I say “Gee Whiz” because a lot of the presentations and
discussions at NASTO 2018 were all about rapidly evolving transportation
technology and what state agencies can do to respond to it. (NASTO is the Northeast Association of
State Transportation Officials, which held its annual meeting recently at
National Harbor, Maryland.)
Some of the Gee Whiz stuff (of varying degrees of
practicality/likelihood):
·
Baltimore – Washington maglev trains – Using
Japanese technology. 15 minutes DC
to Baltimore! (website here)
·
Electric vehicles – Hydro Quebec (blessed with
hydroelectric power) investing hugely in Fast Chargers, which they view as “the
crux of the matter” and “the determining factor” in spurring the uptake of EVs.
·
Automated vehicles – Lots of angst following the
Tempe pedestrian death in March, but still advancing rapidly.
·
Personal delivery vehicles – Expect sidewalk
robots as well as drones!
This is not even to mention Hyperloop (!) (not on the
program but the subject of a lot of talk), which Maryland seems to be actively
pursuing in partnership with Elon Musk (story here).
State DOTs are struggling, with varying degrees of success,
to cope with the onslaught of new tech.
My favorite quote of the conference (from Washington State legislation!
– here):
“This effort [a study of AVs] is required because robot cars
are coming, but robot policy makers are not.”
Special notice goes to OLLI, the automated shuttle, which
NASTO goers got to experience on a test ride. We also got to see some of the design lab work at the
builder, Local Motors, a cutting edge company called Local Motors (see their
website here) which specializes in 3D printing and robotics technology. OLLI is a very promising candidate for “first
mile, last mile” shuttle applications and the company plans to be in revenue
service at some pilot locations within months. The engineers feel confident that they can overcome fears
about automated travel by loading up OLLI with a comprehensive, sophisticated
(and expensive) suite of sensors that would not be affordable on personal
vehicles. Hope to see them on the
road soon!
