may have on policy frameworks, and what it means to live a long, high-quality, fully mobile life.

And, they presented brand new data on the performance of our nation’s highways.

Read the final report for more of the insights and innovations that are supporting U.S. DOT’s core priority areas.

An audience member engages with Harvard’s Jeffrey Schnapp, who kicked off Volpe's 2017 speaker series with his talk, “Autonomy for Humans in the 21st Century City.” (Volpe photo)