Emerging Tech

Traffic signal priority tech along with dedicated bus lanes is speeding up travel times, making them competitive with personal cars. It’s not a silver bullet, a transit priority director said, but “is a critical component of our program.”

In the capital district, the work of its AI Advisory Group and AI Taskforce comes together to help ensure advances in artificial intelligence meet values set by its mayor. Only solutions that properly align get adopted.

The city of Sugar Land announced earlier this month that it had entered into an agreement with Swyft Cities to study the possibility of bringing an autonomous elevated transport system to its skies.

A recent university research study on state government chatbots highlights their potential to optimize workloads, enhance communication and reduce waits. They're becoming essential, but challenges around feedback and privacy could impact that.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s first National Security Memorandum on artificial intelligence directs the federal government to take steps to ensure AI supports the national security mission. Stakeholders were supportive.

The Albuquerque City Council has approved a resolution directing administration to create an artificial intelligence working group to develop an official city policy shaping the technology’s use. Residents will be among its members.

This is the third consecutive year Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., has been honored as one of America’s best “Green” colleges. The Princeton Review cites Rose-Hulman in the 2025 edition of the Guide to Green Colleges.

The county is already home to six operational Best Buy Teen Tech Centers, but that number is slated to double. The facilities give middle and high school students a chance to learn tech skills that could translate to jobs in entertainment, fashion and other L.A.-centric industries.

School districts nationwide have widely adopted platforms to track what students search online; roughly half of U.S. K-12 public schools use a system from GoGuardian. Critics, however, raise concerns about privacy, free speech, lack of transparency, and what happens to student data.

The Port of Walla Walla Commission is expected to decide later this month whether to sell 500 acres of land to Advance Phase for $32 million. Should the company go ahead with its $4.8 billion plan to build 16 data centers, it would rival similar ones developed in Oregon.

Republican control of the Senate would likely tilt tech policy, ranging from regulation of artificial intelligence to expansion of high-speed Internet, toward industry-friendly terms, according to analysts.

The ALERTCalfornia camera system notified first responders of the fire on La Panza Ranch south of Highway 58, and state firefighters extinguished it. Mapping estimated its size at 16 acres.

Created by executive order at the start of the year, Virginia has now set its AI Task Force in motion, aiming to support and advise policymakers on the technologies. Ten members have been named; more may follow.

Work is set to commence this month on the fourth phase of the Robotics Technology Park, run by state agency Alabama Industrial Development and Training. It will focus on building and working with electric vehicles. Opening is expected in spring 2026.

The federal security agency rolled out updated security checkpoints with the recent reopening of a modernized terminal at Portland International Airport. The technology’s use is optional and photographs are not saved in the system.

Gov tech supplier Civic Marketplace is offering a procurement platform backed by AI for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The deal could promote more use of cooperative purchasing, according to backers.

Washington, D.C., CTO Stephen Miller describes a large-scale modernization project that aims to reorient government services so residents can quickly get what they need no matter how they got there.

A report from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and the National Association of State Procurement Officials illustrates how AI can support government procurement. It examines use cases and obstacles, too.