The Smart/Connected City and Its Implications for Connected Transportation

This white paper outlines the potential for the emerging connected transportation system to interface with smart/connected cities. Its aim is to lay the foundation for defining steps that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Connected Vehicle Program should take to identify and exploit opportunities to help ensure that connected vehicles and connected transportation fulfill their potential to improve safety, mobility, and environmental outcomes in future complexly interdependent and multimodal environments. The paper describes a framework for understanding the dynamics that animate smart/connected cities: intelligent infrastructure, new knowledge-generating processes, and a smart grid to power it all. In the process, it contextualizes and connects emerging and established concepts that describe technology-enabled changes such as “the sharing economy” and “crowdsourcing.” Drawing on that framework, the paper argues that two trends are likely to predominantly shape the opportunities for connected transportation in future cities: 1) the rise of the Internet of Things and the essential role that vehicles play as nodes in that network, and 2) a transition away from achieving mobility through asset (car) ownership and toward accessing mobility as a service. The paper concludes by recommending eight research objectives to structure future USDOT research in this area.