Smart Cities

The Colorado Smart Cities Alliance announced the start of the Connected Colorado Challenge June 30, calling for innovative technology solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing cities in the state.

The deal will strengthen efforts by Siemens on smart city and infrastructure technology. Brightly, which sells its technology to public agencies, schools and hospitals, has some 12,000 clients.

The smartphone-based congestion-pricing technology being tested in Bogota, Colombia, is showing promise. Some major U.S. cities are also looking at solutions to better manage their own crowded roadways.

A $17 million effort to expand smart intersection technology across St. Charles County will give automatic right of way to first responders en route to an emergency. Around 210 of the more than 350 lights have the technology.

The software provider, which uses AI to predict danger, recently demonstrated its products to the Florida DOT. A company executive details the company’s visions and plans as pedestrian and cyclist deaths increase.

Ten transportation technology companies were selected for eight-week project deployments in the New York City metro region to explore artificial intelligence, sustainability and other technology areas to innovate transit.

Micromobility operators Superpedestrian and Helbiz will partner with Populus to gather and analyze trip, crash, infrastructure and other data to give cities better planning tools to make bike and scooter travel safer.

It's not just the major metropolises. Small cities can also benefit from technology, but sometimes struggle with fitting the right tech for their needs, along with antiquated procurement processes.

Watchers of micromobility are seeing closer partnerships and collaborations between scooter and bike-share operators and other providers of mobility services such as public transit and ride-hailing.

The SmartCityPHL project in Philadelphia is a partnership among the city, Comcast and US Ignite that aims to help collect real-time data related to air quality, weather, transportation and more.

The city of Racine, Wis., has switched 25 percent of its bus fleet to electric power and announced a new feature in its smartphone app that shares real-time data on bus location, along with arrival and departure times.

A connected vehicle project with vehicle-to-everything technology in Georgia will continue a trend in the transportation sector that merges traditional highway infrastructure with digitally connected vehicles.

For almost four years, the small town of Maxton, N.C., has tried to get funding for a surveillance system that uses facial recognition. Officials want to continue working with a software company to secure funding.

Transportation eats up 25 percent of the income of median-wage earners in Tampa, Fla., underscoring that the path to transportation equity could be as simple as reducing transportation costs.

States have taken a wide range of approaches to regulating autonomous vehicles. In places like Florida, some argue that the market and insurance companies should set the tone. Other states are much more prescriptive.

The company provides hardware, AI and other services to help state and local governments make roads safer and more efficient. The company’s services can also add clarity to infrastructure decision-making.

Cities like Los Angeles worked fast during the COVID-19 pandemic to radically change the way we think about sidewalks, curbs and parking areas. Many of the changes government and businesses made are here to stay.

Store deliveries via drone are finally more than just a futuristic concept for several Texas communities. Companies like Wing and Flytrex are testing out the long-term viability of the drone delivery concept.