Smart Cities

Bus operators face a lot of challenges on the clock, but they say technology shouldn’t be one of them. From the reliability of newer electric buses to employee monitoring software, drivers weighed in on the demanding job.

New understandings related to parking, micromobility safety, intersection activity and more are being realized thanks to smart transportation technologies. Officials say the data they are able to collect opens the door to new innovations.

Pilot projects have become a fixture of the smart city evolution. City technology leaders offered some of their own personal insights into avoiding catastrophe at the recent Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo.

As cities update timeless technology like streetlights, they are laying the groundwork for smart city connectivity and data gathering. Artificial intelligence will help sift through the mounds of data these projects create.

Too often, urban technology doesn’t scale across cities because it’s simply not ready for prime time, experts argued at the recent Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo in National Harbor, Md.

A digital parking technology pilot in Arlington County, Va., is providing fresh, real-time data related to which areas of the city experience the highest parking demand and how to better manage those spaces.

The small historic town of Winchester, Va., will soon phase out its fixed-route bus system for a dynamic on-demand system providing shorter wait and travel times, for the same cost.

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico has introduced legislation to reauthorize a broadband grant program and refocus it specifically on rural communities. The bill would reauthorize the program for another five years.

Officials have dedicated the new real-time crime center emergency mobile response van to Det. Joseph Paolillo, who passed away from 9/11-related cancer. The vehicle replaces an original unit which was initially unveiled in 2005.

Pedestrian activity declined in all of the top 100 metros in the United States between 2019 and 2022, driven in part by commuting and other mobility changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Environmental Tech Lab in New York City selected eight companies to explore proofs of concept as part of its inaugural Operational Efficiency Challenge and Data Utilization Challenge.

A Wake County judge has ordered Flock Safety to stop installing automated license plate cameras for law enforcement and other clients across the state, finding the firm has been operating unlicensed for years.

The Transit Joint Powers Authority of Merced County unveiled this week that five zero-emission buses have been integrated into the local transit fleet. The new buses have a range of about 250 miles between charges.

Efforts to make the city smarter has some residents concerned that the technology will be used to spy. But officials say that’s not the case and that a substantial public safety camera network has been in place since 2015.

New York City has announced the launch of the new Smart City Testbed Program, which will involve government collaboration with outside organizations to launch eight pilot technology projects.

Peachtree Corners, Ga., will introduce traffic management technology from Intelligent Traffic Control, an Israeli startup, which will use existing data feeds from the city’s traffic camera network.

After a string of high-profile incidents on San Francisco's roadways, the autonomous vehicle company announced plans to roll out a suite of technological upgrades intended to make its driverless cars more adept at responding during emergencies.

By the end of the year, Baltimore residents who don’t speak English will be able to communicate with 911 services in their native language, without waiting for an interpreter, officials say.