Smart Cities

A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy urges regulators and utilities to make the grid operate more efficiently. There are ways, experts said, to absorb part of data centers’ growth.

Transit buses in the Silicon Valley city are traveling 20 percent faster following a technology upgrade that gave them traffic signal priority at certain intersections. The project, an official said, is scalable.

Having realized efficiencies through their use of a technology project management platform, city officials are contemplating where else it might bring transparency, save time and accomplish routine tasks.

A four-person team from the University of Michigan earned a $15,000 prize in the 2025 MiSpace Hackathon, for creating technology that gives four-day forecasts of ice formation on the Great Lakes.

The city’s tourist-heavy Oceanfront neighborhood is using a digital parking solution from eleven-x to improve parking management and grow revenue in its “resort area.” Area residents will get parking credits.

California electric utilities plan to launch a program to help pay for electric vehicle charging, for income-qualified households that do not have charging at home. Other initiatives are already underway.

Hawaii’s capital city is using CivCheck’s platform to review applications and speed up the permitting process. Bellevue, Wash., also uses AI permitting process tools, and Louisville, Ky., will soon pilot them.

New technology is helping digitize the credit card account management and accounts payable processes for the small Idaho city. Doing so has saved more than 100 staff hours a month.

A freight ferry and two cargo bikes were part of a project to show how fresh seafood and other freight can move through New York City without traveling on a delivery truck through city streets.

After launching a fiber-optic broadband network, Chattanooga, Tenn., has seen robust economic development and better Internet service for residents. Chico, Calif., recently broke ground on its own fiber project.

Michigan Central in Detroit is quickly becoming a center for air and ground mobility innovation. The state Advanced Air Mobility Initiative, announced in July, aims to stimulate drone development.

“Experiential learning” can let people discover technologies firsthand, a panelist said at the inaugural CoMotion GLOBAL conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Residents must be kept in mind, said another.

The Florida-based supplier of “intelligent streetlighting” says its latest tools offer deeper insights into traffic patterns and more safety protections. The company recently joined a law enforcement network.

Some 10,000 public parking spaces in Boston are now under new management, as the city has deployed a new solution to aid it in bolstering compliance, collecting payments and monitoring other parking functions.

The new projects include work on pedestrian spaces and community development. At the same time, the city plans to deploy an upgraded, "first-of-its-kind" emergency command center at the famous Thanksgiving Day parade.

The small mountain town of Vail, Colo., has introduced agentic AI tools to aid in fire detection, public engagement and other areas. Being more efficient with mundane, everyday tasks is a key focus.

Tech and transportation officials are working to bring together GIS, artificial intelligence and other tools to develop a traffic management system that’s smarter and improves safety for all.

Transportation technology leaders gathered in Los Angeles this week for the annual CoMotion LA conference, where they examined recent innovative endeavors and the issues shaping mobility today.