Digital Transformation Coming To Transportation World
Big data, automation and the "internet of things" will profoundly influence the construction and management of transportation infrastructure—and industry insiders are still trying to figure out exactly how that will happen.
This mind-set was reflected at the most popular sessions at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting, the theme of which was "Corridors to the Future: Transportation and Technology." Held on Jan. 11-15 in Washington, D.C., the meeting primarily focused on connected and autonomous vehicles, with TRB attendees eager to learn their looming effect on states' infrastructure planning, operation and maintenance. Data derived from automated, hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles and other advanced vehicle systems likely will help to develop more individualized fuel-economy information, which, in turn, will foster more accurate comparisons with their conventional internal-combustion counterparts.