[Senate Hearing 114-408]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 114-408
HOW THE INTERNET OF THINGS CAN BRING
U.S. TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON SURFACE TRANSPORTATION
AND MERCHANT MARINE INFRASTRUCTURE,
SAFETY AND SECURITY
of the
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 28, 2016
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman
ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi BILL NELSON, Florida, Ranking
ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
MARCO RUBIO, Florida CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
TED CRUZ, Texas RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
JERRY MORAN, Kansas EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska CORY BOOKER, New Jersey
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin TOM UDALL, New Mexico
DEAN HELLER, Nevada JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia
CORY GARDNER, Colorado GARY PETERS, Michigan
STEVE DAINES, Montana
Nick Rossi, Staff Director
Adrian Arnakis, Deputy Staff Director
Rebecca Seidel, General Counsel
Jason Van Beek, Deputy General Counsel
Kim Lipsky, Democratic Staff Director
Chris Day, Democratic Deputy Staff Director
Clint Odom, Democratic General Counsel and Policy Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON SURFACE TRANSPORTATION AND MERCHANT MARINE
INFRASTRUCTURE, SAFETY AND SECURITY
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska, Chairman CORY BOOKER, New Jersey, Ranking
ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
ROY BLUNT, Missouri CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
JERRY MORAN, Kansas RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
DEAN HELLER, Nevada TOM UDALL, New Mexico
STEVE DAINES, Montana
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on June 28, 2016.................................... 1
Statement of Senator Fischer..................................... 1
Statement of Senator Booker...................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 4
Statement of Senator Cantwell.................................... 48
Statement of Senator Markey...................................... 50
Statement of Senator Klobuchar................................... 54
Statement of Senator Blumenthal.................................. 57
Witnesses
Hon. Carlos Monje, Jr., Acting Under Secretary of Transportation
for Policy, and Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy,
U.S. Department of Transportation.............................. 5
Prepared statement........................................... 6
Seleta Reynolds, General Manager, Los Angeles Department of
Transportation; and President, National Association of City
Transportation Officials (NACTO)............................... 11
Prepared statement........................................... 13
Doug Davis, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Intel
Corporation.................................................... 16
Prepared statement........................................... 17
Dr. Robert Edelstein, Senior Vice President, ITS Practice Lead,
AECOM.......................................................... 31
Prepared statement........................................... 32
Jordan Kass, President of Managed Services, C.H. Robinson........ 40
Prepared statement........................................... 42
Appendix
Response to written question submitted by Hon. Richard Blumenthal
to Hon. Carlos Monje, Jr....................................... 59
HOW THE INTERNET OF THINGS CAN
BRING U.S. TRANSPORTATION AND
INFRASTRUCTURE INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
----------
TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2016
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and
Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:45 a.m. in
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Deb Fischer,
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Fischer [presiding], Ayotte, Heller,
Daines, Johnson, Booker, Cantwell, Klobuchar, Markey, and
Blumenthal.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DEB FISCHER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA
Senator Fischer. Good morning. I am pleased to convene the
Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant
Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security for today's hearing
entitled, ``How the Internet of Things Can Bring U.S.
Transportation and Infrastructure into the 21st Century.'' This
hearing will examine how the Internet of Things can advance our
Nation's transportation and infrastructure system.
America's transportation network is well-positioned to
benefit from new developments in technology. For example, the
Internet of Things offers new ways to help alleviate congestion
on our Nation's roads, reduce cargo shipping delays at ports,
and monitor rail and pipeline infrastructure safety. This
growing interconnected network can inform policymakers on where
to invest limited resources in road and bridge maintenance.
In March, Senator Booker and I joined Senators Ayotte and
Schatz to introduce the Developing Innovation and Growing the
Internet of Things Act, or the DIGIT Act. This bipartisan
legislation builds on our resolution, which passed the Senate
last year. It calls for a nationwide strategy to drive
development of the Internet of Things.
The DIGIT Act would convene a working group of private and
public sector stakeholders to offer recommendations to
Congress. They would focus on how to plan for and encourage the
growth of the Internet of Things. Our bill would begin
discussions on the future of this network, and ensure that the
United States is adopting policies that accelerate innovation
and allow it to thrive.
This could have a positive effect on transportation. For
instance, global supply chains represent a major opportunity to
take advantage of the Internet of Things to grow exports and
imports. In today's just-in-time shipping environment, time is
money and efficiency is key.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, by
2045, freight volumes will increase by 45 percent. DOT in its
Beyond Traffic report found that transportation delays have a
high cost. For example, Nike spends an additional $4 million
per week in extra inventory to compensate for shipping delays.
The same report found that a week-long disruption at our
Nation's two largest ports, LA and Long Beach, would cost our
economy as much as $150 million per day.
Meanwhile, supply chains are changing rapidly in response
to transportation delays and alternative options. For example,
after 9 years, the $5.4 billion Panama Canal expansion is
expected to open this week. Following the project's completion,
the Panama Canal will be able to process ships nearly 3 times
as large as before and will provide a greater connection
between our East Coast ports and Asian export markets.
A recent white paper co-authored by C.H. Robinson and the
Boston Consulting Group pointed out that the canal's expansion
promises to reorient the landscape of the logistics industry
and alter the decisionmaking calculus of shippers that the
canal serves.
Delays in our logistics chain raise costs for shippers,
infrastructure operators, carriers, and, yes, consumers. By
increasing connectivity and real-time data flows between
stakeholders, our transportation network and its users will
gain productivity.
Infrastructure design, construction, maintenance, and
safety will also benefit from improved data and connectivity.
State and local highway officials constantly face
challenges when allocating limited resources to an array of
transportation projects. For example, AECOM has established a
Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology system, known
as SMART, to remotely monitor bridges, dams, and other
transportation assets. AECOM's SMART infrastructure seeks to
use the Internet of Things to enhance the operating
efficiencies of infrastructure and lengthen the life of these
critical assets.
Real-time monitoring represents a critical analytic tool
that can enable States and localities to expend highway dollars
in a risk-based manner, thereby bolstering safety and
infrastructure reliability.
As part of the FAST Act, I worked with my colleagues on
this committee to author a robust national freight policy that
will provide States with greater resources to designate
critical urban and rural corridors. Congress also expanded the
objectives of the Intelligent Transportation System program,
which seeks to integrate technology, communications, and data
into our transportation network to include enhancing our
national freight network.
Senator Booker and I have been working together to better
understand the possibilities of the Internet of Things and to
educate our Senate colleagues on them.
I'm pleased that we have an exceptional group of
stakeholders appearing before the Subcommittee today. We are
fortunate to have officials who are developing policy at the
Federal and local levels, and I am eager to hear how private
sector stakeholders are utilizing the Internet, data, and
technology to manage infrastructure projects and advance
freight and passenger transportation networks.
I would now like to invite my friend, Senator Cory Booker,
our Ranking Member, for any comments he may have.
STATEMENT OF HON. CORY BOOKER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY
Senator Booker. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Fischer.
I, first of all, want to submit my formal opening remarks
to the record. I am kind of geeking out about this meeting, and
I think this is tremendous that you all are here.
There is a lot going on in Washington today, some of it
laced with lots of partisanship, but this hearing right now
with my partner on a lot of things, more than I could've
imagined, the Chairwoman and I have found a lot of things to
work on that are really forward-facing, trying to make not only
government more efficient and effective, but really trying to
echo what was bipartisan work of the past.
It was a great Republican President named Eisenhower who
understood, to help the private sector flourish, there has to
be creative public-private partnerships. One of the great ways
to create connectivity of the past was just building roads and
bridges to help connect our country.
Now we are in an entirely different era, things that I
couldn't have even imagined when I saw my father bring home the
first VCR I had ever seen and plug it in in my house. Now we
have more connected devices on the planet Earth than there are
people, and we are in the stone age of the Internet of Things.
What excites me is that I have a partner to my right here
who understands that if we in government don't get our act
together, we are going to miss out on not only trying to help
the private sector flourish in this area, but frankly, we are
going to drag down the private sector, because we are going to
have agencies within the government that are working in silos
and are tripping up and undermining innovations.
I am extraordinarily excited about this panel because you
all are on the cutting edge of what is a whole new world, and a
world that for me as a guy who comes from the inner city and
represented that as mayor, I began to see how connectivity,
innovation, and technology, can be a massively democratizing
force that can create and expand opportunity, in many ways in
the same way as us building the interstate highway system or
creating the transcontinental railroad, which the engine, by
the way, was built in New Jersey.
So I want to get right to it. I want to thank you all for
being here. And a lot of the things that you're going to say
are wisdoms that we've tried to put together in the DIGIT Act
that the Senator and I have together with two of our other
colleagues in a bipartisan fashion.
But I just want to say welcome to Washington. This is
really exciting. I don't understand why all the cameras are on
the other side of the Capitol talking about some place way over
on the other side of the world, and there isn't more press here
focusing on this, because this is a panel talking about things
that are going to change the life of every American in ways
that they cannot imagine.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Senator Booker follows:]
Prepared Statement of Cory Booker, U.S. Senator from New Jersey
Thank you Chairman Fischer for holding this important hearing on
the potential for advanced technologies, known as the Internet of
Things, to improve the safety and efficiency of our surface
transportation systems. In simple terms, the goal of the Internet of
Things is to create an environment where physical objects--such as
parking meters, cars, and street lights--can talk to each other so that
transportation and other systems work better.
The Internet of Things also promises to make cities smarter in how
they deliver services to residents.
As the former Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, I know firsthand that
our cities face many challenges and that funds are in short supply. The
vast majority of a city's budget goes to delivering everyday services
like keeping the street lights on, picking up the trash, and repairing
aging transportation, water, and energy infrastructure. That's one of
the reasons why the Internet of Things is so important to me--because
these technologies can help cities deliver everyday services more
efficiently and make meaningful improvements to people's quality of
life.
For example, in a smart city, the traffic moves more safely and
efficiently because signals are timed to allow for rapid buses, safer
bike lanes, and complete streets where pedestrians are not an
afterthought.
In a smart city, residents from all economic groups have
information on all of their transportation options available at their
fingertips, so they can find the best way to get to work, to job
interviews, or to new opportunities.
In a smart city, even everyday infrastructure such as street lamps,
are equipped not only to efficiently light the way for pedestrians, but
also to deliver wireless Internet to underserved communities, or to
monitor air quality or noise pollution in local neighborhoods.
In a smart city, our ports and freight networks work better because
advanced communication technologies allow carriers and shippers to
monitor their shipments to keep supply chains moving.
All of these exciting visions are enabled by the Internet of
Things.
And this great panel of experts before us today can speak firsthand
about the promise of these innovations, as well as some of the
challenges that we face in making them happen. To make smart cities a
reality, technology developers, city governments, and transportation
companies need an environment that encourages experimentation and
innovation.
That's why I--along with Senators Fischer, Ayotte, and Schatz--
introduced bipartisan legislation known as the ``Developing Innovation
and Growing the Internet of Things'' or DIGIT Act. The DIGIT Act will
create an environment where innovators have ample access to spectrum
and Congress has the information necessary to lower the barriers to
building the Internet of Things. The DIGIT Act is just one of several
new efforts to challenge cities, companies, and transportation
providers to work together to make the United States a global leader in
the Internet of Things.
For example, the Department of Transportation recently held its
Smart City Challenge, in which cities from across the country developed
plans to use this technology to transform their transportation systems.
Of the 78 cities that took up the challenge, DOT awarded funding to
seven cities to further hone their plans. In the end, the CITY OF X,
was awarded $X million to begin implementing their vision for X, Y, and
Z. However, all of the cities who participated--including my friends in
Newark and Jersey City--will benefit from having developed actionable
plans to bring their transportation systems into the 21st Century.
And that's what this hearing is about--leveraging technology to
make our transportation infrastructure work better for everyone now,
and into the future.
I look forward to hearing from this expert panel about their
lessons learned so far in developing the Internet of Things in
transportation, and learning what steps we in Congress should take to
help foster innovation.
Senator Fischer--thank you again for having the foresight to call
this hearing and for being a great partner in encouraging innovation in
transportation.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator Booker.
Don't you just love it when he geeks out?
No, I am also very excited that we get started. So with
that, I would like to introduce the panel. We will begin with
the Honorable Carlos Monje, the Assistant Secretary for
Transportation Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Welcome, sir. If you would like to give your opening
statement?
STATEMENT OF HON. CARLOS MONJE, JR., ACTING UNDER
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION FOR POLICY, AND
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORTATION POLICY,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Mr. Monje. Thank you. Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member
Booker, members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me
here today.
We are getting to a point in history where data is as
important to transportation as asphalt. The Internet of Things
has the potential to slash commute times, to eliminate traffic
accidents, reduce CO2 emissions, and reshape
communities for the better.
Already, we are beginning to see major advances: connected
traffic signals that detect cars and pedestrians to improve
safety and speed traffic; wayfinding applications that let
commuters pick the most convenient way to get around; and
sensors that help traffic engineers fix and detect structural
problems.
Soon, we are going to see increased deployment of
technologies that will spread out travel demand and nudge
travelers to make informed choices. We are going to see
revolutionized logistics that include robotics, automation, and
truck platooning.
Most thrilling, automated vehicles hold the promise to
dramatically reduce deadly crashes and reclaim millions of
hours of lost time. The President's Council of Advisors on
Science and Technology said that the time regained from not
driving could be worth $1.2 trillion a year, not to mention the
benefits of reclaiming land from parking spaces.
While we know that this transformation will be driven by
the private sector, we are doing our part at U.S. DOT, first by
building an enabling regulatory environment; second, by never
wavering from our focus on safety, security, privacy, and
equity; and third, by investing in key research and tech
deployments.
At Secretary Foxx's direction, we are doing everything we
can to remove regulatory obstacles to provide the certainty and
flexibility needed to encourage innovation.
For instance, NHTSA is systematically reviewing its
regulatory framework, making clear to innovators how to seek
redress from existing barriers, developing a framework for
Federal and State regulators to work together, and identifying
needed new regulatory tools.
Our Highway Administration is finalizing guidance to road
planners to how to legally and effectively install vehicle
infrastructure equipment. The Federal Transit Administration is
reviewing its rules to enable transit agencies across the
country to participate in the mobility-on-demand revolution.
And as the department enters this brave new world, we are
combining the tools we have with the lessons we've learned,
starting with a strong partnership with industry and building
on a foundation of data and transparency.
We have kept a razor-sharp focus on safety, security, and
privacy. We are working closely with the FTC, and we are
pursuing connected vehicles in a way that protects consumers
from privacy risks and protects vehicles from hacking,
tampering, or tracking.
We are also moving aggressively on a number of fronts to
bolster cybersecurity. NHTSA has challenged the auto industry
to form an information-sharing and analysis center to
proactively address cyberthreats. We've collaborated across all
corners of the Federal Government to give planners the ability
to capture and manage big data in ways that protect the privacy
and safety of users.
We are also investing our dollars in a strategic way to
fund foundational research, to speed promising technologies to
market, and to spur the national conversation on the future of
mobility.
FTA's Mobility on Demand program includes an $8 million
sandbox, which is going to help public transit agencies explore
new ways to partner with emerging service providers, whether
that be carpooling, transit on-demand, or bike sharing, to
provide better options to their constituents.
FHWA is operating three connected vehicles pilots to speed
truck movements in southern Wyoming, to improve pedestrian
safety in New York City, and test mobility apps in Tampa. We've
developed the Freight Advanced Traveler Information System,
FRATIS, which is demonstrating how sensors and data systems can
speed the transfer of cargo at the Ports of Los Angeles and
Long Beach.
And last week, Secretary Foxx announced the winner of the
Smart City Challenge, a national competition to transform one
midsize city using advanced data and technology. Columbus,
Ohio, will receive $40 million from us, plus a whole lot of
support from a host of partners, and the city is going to
deploy electronic self-driving shuttles to connect its
residents to BRT lines. They're going to put sensors on their
city fleet to improve safety. They're going to invest in truck
platooning, and make it easier for delivery vehicles to find
parking on city streets. And they are integrating their
transportation data with other parts of their city,
particularly health care scheduling to help address high rates
of infant mortality.
Seventy-eight cities applied. Each created a blueprint for
the future of transportation on their city streets. And the
biggest lesson of the Smart City Challenge is that technology
deployment is not an end to itself, but rather a means to build
strong communities that create opportunity for all its
citizens.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the department's
visions. Thanks also for this subcommittee's leadership in
holding this hearing and introducing legislation to speed
planning for the Internet of Things. I'm glad to answer the
questions you have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Monje follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Carlos Monje, Jr., Acting Under Secretary of
Transportation for Policy, and Assistant Secretary for Transportation
Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation
Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Booker, and Members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to appear before you to discuss
how the Department of Transportation is advancing the Internet of
Things and its ability to transform communities.
America has led the world in transportation creativity, from the
Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk to Ford's Model-T. Today, our ability to
innovate continues to be the envy of the world. Over time, government
has played a critical role fostering new innovations--the Global
Positioning System, the Internet, and the advent of civil aviation are
just a few examples of how the government has shaped the market in
revolutionary ways. Over the past seven and a half years, the Obama
Administration has strengthened our foundation for innovation through
key investments and critical reforms to drive technological
breakthroughs that will power our economy and inspire the world for
generations to come.
Perhaps no sector better captures the imagination about how
connectivity can improve the way we move. The potential impacts of
fully integrated transportation infrastructure are profound. Zero
transportation fatalities. Drastically reduced commute times.
Diminished contributions to climate change. We know that over the next
30 years, America's population will grow by 70 million and the freight
moving across our roads, rails, pipelines and airports will increase 45
percent. As a nation, we will not be able to build our way out of the
growing congestion and all its effects. Instead, we have to be smarter
about the capacity we have. Emerging technology has the potential to
dramatically improve our lives.
The Wow Factor
The next generation of mobility technology is in the early
stages of deployment, giving us a glimpse of what is to come.
Connected traffic signals that detect cars and pedestrians
in real time, dramatically reducing risks to pedestrians, wait
times at empty intersections, and sharing information with the
network to anticipate and speed traffic flows across an entire
city or region.
Wayfinding applications that enable commuters to decide
instantly the cheapest and most convenient way to get around,
whether by reserving a parking space for their own car,
activating a carshare vehicle, signing up for a carpool, biking
or using public transit.
Common payment systems that allow users to travel easily
across modes and other solutions to help the unbanked and those
without cell phones access these services.
Connected vehicles that soon will help drivers avoid
dangerous situations.
Sensors that help engineers detect pavement and structural
bridge problems and fix them before they become less safe and
more expensive to repair; and
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that can inspect bridges and
pavements, observe on-going construction, and monitor and
report traffic incidents.
In the immediate future, we anticipate seeing the increased
deployment of technologies and access to data that will:
help transportation planners better track how their networks
perform so they can target their road building, prioritize
essential roadway services, evaluate the need for truck parking
solutions, and offer more responsive transit services;
help spread out travel demand and encourage more sustainable
choices by informing travelers and freight operators, nudging
them to optimize and plan their trip slightly differently;
help automate freight deliveries with robotic loading and
unloading, maximize efficiencies along our freight network--
including research on the operational and safety impacts of
truck platooning;
provide automated first-and last-mile public transit to
encourage transit use and reduce parking needs;
have the potential to dramatically reduce deadly crashes,
cut losses in vehicle and infrastructure damages, and reclaim
millions of hours of lost time through the deployment of fully
automated vehicles; and
make transportation projects completely paperless from
planning to the post construction phase, saving time and money
for State DOTs as well as contractors.
We know that this transformation will be driven by the private
sector, and by our state, local and tribal partners, but the Department
of Transportation is working to speed the benefits of the IoT, first;
by building an enabling regulatory environment; second, by never
wavering from our focus on safety, security and privacy; and third, by
investing in catalytic research and technology deployments.
Finding Innovative Approaches
As Secretary Foxx has said, DOT is bullish on technology. The
degree to which we can anticipate breakthroughs, remove obstacles and
streamline efforts to enable innovation could mean the difference
between shaping new markets or being subject to them. More than ever,
transportation innovation can be restricted by the slow pace of
legislation and rulemaking. Rapidly evolving technology will demand
government flexibility: regulations may be necessary, but they can also
provide the certainty to encourage innovation.
For instance, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) is systematically reviewing its current regulatory framework to
identify and overcome any provisions that could slow this
transformation, including clarifying existing rules, developing a
framework for Federal and state regulations, and identifying new
regulatory tools that might be required to meet DOT's safety mission in
an era of rapidly changing technology. DOT's Volpe Center, on behalf of
NHTSA recently completed such an evaluation for highly automated
vehicles and found that, while existing regulations pose few regulatory
barriers to automated vehicle systems, some design innovations (e.g.,
the elimination of a steering wheel and foot pedals) could complicate
compliance with current standards. Soon, NHTSA will be unveiling the
next steps of this framework, which have been informed by our state
partners and will be fleshed out in partnership with industry.
In pursuit of a new partnership approach, this past March, NHTSA
and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced an historic
commitment by 20 automakers representing more than 99 percent of the
U.S. auto market to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature
on nearly all new cars no later than NHTSA's 2022 reporting year. The
unprecedented commitment means that this important safety technology
will be available to more consumers more quickly than would be possible
through the traditional regulatory process.
One of the most exciting areas that the Department is fully engaged
in is pushing forward the safe deployment of connected and automated
safety technologies in vehicles. The Department is leading the way
forward in integrating both connected and automated vehicle
technologies in a way that brings the benefits we all hear about. These
include crash avoidance, reduced energy consumption and vehicle
emissions, reduced travel times, improved travel time reliability and
multi-modal connectivity, and improved transportation system efficiency
and accessibility, particularly for persons with disabilities and the
growing aging population. For example, the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) is supporting research on systems to make travel
easier for blind pedestrians and other travelers under the Accessible
Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI). In addition,
FHWA will issue guidance and technical support tools on how to invest
in infrastructure that enables the connected systems which will, in
turn, increase safety, enhance mobility, deliver reliability and cut
our carbon footprint.
Another exciting initiative is taking place at the Federal Transit
Administration (FTA). The agency is administering the Mobility-on-
Demand (MOD) ``Sandbox,'' an effort to bring non-traditional partners
together to promote enhanced, multimodal mobility concepts using
advanced technologies and new business models for providing improved
transportation service. One effect of the Sandbox will be to encourage
multimodal connectivity and system interoperability so that
transportation resources are interconnected and accessible to all
potential users. The FTA understands that the best way to answer the
question of whether new operational models might work is through real-
world demonstrations that can measure the impacts on regional
transportation system networks to see what the net benefits to
travelers and local economies really are. Running these demonstrations
will also allow the Department to examine how rules and regulations
impact the implementation of MOD services.
Still, clear rules of the road that ensure safeguards to protect
people must be put in place, as government seeks to spur innovation
without compromising safety and privacy.
Security and Privacy
The Department has worked hard to support the design and deployment
of connected vehicle technologies, such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)
communications, in a manner that protects consumers from unwarranted
privacy risks and prevents unauthorized access to data. As envisioned,
the connected vehicle system will contain multiple technical controls
to help mitigate potential privacy risks and prevent tampering with
equipment or data. For example, V2V broadcast messages will not contain
data that identifies the vehicle or its owner. We also are working with
privacy experts to develop algorithms to sanitize connected vehicle
data sets, which will enable the Department to make connected vehicle
data available publicly without putting consumer privacy at risk. Going
forward, the Department plans to work with the Federal Trade Commission
and stakeholders to ensure that we develop regulatory strategies and
guidance in the area of consumer data privacy.
The Department of Transportation has spent time and resources
understanding the nature and implications of cyber security. Since
2012, NHTSA has engaged the potential cyber security threats to
automobiles through a diverse set of actions. Our approach includes:
Encouraging the automotive industry to form an Information
Sharing and Analysis Center to help the industry proactively
and uniformly address cybersecurity threats, while challenging
automakers to adopt proactive safety principles and develop
best practices that enhance automotive cybersecurity;
Collaborating proactively with other government agencies--
including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and National
Science Foundation (NSF)--as well as with vehicle
manufacturers, automotive suppliers, and the security research
community to protect against cyber threats and potential
vulnerabilities; and
Continuing to execute fundamental research aimed at
improving the cybersecurity posture of automobiles with a focus
on understanding real-time intrusion detection and response
measures. We are also assessing solutions and sharing findings
broadly to ensure that once a potential vulnerability or a
hacking technique is identified, information about the issue
and potential solutions is quickly shared with other
stakeholders.
In expanding the use of drones the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) laid out a responsible path with their Small Unmanned Aircraft
System (sUAS) rule that is the first set of nationally uniform
regulations for the commercial, educational and public use of unmanned
aircraft. Building off the recently released UAS privacy best practices
developed with industry in a Department of Commerce led
multistakeholder convening, the Administration is launching a new
privacy education campaign to encourage pilots, companies and others
address the privacy implications of these new technologies.
We also recognize that major advances will be needed in Big Data
management and analytics, in order to not be overwhelmed by the sheer
volume of data. To meet this challenge, Secretary Foxx has called on
all corners of the Department--particularly the Intelligent
Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office (JPO)--to focus on
managing and providing transportation big data to support new paradigms
of data-driven operations. The ITS-JPO is funding multi-modal
enterprise data management initiatives focusing on enabling effective
data capture from ITS-enabled technologies, including connected
passenger, transit, and commercial vehicles; mobile devices; and
infrastructure, in ways that protect the privacy of users.
Making Catalyzing Investments
In addition to the communications programs with which you are
familiar--the Next Generation Air Traffic Control System (NextGen), V2V
and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, wireless roadside
inspections (WRI) for trucks and buses, and Positive Train Control
(PTC)--we are making key investments that will speed a future in which
all of our vehicles, road infrastructure, and even pedestrians are more
safely connected.
The FTA and ITS-JPO are co-managing the MOD Research Program,
including grants for the MOD Sandbox initiative to help public transit
providers adopt new technologies, partner with emerging service
providers and provide better transportation options to their
constituents.
And, the ITS-JPO and FHWA continue to work on the three Connected
Vehicle Pilot Deployment sites to speed safe and efficient truck
movement along I-80 in southern Wyoming, improve vehicle flow and
pedestrian safety in high-priority corridors in New York City, and
deploy multiple safety and mobility applications on and in proximity to
reversible freeway lanes in Tampa. The Department continues to
collaborate with the private sector on the Freight Advanced Traveler
Information Systems (FRATIS) demonstration project.
Through a partnership with the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of
Long Beach and their private sector supply chain operators, FRATIS aims
to establish a neutral benchmark showing benefits from improved
operations, including measureable gains in port performance. This
demonstration project is yielding improved on-time arrival for cargo
pickup appointments, reduced truck waiting time at port terminals,
decreased emissions, and improved fuel consumption.
FHWA also is supporting research on sensor systems that monitor and
predict structural and pavement conditions. As these systems mature,
they will aid asset owners in maintaining a state of good repair for
legacy and new elements of the highway transportation system.
In December 2015, Secretary Foxx launched the Smart City
Challenge--a national competition to implement bold, data-driven ideas
that demonstrate the use of advanced data and intelligent
transportation systems technologies to make our network safer, easier,
and more reliable in one mid-sized city. The Department is partnering
with Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Inc., NXP Semiconductors, Amazon Web
Services, Mobileye, Autodesk and Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs to provide
the winning city with up to $40 million plus $10 million from Vulcan,
and access to multiple technologies to support the Smart City
demonstration. Perhaps more important, the Smart City Challenge is
bringing together people, industries and sectors that have rarely
communicated before, all jointly addressing urban mobility issues in a
way that is more sustainable, more equitable, and safer than ever
before.
Nearly every mid-sized city in America--78 cities--answered the
call by creating blueprints for the future of transportation today on
their city streets. The seven finalist cities--Austin, Columbus,
Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Portland, and San Francisco--proposed
first-of-a-kind use of these new technologies to solve the real-world
challenges facing cities today. From self-driving shuttles that could
cut in half the commute from underserved neighborhoods to job centers,
to the use of smart sensors to accelerate freight delivery while
improving safety. More than 150 diverse industry and non-profit
partners have pledged more than $500 million in resources, technology
solutions, and support to help carry out these Smart City plans.
Austin, TX: The fastest growing city in the Nation with over
100 new residents a day, Austin faces unique challenges with
growing congestion and increasing commutes. To target the
challenges facing its commuters, Austin has proposed to remake
the traditional ``park-and-ride'' into a ``one-stop shop'' with
even more mobility options, including public transit buses,
trains, car share, bike share, automated vehicles, and
connected vehicles, to be strategically situated near community
health centers, the area community college, housing
developments, and the airport.
Columbus, OH: The city proposed to deploy three electric
self-driving shuttles to connect a new bus rapid transit center
to a retail district, connecting more residents to jobs, and to
use data analytics to improve health care access in a
neighborhood that currently has an infant mortality rate four
times that of the national average, allowing them to provide
improved transportation options to those most in need of
prenatal care.
Denver, CO: Situated at the crossroads of three nationally
important freight highways, Denver is applying its pioneering
spirit to accelerate freight while improving safety. With
partners like FedEx, Peloton, and UPS, Denver is equipping
trucks with V2V communication technology to optimize routing
and traffic signals and to experiment with connected,
autonomous truck platooning, accelerating freight while
reducing the impact on low-income neighborhoods that bear the
brunt of this traffic flow today.
Kansas City, MO: Kansas City proposed to revitalize a
historically black and underserved community by installing
ubiquitous public Wi-Fi along sidewalks and on new electric,
connected public buses, including on self-driving shuttles
connecting underserved areas with the existing streetcar route.
Each bus stop will have large-screen, state-of-the-art kiosks
to help residents access transportation information and will be
equipped with voice-activated wayfinding technology to help the
visually impaired navigate the city's streets.
Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh is proposing to cut in half the
time it takes workers from Hazelwood, a historically
underserved community, to reach the city's urban jobs core by
partnering with Carnegie Mellon, a pioneer of self-driving
technology, to construct a thirty minute loop for autonomous
shuttles. Throughout the city, Pittsburgh will also deploy
state-of-the-art traffic signal technology--proven to reduce
congestion at street lights by forty percent--to significantly
reduce travel and idle time for all residents.
Portland, OR: Portland proposed to launch the Nation's first
bulk-buy program for used electric vehicles (EV) to put
affordable EVs in the hands of low-income drivers in
demonstration corridors and promote electric car sharing and
electric bike sharing in low-income communities. At the same
time, Portland is partnering on autonomous vehicle
demonstrations from campus shuttles and airport buses to self-
driving taxis and tractor trailers. Portland is also developing
a smart housing app with real transparency about the true cost
of an apartment, including both rent and transportation costs.
San Francisco, CA: San Francisco has set a goal of
eliminating one out of every ten single occupant car trips by
shifting travelers onto carpooling and public transit. To
increase uptake of innovative carpooling and ridesharing
models, San Francisco envisions a system of new carpooling
high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and reserved curbside pickup
areas. In addition, San Francisco has proposed using self-
driving cars to shuttle passengers for the first and last mile
onto public transit. The city, long a leader in innovation, has
also proposed sharing its learnings with a tech transfer
network of 50 cities and 25,000 transportation professionals.
While the City of Columbus was named the winner, we are excited to
see the innovation in their proposals and even more excited that 78
cities reached out to develop new local and regional partnerships, with
hundreds of partners beyond those the Department has gathered.
Through Smart Cities, the Department has also developed new Federal
relationships--most notably with the Department of Energy's SMART
Mobility consortium and with NIST's Internet of Things-Enabled Smart
City Framework- so that we can continue to move forward with the best
knowledge of new technologies and innovative transportation solutions.
Altogether, the Department is using its dollars in a strategic way
to fund primary research, speed promising technologies to market,
convene unlikely partners at the local level and spur on the national
conversation on the future of mobility.
Using Technology to Build the Communities We Want
The biggest lesson of the Smart City Challenge is that technology
deployment is not an end to itself, but rather a means to build strong
communities that create opportunity for all of its citizens. The
Federal Government has focused on the IoT's potential to make our
national network more efficient, and to make our transportation system
safer, but the 78 communities that applied to be part of the Smart City
Challenge each articulated a vision for how connected infrastructure
and enhanced mobility options will make the lives of their citizens
better.
Together, the Smart City applicants are showing us what it means to
think beyond the traditional transportation modes, and embrace the
surprising and disruptive innovations coming from the private sector.
These technological shifts could help increase access to opportunity in
neglected and underserved communities and meet our environmental
commitments at the same time.
As technology continues to advance, the Department, and all levels
of governance, will need to anticipate, accommodate, and incentivize
innovation; and to understand and mitigate the risks associated with
new technologies to ensure that our transportation system remains safe,
reliable, efficient, equitable and secure.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Department's vision
and activities related to the Internet of Things. I am glad to answer
any questions you may have.
Senator Fischer. Thank you very much.
Next, we have Ms. Seleta Reynolds, who is the General
Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.
Welcome.
STATEMENT OF SELETA REYNOLDS, GENERAL MANAGER,
LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; AND
PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CITY
TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS (NACTO)
Ms. Reynolds. Thank you. Good morning, Chairwoman Fischer,
Ranking Member Booker. Thank you so much to you as well as
Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson for the opportunity to
come and speak with you today.
My name is Seleta Reynolds. I am the General Manager of the
Los Angeles Department of Transportation. I'm also the
President of the National Association of City Transportation
Officials, or NACTO.
I would like to describe where we are, where we are going,
and the challenges that we face.
The City of Los Angeles is investing millions of dollars
into our transportation system to try and evolve our reputation
as the car capital of the world into the capital of one of the
most modern sophisticated transportation systems in the world.
Technology doesn't just change the outcomes in our cities.
It changes us as well. So it is important for us to stay
focused on people first, if we want to get to the best and
brightest outcomes that are possible.
If we rely solely on the private side, those benefits may
only land where they benefit the wealthiest among us. Our role
is to make sure that the rising tide lifts all boats.
Back in 1984, Los Angeles hosted the Olympics. The hottest
gadget was the Sony Discman, and we invested in an
interconnected system of signals called ATSAC that relied on
algorithms to move cars and people through our streets--in
fact, more than any other city in the country.
Today, we rely on painted signs and signals to speak to
drivers. In the future, that information will go directly to
the vehicles themselves. These digital interfaces between the
city's infrastructure and the passengers' vehicles will improve
the safe flow of people and goods, light and heavy rail, and
even equestrians across the city.
More than 2 million people today in Los Angeles are using
apps to navigate our streets. Earlier this year, we launched a
Go LA app. This app allows you to choose a cheaper, faster,
greener way to get from point A to point B. We give sort of a
level playing field and a mobility marketplace, and let the
consumer make the choice about how they want to travel around
our city.
The next step is to evolve that into a universal payment
platform where people can actually make that choice, pay for
that choice, and be on their way all in the palm of their hand.
We are currently launching electric vehicle car-sharing in
the heart of our city. While car-sharing markets have evolved
in some areas, we are deliberately making this accessible to
people who stand to benefit the most. We are investing public
dollars to bring in private sector investment.
City government has a powerful role to play to ensure that
new services are understandable, legible, and accessible. We
embed the needs of older adults, people unfamiliar with smart
phones, or those who don't have bank cards. We partner with
community groups to help people navigate possible language and
cultural barriers.
We are also preparing a pilot of on-demand public transit,
and requesting funds to upgrade signals and streets to, for
example, hold a signal at red if it detects a driver about to
run the light, turn signals green for transit emergency
vehicles, and alert transit operators to the right speeds to
get a green wave. And we are requesting proposals to develop
what we call mobility hubs throughout the city at major transit
stops to bring car share, bike share, and real-time transit
information to travelers.
Our interest is to use technology to treat people with
hospitality. We want it to be a convener and not a splitter.
Older technologies are also reemerging in new and
interesting ways. We are outfitting our city buses with Wi-Fi
and real-time location updating, and becoming safer and more
convenient.
Bicycles are increasingly being electrified and app-ified
to be an easier, safer, healthier and even more fun way to
travel--maybe most importantly, a more fun way to travel.
Signals are becoming smarter to help emergency responders
in transit be more efficient than ever before.
I want to underscore that the technologies of today are not
static, and we don't want to become too wedded to one mode or
pick winners and losers or ignore the real equity issues that
we face. Autonomous vehicles may reduce the number of human
errors occurring, but also have the potential for increased
traffic, emissions from additional driving, on-street
congestion, and could be very expensive to own.
Technologies such as alternative fuels and shared mobility
will change the funding framework. We hope that we can work
closely with our partners at U.S. DOT to continue to have a
conversation about initiative funding and direct aid to cities,
about realigned and flexible funding, about requiring
technology to be built into transportation at the most
fundamental levels, and to pivot from expansion to
modernization and management. So fixing it first and making our
infrastructure smarter, rather than continuing to invest in
expansion.
Data-sharing is key to us; ongoing investment into mass
transit like high-capacity rails, because one of the most
precious resources in cities will continue to be space; and
preparing our work force.
As you can see, LA is an exciting place to be right now. We
know that great cities generate traffic, but traffic doesn't
generate great cities. Technology has the power to help
communities achieve their visions, taking back public space
from congestion, traffic, and parking.
I want to thank Chairwoman Fischer, Ranking Member Booker,
and the Committee members for the opportunity to testify. Our
cities are changing perhaps nowhere as quickly as Los Angeles,
and we need the Federal Government to work with us on funding,
standardizing, and exploring the future.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Reynolds follows:]
Prepared Statement of Seleta Reynolds, General Manager, Los Angeles
Department of Transportation; and President, National Association of
City Transportation Officials (NACTO)
Good morning Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Booker and committee
members.
I am Seleta Reynolds, General Manager of the Los Angeles Department
of Transportation. I am also President of the National Association of
City Transportation Officials, also known as NACTO. It is an honor to
be here to discuss the Internet of things transportation, at the city
level. I would like to describe where we are, where we are going, and
the challenges that we face.
The City of Los Angeles is investing millions of dollars into
promoting a modern, multimodal transportation system; to evolve from
our infamous, 20th Century reputation as the car capital of the U.S.
toward the most sophisticated, modern transportation system in the
world. Technology doesn't just change the outcome in our cities and
country; it changes those who use it as well. We must be smart and
focused on people first in order to achieve the best of technology's
entry into transportation.
From ridesharing to micro-transit, new products emerge daily.
Therefore, the city is making a home for current, future and evolving
modes in the mobility marketplace. In the marketplace the city will not
pick winners or losers, but create an incubator that nurtures the best
and safest ways to travel. We are not wedded to what exists today, but
seek to be prepared for what is coming tomorrow. The menu of travel
options also ensures that should one mode become disabled, travelers
are not paralyzed.
Safety, environmental quality, equity, affordability, efficiency
and quality of life all have benefits to achieve from technology.
If we rely solely on the private side, these benefits may only land
where they benefit the wealthiest among us. Our role to play in making
sure the rising tide lifts all boats.
Yesterday and Today
Los Angeles made an effective first pass at using technology in
transportation management in 1984 when it hosted the Summer Olympics.
In the era of floppy disks L.A. pioneered a system called ATSAC that
used algorithms to optimize the movement of vehicles through streets.
Today L.A. is looking to upgrade that network to provide digital
services to private, commercial, and public vehicles and include
recommended speeds and safety data. Today we rely solely upon painted
signs along the streets to tell drivers how fast to drive, tomorrow
this information will be communicated directly to a vehicle from the
infrastructure. These digital interfaces between the city's
infrastructure and the passenger's vehicles will improve the safe flow
of people and goods, light and heavy rail, and even equestrians across
the City.
Today more than 2 million people in L.A. are using apps to navigate
the streets. Earlier this year we launched a ``Go LA'' app. This app
shows travelers the many options for moving across Los Angeles
organized by whether the user is trying to get somewhere faster,
cheaper, or greener. For example, I can select a destination and be
provided with detailed options that include walking, biking, transit,
taxi, TNC and driving information. It may take me 25 minutes to walk,
but I'll burn 100 calories and it won't cost me a dime. Another option
presented might be a carpool trip of 5 minutes, $4, 10 pounds of carbon
emissions, and burning 15 calories. We give all modes an equal
opportunity and allow the consumer to decide. The next step is to
provide seamless payment--one way to pay for any transit mode including
bike share.
We are currently launching electric vehicle car sharing the heart
of our city. While car-sharing markets have evolved in some areas, we
are deliberately making this accessible to people who stand to benefit
the most. We are investing public dollars and securing private sector
investment as well. City government has a powerful role to play in
offsetting risks and promoting investment in traditionally underserved
or low-income areas. We have an obligation to ensure that new services
are understandable, legible, and accessible to people. This includes
considering those that are older, unfamiliar with smartphones, or that
may not have a bank cards. We also have to partner with community
groups to help people navigate possible language and cultural barriers.
We are also preparing a pilot of on-demand public transit and
requesting funds to upgrade signals and streets to, for example, hold a
signal at red if it detects a driver about to run the light, turn
signals green for transit and emergency vehicles, and alert transit
operators to the right speeds to get a green wave. And we are
requesting proposals to develop what we call Mobility Hubs throughout
the city at major transit stops to bring bikeshare, carshare, and real-
time transit information to travelers. Our interest is to use
technology to treat people with hospitality and convene as many choices
as possible for them.
Older technologies are also re-emerging in new and interesting
ways. City buses are getting Wi-Fi and real-time location updating, as
well as becoming even safer and more convenient. Bicycles are being
increasingly electrified and app-ified to be an easier, safer,
healthier, and even more fun way to travel. Signals are becoming
smarter to help emergency responders and transit be more efficient than
ever before.
The Future and the Role of Government
I would like to underscore that the technologies of today are not
static nor should we become overly wedded to one mode or ignore very
real equity issues. For example, autonomous vehicles may reduce the
number of human errors occurring, but also have the potential for
increased traffic, emissions from additional driving, on-street
congestion and could be very expensive to own. Technologies such as
alternative fuels and shared use mobility will change the funding
framework. Federal regulators should be encouraged to approach the
future with these considerations:
Initiative Funding and Direct Aid to Cities. Direct aid
significantly reduces the overhead and administrative costs
often associated with Federal funds. We especially appreciate
the acknowledgement in recent grants that federalized
procurement requirements will slow down rapid pilots and
partnerships. U.S. DOT and DOE have been terrific pioneers with
the Smart Cities and ARPA-e NEXTCAR programs. These, along with
the recommendations from the White House PCAST report published
earlier this year on urban development districts, will greatly
help American cities move with technology changes. They help
cities come to the table to create partnerships with private
companies.
Realigned and Flexible Funding. The tradition of using gas
taxes and parking revenues to fund transportation initiatives
will become obsolete. Connected autonomous vehicles may not
need to park. Electric vehicles don't use gas. Instead, we
expect to see digital services provided to users with fees for
levels of service. Additionally, new modes like electric
powered, shared automated vehicles require regulatory and
funding streams that are convoluted under current programs.
Require tech to be built into transportation at the most
fundamental levels. Infrastructure to vehicle communication
capability should be required in all transportation
construction from Bus Rapid Transit and roads to bike lanes and
freeway construction.
Pivot from expansion to modernization and management to
account for the impacts of automated vehicles. Existing roadway
space will be used more efficiently through connected
technology, making new capacity irrelevant in the near future.
Transportation planning at all levels should refocus on
modernizing existing expressways with instrumentation for new
technology for traffic management. Traffic management will
remain a public sector function even in a future dominated by
private mobility providers.
Data sharing: the need for accurate and timely data
underlies everything that is changing, especially in the
digital world. Our access to the data needed for planning and
operating cities is increasingly siloed. The Federal Government
can be a strong proponent of open data, data sharing and
storage, and, of course, data standards. Data-sharing
requirements can substantially reduce the millions of dollars
spent annually on technologically primitive data collection,
both from regular traffic operation and from traffic crashes.
Ongoing investment into mass transit like high-capacity
rail. One of the most precious resource in cities is space.
Even if automation allows us to be more efficient and move more
vehicles, we will not have the curb space to accommodate
continuous pick-ups and drop-offs. We will always need an urban
network for people and possibly, for goods in the future.
Preparing our workforce--We must proactively give people the
skills to be able to consume and understand data and technology
for better planning, management and project evaluation.
As you can see, L.A. is an exciting place to be right now. We are
on the cutting edge for implementation and regulation of technology in
infrastructure. We have an important role to play in protecting our
residents and businesses and to support the mobility marketplace. We
must be at the table in planning for an increasingly automated future.
Future visioning for automated vehicles should begin from the inside
out, from the centers of our economy, looking at land use as well as
transportation. Theories of automation that focus simply on fitting
more vehicles into an expressway lane every hour are beginning from the
product of the economy rather than the motor of the economy. Great
cities generate traffic; traffic does not generate great cities.
Technology has the power to help communities achieve their visions both
for transportation and for land use, taking public space back from
congestion, traffic and parking.
I want to again thank Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Booker and
the Committee members for the opportunity to testify today. Our cities
are changing, perhaps nowhere as quickly as Los Angeles, and we need
the Federal Government to work with us on funding, standardizing, and
exploring the future.
Senator Fischer. Thank you very much.
Next, I'm going to go to Mr. Doug Davis, who is the Senior
Vice President and General Manager of Intel Corporation.
Welcome.
STATEMENT OF DOUG DAVIS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL
MANAGER, INTEL CORPORATION
Mr. Davis. Good morning, Chairwoman Fischer, Ranking Member
Booker, and Senator Ayotte. I really appreciate the opportunity
to be able to testify this morning.
As head of Intel's IoT group, I am responsible for the
company's IoT strategy and the underlying technologies, and all
of that includes transportation and automotive. Intel has been
delivering integrated or embedded computing for things for over
35 years. The investment, innovations and standard leadership
we've driven during that time provide the foundational elements
of that IoT strategy.
Intel defines IoT quite simply as devices which are
securely connected through the network to the data center or
cloud. And it is the data from these things that can be shared
and analyzed to solve problems.
In fact, we believe that security is the foundation of the
Internet of Things. Our hardware and software are designed from
the beginning to be secure. We build security into the
transistors or the way that we design our chips.
In addition, we build security into the layers of software
in these things as well as the way in which data is moved from
those things into the cloud. So we fully realize that safety
and security are essential for the promise of the Internet of
Things to be fulfilled.
Transportation is one of the most promising sectors in the
IoT. In fact, IDC has projected that global revenue from the
transportation sector will reach $325 billion just by the year
2018.
By converting vast amounts of data into meaningful,
actionable intelligence, the IoT will help support solutions in
terms of transportation safety, efficiency, mobility, and some
of the infrastructure challenges. Indeed, innovations in the
transportation sector are at the heart of the global race for
IoT leadership, and that race is really competitive.
In addition to the U.S., we see self-driving car trials on
public roads in the U.K., China, Germany, Switzerland, Japan,
Sweden, South Korea, the Netherlands, and in Dubai, and that is
just a handful. It's kind of a big handful. But this is a big
deal for U.S. technology leadership.
Autonomous vehicles require highly advanced sensors to see
the things around the car: a variety of technologies to enable
collision avoidance; powerful in-vehicle computing and
capabilities to calculate those vehicle trajectories; and
secure, high-speed ultrareliable connectivity back to the
advanced data centers of the cloud.
These autonomous vehicles must become the ultimate learning
machines. They are going to need to be able to make smarter and
safer decisions than even the most skilled human driver.
In fact, cars will become known as data centers on wheels.
And in order for this to occur, these autonomous and 5G
technologies will evolve at the pace of innovation, because
they are going to have vast global industry support and rapid
marketplace adoption.
Autonomous vehicles will also improve our efficiency and
productivity, as I think has already been mentioned a few
times. The average American commuter spends 38 hours per year
stuck in traffic, which collectively costs the U.S. economy
about $121 billion per year in just wasted time and fuel.
The U.S. freight transportation industry alone could save
$168 billion per year in fuel reduction, not to mention the
benefit in reducing harmful emissions.
For the U.S. to lead the world in IoT transportation and
capture these vast economic and societal benefits that a
modernized transportation infrastructure, autonomous vehicles,
and 5G connectivity will deliver, Intel recommends that
policymakers collaborate with the high-tech and transportation
industries to develop an ambitious national IoT transportation
strategy based on five principles. Number one, prioritize
safety to reduce the number and severity of crashes. Number
two, prioritize security from the outset. Three, promote
technology neutrality by relying on marketplace innovation and
competition. Encourage open, global standards based on
transportation platforms to enable a commercialization path
that is scalable, interoperable, and reusable across
deployments. And then finally, number five, invest in public-
private partnerships. That will help launch and scale future
looking transportation testbeds, especially in areas like 5G,
to develop trusted data and secure computing, machine learning,
open standards, and, of course, security.
So I want to thank you for this opportunity to share
Intel's policy recommendations for a U.S. IoT transportation
leadership, and I look forward to questions a little bit later.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Davis follows:]
Prepared Statement of Doug Davis, Senior Vice President
and General Manager, Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation (Intel) respectfully submits this statement for
the record in conjunction with the Senate Commerce, Science &
Transportation Committee, Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine
Infrastructure, Safety and Security Subcommittee, hearing on ``How the
Internet of Things (IoT) Can Bring U.S. Transportation and
Infrastructure into the 21st Century.'' Our statement focuses on the
opportunity to unleash the enormous potential of the IoT to enable
vastly improved transportation safety, mobility and efficiency--and, in
doing so, seize a leadership opportunity for the U.S. by ensuring that
the Nation's intelligent transportation technology evolves at the
forefront of innovation.
Witness: Doug Davis is the Senior Vice President and General
Manager of Intel's worldwide IoT Group (IoTG). Doug has been an Intel
employee for 32 years, and began his career as a product engineer in
the company's Military and Special Products Division. Over the last
decade, Doug has run Intel's worldwide Embedded and Communications
Group, managed wafer factory operations, and now leads the IoT Group.
This organization is responsible for the company's IoT strategy and
solutions--consisting of hardware, software, security and services
across a wide range of market segments, including transportation,
manufacturing, healthcare, retail, smart home, smart buildings and
smart cities. For more than 30 years, Intel has made significant
investments, driven exciting innovations, led standards activities, and
supported what has evolved to become the IoT. At Intel, we like to say
that the IoT is an overnight transformation thirty years in the making.
Background
The Internet of Things. At its simplest, the IoT is: ``Things''
(devices) securely connected through a network to the cloud
(datacenter), from which data can be shared and analyzed to create
value (solve problems). The IoT enables us to connect ``things'' like
phones, appliances, machinery and cars to the Internet, share and
analyze the data generated by these things, and extract meaningful
insights that create new opportunities and solve problems. These
opportunities are extensive and exciting with the ability to transform
entire industries and our lives for the better. The IoT encompasses two
major segments: Consumer IoT and Industrial IoT. The ``Consumer IoT''
connects devices like game consoles, smart TVs, household appliances,
wearables and smart phones. The ``Industrial IoT'' connects devices in
industrial environments like factory equipment, security cameras,
medical devices and digital signs.
Transportation is one of the most promising sectors for the IoT. By
converting vast amounts of data into meaningful and actionable
intelligence, the IoT can help solve many of modern society's
automotive safety, transportation efficiency, mobility, and
infrastructure challenges. The IoT is rapidly enabling innovations like
connected cars, ``smart'' fleet management, intelligent transportation
infrastructure and, of course, self-driving (autonomous) cars. Notably,
almost half of Americans aspire to live in a driverless city where
cars, buses, and trains operate intelligently and automatically without
people driving them, and over one-third expect a driverless city by
2024.\1\ A policy framework that harnesses the full potential of these
transformational IoT opportunities in the automotive and transportation
sector is critical to U.S. economic leadership and productivity in the
21st century.
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\1\ The Vote Is In, Intel Corp. (Feb. 2014), http://
newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_news
room/blog/2014/02/10/the-vote-is-in-citizens-support-smart-cities-with-
driverless-cars-public-ser
vice-drones-and-surroundings-that-sense-activities.
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Intel Leadership in IoT Transportation. As an IoT leader, Intel is
committed to driving innovation across all market sectors, with a
significant focus on IoT transportation. We are collaborating with
policymakers, automakers, suppliers, academia, and cities worldwide--
utilizing the IoT to accelerate innovation. Intel is collaborating with
our automotive industry partners and governments that seek to not only
reimagine the car, but also restructure the idea of transportation as a
whole.
To realize the full potential of this new vision, industry must
undertake the appropriate and comprehensive testing to ensure that all
systems operate flawlessly. Consequently, Intel is building Centers of
Excellence (CoEs) to road test autonomous vehicles in our home states
of Arizona, California, Oregon and California, as well as Germany.\2\
Working with the automotive industry, our CoEs will enable improvements
in AV development by gathering data needed to build the machine
learning models that will provide the intelligence for these vehicles.
We're focusing on what it will take to realize safe, secure, fully
autonomous driving, and for vehicles to reliably communicate with each
other and the world around them. We are exploring how valuable data can
bring new services to market and how smart human-machine interfaces can
make autonomous driving intuitive and enjoyable.
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\2\ Intel Labs: http://www.intel.eu/content/www/eu/en/research/
intel-labs-europe.html
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For example, we are partnering with automakers to enable platforms
with fundamental advanced driver assist features like lane-keeping
assistance, collision warning, and automated parking assist,\3\ which
are early capabilities on the path to self-driving cars.\4\ We also are
helping businesses use IoT technology to optimize fleet management and
freight transport, using real-time data analytics to make drivers safer
and more efficient while reducing fuel consumption. We are also
partnering with city governments to deliver cutting-edge IoT
transportation infrastructure solutions like intelligent traffic
management (using advanced data analytics to enable integrated
transportation coordination, emergency traffic response, and congestion
reduction)\5\ and enhanced public transportation experiences (using
real-time interactive digital signage to make multi-modal transit
easier and more engaging for citizens).\6\
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\3\ ADAS Demo: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/automotive/
advanced-driver-assistance-systems-video.html
\4\ Self-Driving Car Technology and Computing Requirements, Intel
Corp. http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/automotive/driving-safety-
advanced-driver-assistance-systems-self-driving-technology-paper.html.
\5\ Intelligent Traffic Management: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=M0ZN8El6lfY
\6\ Real-Time Interactive Transit Displays: http://www.intel.com/
content/www/us/en/intelligent-systems/tech-today/transportation-
digital-signage-video.html.
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Intel's Vision for IoT in Transportation. Intel's vision for the
future of transportation is one of zero accidents, mobility for all,
environmental sustainability, reduced congestion, increased efficiency
and innovation that evolves at the pace of technology to ensure U.S.
global leadership. We are making large investments \7\ to enable a
future of autonomous vehicles with highly advanced sensors; connected
cars using advanced cellular technology like 5G (5th generation
cellular) for real-time vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) collision avoidance;
powerful in-vehicle computing capabilities to deliver driver strategy
and trajectory computing and self-driving capabilities; and secure,
high-speed, ultra-reliable communications with advanced data centers in
the cloud. All of this will be driven by the IoT and will transform our
lives and economies for the better.
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\7\ Intel Bulking Up Safety and Security of Self-Driving Car
Efforts, Fortune (April 2016) (``Intel Self-Driving Car investments''),
http://fortune.com/2016/04/05/intel-self-driving-car/.
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With the advent of new business models like transportation-as-a-
service and the growth of the car sharing economy, the transportation
sector is poised to make the leap from technologies and business models
grounded in the 20th Century to exciting and empowering technologies
firmly anchored in the 21st Century. To successfully compete in the
forward-looking global economy, U.S. policymakers must enable a
transportation ecosystem that is safe, secure, flexible and
interoperable. Global leadership will accrue to those markets that
address these goals in the most efficient manner possible.
The challenges for the stakeholder industries are numerous. For
example, industry must profitably transition from its current legacy
business models to business models that focus less on the human as a
``driver.'' Technology industry suppliers also must pivot to
intelligently utilize increasing amounts of data, while addressing the
needs of two vastly different generations of consumers--baby boomers
who want to maintain mobility and millennials who are challenging the
status quo of vehicle ownership. We must adapt as new technologies
become the foundation of our transportation ecosystem.
Of particular importance to the stakeholder industries will be how
the U.S. Government addresses some of the key foundational technologies
that will serve as the core architecture for future capabilities. Most
significantly, policymakers should be aware that it is widely expected
that 5G cellular (the rapidly emerging successor to today's 4G) will be
a foundational technology for the IoT overall and critical to the
success of IoT in transportation. For the U.S. to lead in the global
IoT transportation future, it is vital that the Nation's transportation
strategy recognizes the global marketplace direction and enormous
global industry investment in 5G--and that the U.S. pragmatically
invest its own limited Federal resources in 5G to keep pace with the
transportation industry worldwide.
So what do we mean by 5G, how does it impact the transportation
sector specifically, and why does it matter so much? Advanced cellular
communications such as next generation 5G technology offer uniquely
superior characteristics that are critical for V2V real-time collision
avoidance: very low latency (especially in dense vehicle
environments),\8\ ultra-high reliability, consistent safety
prioritization,\9\ very high speeds, advanced security, and cost
effectiveness to enable scale--and therefore many more saved lives.
This next generation of cellular also will have the backing of huge
global private industry investment and strong consumer demand which
propels technologies to the forefront and enables them to evolve at the
pace of innovation, which will be key for the long term evolution of
IoT solutions.
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\8\ Letter Report: Review of the Status of the Dedicated Short-
Range Communications Technology and Applications [Draft] Report to
Congress, TRB at 5-6 (April 2015), http://onlinepubs.trb.org/
onlinepubs/reports/DSRC_April_28_2015.pdf.
\9\ 5G provides reliable safety prioritization by optimally
managing both the communication channel and the prioritization of
safety information through the network, while supporting a highly
scalable broadcast mechanism for vehicles.
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Evidence of the global race to secure leadership in this space is
everywhere and should be viewed by U.S. policymakers as both a wakeup
call as well as a challenge to move intelligently and swiftly. Leading
examples include 5G deployments that are underway for the 2018 FIFA
World Cup in Russia \10\ and the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang,
South Korea,\11\ followed by the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo,
Japan.\12\ Moreover, 5G transportation use cases--and specifically V2V
safety real-time collision avoidance--already have been demonstrated in
major countries, with more following suit this year. For example,
Japanese mobile operator NTT DOCOMO (along with Nokia, Samsung,
Ericsson, Fujitsu and Huawei) successfully conducted 5G vehicle trials
in actual-use environments in 2015.\13\ Also in 2015, Deutsche Telecom
(along with Continental, Fraunhofer ESK, and Nokia) successfully
demonstrated ``near-5G'' communication between vehicles via the
cellular LTE network on the `Autobahn A9 motorway testbed' in
Germany.\14\ And Korean mobile operator KT plans to conduct early 5G
trials and commercialization between 2016 and 2018.\15\ Clearly, the
race is on and it's a crowded field.
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\10\ Huawei to introduce 5G networks for 2018 FIFA World Cup (Nov.
2014), http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/huawei-to-introduce-5g-
networks-for-2018-fifa-world-cup.
\11\ PyeongChang 2108, the ``5G Olympics'' Korea Info. Soc. (April
2016), http://www.koreainformationsociety.com/2016/04/pyeongchang-2018-
5g-olympics.html.
\12\ Nokia, NTT DoCoMo prepare for 5G ahead of 2020 launch, Reuters
(2015), http://www.reuters.com/article/us-telecoms-mwc-ntt-docomo-
idUSKBN0LY0FD20150302
\13\ DOCOMO Successfully Conducts 5G Trials in Actual-use
Environments (2015), https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/
media_center/pr/2015/1126_00.html.
\14\ Continental, Deutsche Telekom, Fraunhofer ESK, and Nokia
Networks Showcase First Safety Applications at ``digital A9 motorway
test bed'' (2015): https://www.telekom.com/media/company/293064
\15\ SK Telecom announces the foundation of 5G Open Trial
Specification Alliance with NTTDOCOMO, Verizon and KT (2016): http://
www.sktelecom.com/en/press/detail.do?idx=1156
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Why Congress Should Care: The Societal and Economic Impact of IoT in
Transportation
So why should policymakers care and why should they spend so much
time making sure the benefits are realized in a way that enables
technology in the U.S. to keep pace with global marketplace innovation?
The potential impact of IoT technology to address important societal
and economic challenges in the automotive and transportation sector is
remarkable, compelling and exciting. The benefits that will flow from
broad deployment of IoT technology in transportation is what energizes
our team at Intel, and we are optimistic that enthusiasm will be
contagious here in Congress.
The following is a summary of some of the many benefits of smart
utilization of the IoT that have been identified for the transportation
ecosystem:
Safety and Economic Savings. Improved vehicle safety is, and will
remain, the consistent top priority and foundation for Intel's IoT
transportation efforts. The statistics with respect to preventable
automobile accidents are devastating. Every year, more than 30,000
people in the U.S. die from preventable automobile accidents,\16\ and
human error is the primary reason for over 90 percent of U.S.
crashes.\17\ An EU study found that distracted and drowsy driving were
responsible for 13 percent of traffic deaths in 2014.\18\ These
accidents take an enormous emotional and physical toll on the driving
public and their loved ones, at a cost of approximately 300,000 lives
each decade in the U.S. and a cost of $190 billion each year in
healthcare costs associated with accidents.\19\
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\16\ Mortality--Motor Vehicle Traffic Deaths, CDC, http://
www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm (site last visited June 26, 2016).
\17\ Driverless cars could reduce traffic fatalities by up to 90
percent, says report, Science Alert (``Science Alert''), http://
www.sciencealert.com/driverless-cars-could-reduce-traffic-fatalities-
by-up-to-90-says-report; National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey,
U.S. Dept. of Transportation, at 25 (2008), http://
wwwnrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/811059.pdf.
\18\ Autonomous cars--game-changers for safety?, FANCI (Jan. 2016),
http://fanci-project.eu/autonomous-vehicles-changer/
\19\ Science Alert.
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Self-driving vehicles--where the vehicle senses its environment and
navigates without human input--are widely expected to dramatically
reduce crashes:
If only 10 percent of vehicles were self-driving:
US traffic deaths could decrease by 1,100; and
save almost $38 billion per year.
If 90 percent of vehicles were self-driving:
traffic deaths could decrease by 21,700; and
save $447 billion per year.\20\
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\20\ Preparing a Nation for Autonomous Vehicles: Opportunities,
Barriers and Policy Recommendations, Eno Center for Transportation, at
8 (Oct. 2013), https://www.enotrans.org/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/
downloadables/AV-paper.pdf.
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And, when 100 percent of vehicles are self-driving, the U.S. could
save $1.3 trillion per year.\21\
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\21\ The `Internet of Things' Is Now Connecting the Real Economy,
Morgan Stanley (April 2014), http://www.technologyinvestor.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/09/internet-of-Things-2.pdf. Specifically, $488B
savings from accident avoidance, $507B productivity gain from
autonomous cars, $158B fuel savings, $138B productivity gain from
congestion avoidance, and $11B fuel savings from congestion avoidance.
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McKinsey similarly projects that autonomous vehicles could
drastically reduce accidents, including reducing the lethality of
vehicle crashes in the U.S. from second to ninth amongst accident
types. They estimate that this would reduce the annual cost of roadway
crashes in the U.S. from $212 billion to $22 billion--a cost savings of
nearly 90 percent per year.\22\
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\22\ Ten ways autonomous driving could redefine the automotive
world, McKinsey & Co., (June 2015), http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/
automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/ten-ways-autonomous-driving-could-
redefine-the-automotive-world.
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Efficiency and Productivity. According to the United States Census
Bureau, the average American commute to work is 25.4 minutes, and
Americans spend 157 hours per person each year traveling on the
Nation's roads and highways.\23\ Moreover, the average American
commuter spends 38 hours per year stuck in traffic, which collectively
causes urban Americans to travel 5.5 billion more hours and purchase an
extra 2.9 billion gallons of fuel; the cost to the U.S. economy of this
wasted time and fuel is $121 billion per year.\24\ IoT technologies
like self-driving vehicles (where citizens can engage in productive
activity while in transit) and more intelligent transportation
infrastructure (with better traffic management) could enable a far more
productive and efficient U.S. citizenry.
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\23\ Commuting in the United States 2009, US Census Bureau (Sept.
2011), https://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-15.pdf
\24\ The American Commuter Spends 38 Hours a Year Stuck in Traffic,
The Atlantic (Feb. 2013), http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/
2013/02/the-american-commuter-spends-38-hours-a-year-stuck-in-traffic/
272905/. See also The Massive Economic Benefits Of Self-Driving Cars,
Forbes (Nov. 2014) (estimating the savings could go up to $500B/year),
http://www.forbes.com/sites/modeledbehavior/2014/11/08/the-massive-
economic-benefits-of-self-driving-cars/#6bb4e79e68d9.
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And for making our lives better, autonomous vehicles could free as
much as 50 minutes a day for users, who will be able to spend traveling
time working, relaxing, or accessing entertainment. The time saved by
commuters every day might add up globally to a mind-blowing one billion
hours--equivalent to twice the time it took to build the Great Pyramid
of Giza. It could also create a large pool of value, potentially
generating global digital-media revenues of €5 billion (over $5.5
trillion USD) per year for every additional minute people spend on the
mobile Internet while in a car.50
Reduced traffic congestion. Traffic congestion continues to have
significant impacts on urban design, land usage, and overall time usage
for travelers whether for work or pleasure. This issue is in large part
based on the need for vehicle parking. In a recent study, the
Transportation Alternatives group found that in one Brooklyn
neighborhood, 64 percent of the local cars were on local roads merely
because they were searching for a parking spot.\25\ Autonomous vehicles
would change that by self-parking themselves in less congested areas
and therefore enable city planners and developers the flexibility to
reshape and improve how we use land in cities. According to Rowe,\26\
one of the most profound effects of driverless vehicles would be to
drastically reduce the need for parking structures and surface lots,
which today take up a third of land inside cities. Some of the garages
and underground structures could be converted into storage spaces for
urban dwellers who live in micro units, while the unneeded surface lots
would be available for commercial or residential development or green
space.
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\25\ How Driverless Cars Could Turn Parking Lots into City Parks,
The Atlantic (Aug. 2015), http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/
archive/2015/08/driverless-cars-robot-cabs-parking-traffic/400526/
\26\ Imagining the Driverless City, Urban Land Magazine (Oct.
2015), http://urbanland.uli.org/infrastructure-transit/imagining-
driverless-city/
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New mobility options for the disabled and elderly. Nearly 15
million people across the U.S., including 6 million disabled
individuals, have challenges getting the transportation they need on a
daily basis.\27\ These individuals often become dependent on family
members or must resort to costly modes of transportation in order to
travel around their communities for business, medical and social
activities. Autonomous vehicles--because they do not require a human
driver--can open up better transportation and mobility options for
these individuals. This will both increase their individual quality of
life, as well as improve our overall society. Indeed, ``without access
to transportation, people with disabilities will not be part of
society's economic environment and will continue to be alienated from
the economic mainstream, thus causing a myriad of other problems, like
homelessness and institutionalization.'' \28\
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\27\ Transportation Difficulties Keep over Half a Million Disabled
at Home, USDOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2003), http://
www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/
special_reports_and_issue_briefs/issue_briefs/number_03/html/
entire.html.
\28\ Facts about Equity in Transportation for People with
Disabilities, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (site
last visited 6/25/16) http://www.civilrights.org/transportation/
disability/facts.html.
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Revenue and Growth. The automotive and transportation industries
will be among the first to see immediate growth from the IoT, with
global IoT revenue from the transportation sector reaching $325 billion
in 2018.\29\ With almost nine percent of the U.S. labor force employed
in the transportation sector \30\ and the U.S. spending roughly $160
billion annually on highway infrastructure (about one-fourth funded by
the Federal Government) \31\--America's share of this transportation
IoT revenue (and cost savings from IoT technologies) could be
significant.
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\29\ Roundup of Internet of Things Forecasts And Market Estimates,
2015, Forbes (citing IDC) (Dec. 2015), http://www.forbes.com/sites/
louiscolumbus/2015/12/27/roundup-of-internet-of-things-forecasts-and-
market-estimates-2015/2/#3060c5e34a10.
\30\ National Transportation Statistics, U.S. Dept. of
Transportation, Table 3-23 (July 2013), http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/
sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/
national_transportation_statistics/html/table_03_23.html.
\31\ Statement of Joseph Kile, Before the U.S. Senate Cmte. on
Finance, The Highway Trust Fund and Paying for Highways (May 17, 2011),
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12173/
05-17-highwayfunding.pdf.
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Fuel savings and reduction in harmful emissions. Experts such as
former GM executive Larry Burns, believe driverless trucks could reduce
costs in the line-haul trucking industry by 40 percent. By switching
from traditional car ownership models to a shared driverless model, the
costs of car ownership (based on U.S. modelling) could fall from $0.70
per mile to around $0.15 per mile--a 78 percent reduction.\32\ Notably,
the potential savings to the U.S. freight transportation industry
alone--one of the most compelling use cases for self-driving vehicles--
is estimated at $168 billion per year.\33\
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\32\ Accenture Digital at 4.
\33\ Id. Specifically, savings from labor ($70B), fuel efficiency
($35B), productivity ($27B), and accident savings ($36B).
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First Responders. Another important benefit of mass adoption of
autonomous vehicles could have a huge impact for first responders and
thus the public at large. With access to driverless vehicles, emergency
services could collaborate with analytics providers to improve response
times and elevate the level of healthcare provided to residents while
potentially lowering costs.\34\
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\34\ ``The new road to the future Realising the benefits of
autonomous vehicles in Australia,'' Accenture Digital at 10 (2014)
(``Accenture Digital''), https://www.accenture.com/t00010101
T000000_w_/au-en/_acnmedia/Accenture/Conversion-Assets/DotCom/
Documents/Local/en-gb/PDF_3/Accenture-Realising-Benefits-Autonomous-
Vehicles-Australia.pdf
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Global Trends
But the U.S. is not alone in wanting to realize those benefits. We
see a number of initiatives globally that will shape the evolution of
technologies, industrial capabilities, and environmental infrastructure
for autonomous vehicles to become a mainstream capability that this
Committee should note as it develops its own IoT transportation vision
for the U.S. A review of what is being done globally must be an
essential component of your deliberations and the following may help
illuminate some of the key activities that merit attention.
Country Investments in Autonomous Vehicles. The race to an
autonomous vehicle world is a global one. It is important for Congress
to appreciate not only the amount of funding other countries are
investing in IoT transportation, but most importantly the future proof
technologies in which they are investing. In short, they are largely
investing in AV technologies and 5G connectivity--both of which are
widely expected to achieve rapid and widespread voluntary adoption
worldwide. If America seeks to lead the world in IoT transportation,
policymakers may find interesting the countries large and strategic
investments that other countries are making to drive a successful IoT
transportation future and keep pace with innovation for years to come.
China's search giant, Baidu, has partnered with BMW and
released a semi-autonomous vehicle prototype, and has tested
their technologies on highways in China. The semi-autonomous
vehicle is a modified 3-Series BMW that drove an 18.6-mile
route around Beijing.\35\
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\35\ China's roadmap to self-driving cars, Fortune (April 2016),
http://fortune.com/2016/04/23/china-self-driving-cars/?iid=sr-link2;
Inside China's Plan to Beat America to the Self-Driving Car, Wired
(June 2016), https://www.wired.com/2016/06/chinas-plan-first-country-
self-driving-cars/
Japan is investing in a multimillion dollar research center,
called the National Innovation Complex, opened at Nagoya
University last year. A key project is to develop self-driving
car technology.\36\
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\36\ Scania to test Ericsson 5G for V2X applications, Safe Car News
(May 2016), http://safecarnews.com/scania-to-test-ericsson-5g-for-v2x-
applications-ma7311/
Germany's Chancellor Merkel told carmakers that they should
soon be able to test self-driving vehicles on German roads by
promising to remove legal barriers.18 The stretch on
the A9 autobahn--which links Munich and Berlin--will give the
industry the opportunity to ``test and optimize new innovations
in an adapted infrastructure that offers data connections and
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
measuring tools.19
Sweden is sponsoring a large-scale trial of 100 Volvo
driverless cars to begin on the public roads of Gothenburg in
2017. This pilot is part of the Swedish government's vision of
zero traffic fatalities, and will give insights into the
technological challenges at the same time as receiving valuable
feedback from real customers driving on public
roads.17
Korea. The Korean government has pledged 145.5 billion won
($127.7 million USD) to develop key technologies for self-
driving cars in hopes of beating out global competitors,
including leading IT companies, beginning in 2017.\37\
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\37\ Gov't pledges 145.5 billion won for self-driving technology,
Korea Joon Gang Daily (April 2016), http://
koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=3018172
The UK announced 20 million (over $27 million
USD) of its 100 million Intelligent Mobility Fund
will be invested in autonomous vehicle advancement, including
current trials to test driverless cars on the streets of
Bristol, Coventry and Milton Keynes, and Greenwich, and
developing autonomous shuttles to carry visually-impaired
passengers using advanced sensors and control systems.\38\
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\38\ Driverless car technology receives £20 million boost
(Feb. 2016), https://www.gov.uk/government/news/driverless-cars-
technology-receives-20-million-boost; Driverless cars to be tested on
UK motorways in 2017, Wired.uk (March 2016) http://www.wired.co.uk/
article/budget-support-driverless-car-trials-uk-motorways-2017.
A review of what the auto industry has undertaken to date also is
vital for your strategic planning. Again, we see advancements occurring
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worldwide:
Status of Autonomous Vehicles. Both traditional automakers and new
automotive innovators are racing to deliver a self-driving vehicle
world--largely predicting mainstream autonomous vehicles on market by
or before 2020.\39\
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\39\ Driverless car market: Gearing up to save lives, reduce costs,
resource consumption (``Self-Driving Forecast''), http://
www.driverless-future.com/?page_id=384 (site last visited 6/22/16).
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Highly Autonomous Cars on Market Today
2015 Infiniti Q50S: Intelligent Cruise Control, Predictive
Forward Collision Warning, Forward Emergency Braking, Lane
Departure Warning/Prevention, Active Lane Control
2015 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG Coupe: Distronic Plus with
Steering Assist, Adaptive Brake Technology, Active Lane-Keeping
Assist
2016 Tesla Model S P85D/P90D: Autopilot, Autosteer, Auto
Lane Change, Autopark, Traffic-Aware Cruise Control
2016 Volvo XC90 T6/T8 Hybrid: Intellisafe Autopilot
2016 Honda Civic: Semi-autonomous ADAS
2016 BMW 750i xDrive: Driver Assistance Plus, Active Driving
Assistant Plus
Near-Term Highly Autonomous Prototypes
Lexus GS 450h: Intelligent Safety Concept
Faraday Future FFZERO1 EV Concept: Self-driving, almost
fully autonomous
Audi RS7: Driving Concept Car
Acura RLX Sedan: Self-Driving Prototype
Fully Autonomous Cars 2017-2021
Audi expects its A8 to be capable of fully autonomous
driving next year in 2017.\40\
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\40\ Next-gen Audi A8 drives better than you, Motoring (Oct. 2014),
http://www.motoring
.com.au/next-gen-audi-a8-drives-better-than-you-46963/.
Volvo pledged no accidents in its cars by 2020 due to
autonomous technology \41\ and announced a 100-car public trial
with Swedish authorities where members of public will be behind
wheel.\42\
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\41\ Volvo's 2020 pledge: No one will die in our cars, CS Monitor/
AP (Jan. 2016), http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/0121/Volvo-s-
2020-pledge-No-one-will-die-in-our-cars
\42\ Volvo to test autonomous cars with ordinary drivers on public
roads by 2017, The Guardian (Feb. 2015), https://www.theguardian.com/
technology/2015/feb/24/volvo-test-autonomous-cars-ordinary-drivers-
public-roads-by-2017
Google plans to have its driverless cars on the market no
later than 2018.\43\
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\43\ Sergey Brin on driverless car future, Driverless Car Market
Watch (Oct. 2012), http://www.driverless-future.com/?p=323
Tesla Founder expects first fully autonomous Tesla vehicles
by 2018.\44\
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\44\ Elon Musk Says Tesla Vehicles Will Drive Themselves in Two
Years, Fortune (Dec. 2015), http://fortune.com/2015/12/21/elon-musk-
interview/
Baidu expects a large number of self-driving cars on the
road by 2019, with mass-production in full swing by 2021.\45\
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\45\ China's Baidu Could Beat Google to Self-Driving Car with BMW,
The Guardian (June 2015), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/
jun/10/baidu-could-beat-google-self-driving-car-bmw.
Volkswagen expects the first self-driving cars to appear on
the market by 2019.\46\
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\46\ Self-Driving Forecast; see also Die Zukunft nach dem Abgas-
Skandal, Focus Magazine (April 2016), http://www.focus.de/finanzen/
news/wirtschaft-und-geld-die-zukunft-nach-dem-abgas-
skandal_id_5457885.html
Ford CEO expects to have self-driving cars by 2020.\47\
Similarly, Changan (Ford's partner in China) said a self-
driving model should be on the market in 2-3 years, with the
automaker spending 5 billion yuan ($773 million USD) to further
the technology by 2020.\48\
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\47\ Ford's self-driving cars likely around 2020, USA Today (Jan.
2016), http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/01/05/ford-reaffirms-
multi-pronged-auto-tech-approach-ces/78301192/
\48\ Inside China's Plan to Beat America to the Self-Driving Car,
Wired (June 2016), https://www.wired.com/2016/06/chinas-plan-first-
country-self-driving-cars/
Daimler, the maker of Mercedes Benz, plans to have its
driverless trucks ready by 2020.\49\ Uber placed an order for
100,000 Mercedes self-driving sedans for its ride-sharing
service by 2020.\50\
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\49\ Daimler tests autonomous big-rig convoy on public roads, Road
& Track (March 2016), http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-
technology/news/a28548/daimler-tests-autonomous-big-rig-convoy-on/
\50\ After considering Tesla, Uber reportedly placed an order with
Mercedes for 100,000 self-driving cars, Electrek (March 2016), http://
electrek.co/2016/03/18/uber-order-mercedes-100000-autonomous-cars/.
Nissan will make fully autonomous vehicles available to the
consumer by 2020.\51\
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\51\ Nissan's autonomous drive car, Nissan USA (March 2014), http:/
/www.nissanusa.com/blog/autonomous-drive-car
Toyota, the maker of Lexus, plans to bring its first models
capable of autonomous highway driving to the market by
2020.\52\
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\52\ Toyota to launch first driverless car in 2020, Wired UK (Oct
2015), http://www.wired.co.uk/article/toyota-highway-teammate-
driverless-car-tokyo
GM predicts that most industry participants now think that
self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020 or sooner.\53\
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\53\ GM executive credits Silicon Valley for accelerating
development of self-driving cars, WSJ (May 2016), http://www.wsj.com/
articles/gm-executive-credits-silicon-valley-for-accelerating-
development-of-self-driving-cars-1462910491
BMW CEO Harald Krueger said that BMW will launch a self-
driving electric vehicle, the BMW iNext, in 2021.\54\
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\54\ BMW will launch the electric and autonomous iNext in 2021, new
i8 in 2018 and not much in-between, Elektrek (May 2016), http://
electrek.co/2016/05/12/bmw-electric-autonomous-inext-2021/
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IoT Automotive Technologies
There also is good reason to review the fact that, within the
transportation sector, there are two distinct yet often conflated
technologies: the ``connected car'' and the ``autonomous vehicle''
(self-driving car). The first--with the rapid evolution to 5G cellular
technology--may precede the second, but provides a great example of how
technologies and capabilities rapidly advanced once the foundational
capability for connecting cars was established. The same will likely
hold true for autonomous vehicles once the foundational technologies
are in place.
Connected car. The connected car has existed for many years with
increasingly sophisticated capabilities. From the initial built-in
cellular connectivity, the capabilities today include real-time
navigation and traffic updates as well as Internet web connectivity for
on-board apps. In most countries, ``connected car'' is a broad term
indicating that the vehicle is equipped with one or more technologies
that enable Internet access--most often via a wireless network using
advanced cellular (like 4G/LTE, 5G) and/or Wi-Fi technologies. A
``connected car'' shares Internet access with other devices both inside
as well as outside the vehicle, enabling passengers to access features
including in-car entertainment, smartphone apps, navigation, roadside
service and car diagnostics. (By contrast, USDOT tends to narrowly use
the term ``connected vehicle'' to refer only to a vehicle with the
agency's preferred V2V safety technology: Dedicated Short Range
Communications or DSRC in the 5.9 GHz \55\ spectrum band.) These
solutions will rapidly evolve to use two-way Internet connectivity to
communicate with not only other vehicles V2V but also infrastructure
(V2I) and other ``things'' (V2X).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\55\ 5.9 GHz and 5G are entirely different things. 5.9 GHz is the
embattled spectrum band in which DSRC technology would operate. Whereas
5G is a cellular technology (that operates in non-5.9 GHz spectrum
bands).
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While this hearing is not intended to delve into spectrum policy,
we would note that U.S. policymakers will ultimately need to address
the path for various technologies. For example, nearly all studies
projecting future marketplace penetration of connected vehicles are
using the broader definition to reflect the projected pervasiveness of
advanced cellular (5G), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and satellite communications--
not DSRC.\56\ For example, Gartner predicts that by 2020, there will be
a quarter billion connected vehicles on the road.\57\ This connected
car market is projected to generate new services revenue from connected
cars at approximately $40 billion annually by 2020.\58\
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\56\ See, e.g., Connected Car Report, Gartner (2015), http://
www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2970017.
\57\ Id.
\58\ Id.
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With 4G LTE now deployed in nearly every major market, the rapid
evolution and market demand for cellular technologies like LTE-Advanced
(LTE-A) and 5th generation cellular (5G), along with next generation
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, are driving this connected car innovation. These
cellular technologies are the product of a competitive marketplace with
significant and constantly evolving industry R&D, strong industry
investment in wide-scale deployment, and very rapid and high
marketplace adoption. If the U.S. seeks to capture a strong portion of
this $40 billion per year connected car services market, it is
imperative that the Nation's policies and resources support public and
private investment in these advanced cellular technologies, including
testbeds for cellular V2V safety critical communications and real-time
safety messaging and collision avoidance.
Autonomous vehicle (AV). As its name implies, the self-driving
vehicle is capable of operating without a driver. It uses a complex
array of tools to help it navigate real world conditions of day-to-day
driving. For example, the Google self-driving car uses a mix of radar,
LIDAR (measures distances by illuminating a target with laser light),
HD cameras, advanced GPS and HD mapping to sense its environment and
surroundings. There is no DSRC connectivity in the Google car; although
it is widely expected that 5G connectivity will be added to many self-
driving cars.
Autonomous cars also have the ability to make driving decisions
based on complex analysis of data from these sensing elements. Self-
driving cars also may have (but need not) Internet connectivity; for
example, they may use 4G or 5G cellular communications as secondary
source of information for V2V real-time collision avoidance, in
addition to the on-board sensor-based systems which provide their
primary source of data. In short, the vehicle is increasingly becoming
smarter, more complex, processing more data and effectively becoming a
``data center on wheels.'' Intel has been leading the industry in data
center technology for decades and appreciates the importance of secure,
efficient and reliable computing.
There are a number of technologies that are essential to the
evolution of these solutions. Sensors have been and will continue to
evolve rapidly. As noted, cameras and LIDAR as well as radar and
ultrasound are used to help the car ``see'' what's around it. These
sensors are being refined to be more purpose built for this specific
application. Data from these sensors must then be integrated (sometimes
called sensor fusion) at a first order to provide very fast initial
indications of the environment. That data is then fed into very high
performance computing platforms that can then process the data and make
decisions about the control of the vehicle. The processing today is
largely done according to algorithms that have been refined based on
environmental understanding and knowledge of driving decisions. Going
forward though, these decisions will be made using sophisticated
``machine learning'' (ML) and ``deep learning'' (DL) technologies like
vision-based object recognition which allows the vehicle to 'see' the
objects in the environment around it--pedestrians, other cars, road
signs, etc. These systems will gather data from vehicles on an on-going
basis (called ``scoring), send that data to the datacenter or cloud,
continuously ``learn'' from what is happening from the fleet of
vehicles on the road (called ``training''), improve the driving model,
and then send the improved model back down to the fleet. These systems
must become well integrated end-to-end solutions that have persistent
connectivity to the datacenter, and are able to evolve rapidly to meet
the needs of more and more sophisticated transportation solutions.
In the last few years, there has been a remarkable acceleration in
autonomous vehicle investment, innovation and testing around the world.
Discussions of IoT innovations and autonomous vehicles have quickly
migrated from niche engineering and auto industry websites to
mainstream publications. Seemingly from out of the blue, the term
``self-driving car'' has entered into our everyday lexicon--with U.S.
and global consumers of all ages demanding (and even expecting) sensor-
based collision avoidance technologies like predictive collision
warning, automatic breaking, parking assist and active lane control
when purchasing new cars. A recent study by The Harford and MIT AgeLab
found that, like younger generations, 76 percent of drivers age 50-69
purposefully seek out high-tech autonomous vehicle safety features.\59\
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\59\ Looking Forward: Vehicle Technology Preferences Among Mature
Drivers, The Hartford Center for Mature Market Excellence and MIT
AgeLab (2016), http://extramile.thehartford.com/auto/vehicle-
technology-preferences-mature-drivers.
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Moreover, the pace of autonomous vehicle investments and
announcements around the globe have further accelerated in just the
last 6 months. Over this time period, Intel has seen ship dates from
our auto industry customers ``pull in'' (move up) by as much as 5
years, as these companies have come to fully realize that they must
accelerate their technology innovation time-to-market or be left
behind. Indeed, these self-driving technologies--which seemed like a
far off ``Jetsons'' fantasy just five years ago--seem just around the
corner today.
In order to turn this autonomous vision into a reality, the auto
industry and transportation providers of the future must harness
rapidly evolving technologies, collaborate with new partners like the
high-tech industry, and embrace disruptive opportunities to innovate.
This autonomous driving future will only continue to accelerate as
technology advancements and the competitive marketplace further enable
automakers to go to market with new autonomous vehicle innovations in
an increasingly expedited manner to deliver on the vision of a zero
accidents future.
Policy Recommendations for a National IoT Transportation Strategy
Countries around the world are moving aggressively ahead on
establishing national plans and blueprints with time-bound measurable
goals, investing substantial funding in AV and 5G cellular V2V safety
research and deployments, and launching PPPs to jumpstart these
opportunities to quickly enable scale. As these other countries have
recognized, a forward-looking IoT transportation strategy that will
keep pace with global innovation is essential. It is critical for U.S.
policymakers to enable a vibrant and state-of-the-art transportation
system to ensure the Nation's global competitiveness and economic
stability in the 21st century. By adopting and implementing a National
IoT Transportation Strategy for autonomous vehicles and 5G-enabled
connected cars, the U.S. will be poised to secure a worldwide
leadership position in this next evolution of transportation.
As a part of our larger U.S. National IoT Strategy (that would be
developed pursuant to the new USDOC/NTIA IoT green paper process and
the pending bipartisan DIGIT Act),\60\ Intel recommends that the
following principles drive our National IoT Transportation Strategy:
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\60\ Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things Act
(2016), https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/03de7771-
088b-45ac-8552-f82ddc0aa480/digit-2016_final-bill-for-filing.pdf.
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Prioritize Safety and Security. Enhanced safety is vital to the
success of America's IoT transportation future. Safety means (i)
reducing the number and severity of crashes and (ii) protecting
consumers and businesses from security breaches of the vast amount of
data generated by their vehicles. With respect to crashes, self-driving
vehicles will remove the risk of human error, and thus are widely
expected to reduce U.S. traffic deaths by tens of thousands per year,
as discussed in detail above. With respect to security, future vehicles
will generate a tremendous amount of ``data exhaust'' as they
seamlessly connect to each other, infrastructure and consumer
electronic devices and enable autonomous tasks.\61\ For example, a
self-driving car could generate as much as two petabytes of data per
year.\62\
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\61\ The Future of Intelligent Transportation: http://
www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/automotive/experiencing-future-
intelligent-transportation-video.html
\62\ A Self-Driving Car Will Create 1 GB of Data per Second,
SmartData Collective (July 2013) (``Smart Data''), http://
www.smartdatacollective.com/bigdatastartups/135291/self-driving-cars-
will-create-2-petabytes-data-what-are-big-data-opportunitie.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Security. Intel values security first and foremost. We believe that
security is the foundation of IoT transportation and it is fundamental
to Intel's roadmap planning. Our hardware and software are being
designed from the beginning to be secure. This is important for trusted
data exchange in the IoT, as data generated by devices (including
vehicles) and infrastructure must be able to be shared among the cloud,
the network, and intelligent devices for analysis. This enables users
to aggregate, filter and share data from the edge of the network all
the way to the cloud with robust protection. Data also must be accurate
to be beneficial. Intel prioritizes the security, accuracy, privacy and
integrity of data in all market sectors, and especially in the
industrial (including transportation) domain where the safeguarding of
critical infrastructure can be vital to economic and social stability.
Intel appreciates that we must deliver and evoke consumer and
industry trust through these hardened security solutions to motivate
adoption and participation in the IoT marketplace. We believe it is
critical to integrate security into the hardware and software, from the
smallest microcontroller (MCU) at the edge of the network to the most
advanced server central processing unit (CPU) in the cloud and all
gateways \63\ and devices in between. These hardware-and software-level
security capabilities create redundancies which prevent intrusions and
enable a robust, secure, trusted IoT end-to-end solution.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\63\ A gateway is a node on a network that serves as an entrance to
another network.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hardware. Intel's hardware provides transistor-level security on
the actual compute device itself. By integrating security into the
device itself from the outset (rather than layering it on top at a
latter point in the design cycle with other, less secure external
features), Intel's IoT solutions enable our customers to know the exact
unique identity of every device on their network. This technology also
has the capability for encrypting that unique identity to provide
anonymity properties in addition to hardware enforced integrity.
Because each compute device can have an immutable identification to
enable secure provisioning, a non-approved device will not be allowed
to access the network. The MCU or CPU itself will provide the ``baked
in'' (irremovable, non-changeable) identity of the device, making the
level of security significantly more robust.
On top of this immutable device identification, Intel's IoT
solutions employ advanced hardware level security capabilities such as
``whitelisting,'' which prevents harmful applications like viruses,
control agents, and malware from ever being activated on the device.
What this means is that, if the CPU ever ``sees'' an application that
is not on its known good list (``whitelist'') try to run on the device,
it will automatically lock out that device and not allow it turn on. At
other layers in IoT solutions, Intel also uses another advanced
hardware security capability called ``blacklisting,'' which blocks a
defined list of known malware from entering the device and the network.
Software. In addition to the advanced hardware security
capabilities in Intel's IoT solutions, Intel Security (formerly McAfee)
integrates advanced security capabilities that provide robust software-
level protection. This means that the software is continually
monitoring the activity of its networked devices-and looking for any
abnormalities or possible threats. If the monitoring software
identifies a threat, it proactively notifies users and/or automatically
quarantines any devices on the network that could be at risk. By
employing this combination of transistor-level security, along with
advanced hardware and software level security, from devices on the edge
of the network all the way to the data centers in the cloud, Intel
protects IoT assets and information in ways few others can. We know
that security is critical to protect the integrity of IoT solutions, so
we will design it in from the outset.
We also must account for the distinct security challenges of
autonomous and connected features, harnessing appropriate technical and
policy strategies to mitigate risks and enable a safe, secure vehicle
that evokes trust from drivers and passengers on U.S. highways.
Autonomous vehicle solutions use local sensors and ``intelligence'' to
provide a highly secure, self-contained, robust source of data. By
contrast, a vehicle's ``connected'' features exchange data between two
``things''--with the Internet, other cars, and infrastructure--
potentially making this threat landscape more vulnerable. This is one
of many reasons why it is exceedingly important that we look to
advanced cellular technologies like today's 4G and the soon-to-arrive
5G for applications like V2V safety critical communications (vs. a
system with multiple known vulnerabilities like USDOT's proposed DSRC
Security Credential Management System).\64\
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\64\ SCMS relies on sporadic connection between the vehicle and
infrastructure to validate and revoke certificates initiated by the
Certifying Authority. This sporadic connection can cause large delays
in revoking security certificates and can erroneously permit non-secure
and unauthenticated messages to be transmitted to/among vehicles. By
contrast, cellular networks use mechanisms to robustly protect vehicles
from cybersecurity incidents; persistent cellular connections help
accelerate certificate update, distribution, and revocation, making
certificate management much more effective, secure and reliable.
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Encourage Innovation and Competition. Self-driving vehicle
technology, connected cars, ``smart'' fleet management and intelligent
transportation infrastructure have enormous potential to improve
driving safety, mobility, energy use, and transportation efficiency--
paving the way for U.S. smart cities of tomorrow. Innovation and market
competition--in tandem with light-touch, adaptive, technology neutral,
performance-based regulation--must drive our Nation's policy framework
and guidelines to enable the U.S. to lead the world in the automotive
and transportation sector of the future.
As we know, regulation of technology, however well intended, will
always lag marketplace innovation and often thwart innovation. This can
be true even in areas of extreme importance such as building secure
networks and technologies. In order to position the U.S. to lead the
rest of the world in the globally competitive IoT transportation
future, USDOT R&D funding should help enable and accelerate industry-
driven investment. The agency should never seek to choose, mandate or
direct the technologies which U.S. companies develop or in which they
invest, nor should it put its thumb on the scale or try to drive a
specific market outcome. Public policies that encourage innovation,
competition, and market-driven investment are critical to enable U.S.
leadership in IoT technologies like connected cars and self-driving
vehicles to reach their full potential, realize maximum economic and
safety benefits, and become widely available in a timely and globally
competitive manner.
Promote technology neutrality. Pursuant to the FAST Act \65\ Joint
Explanatory Statement: \66\ ``The FAST Act ensures that [USDOT]
programs are implemented and Intelligent Transportation Systems are
deployed in a technology neutral manner. The Act promotes technology
neutral policies that accelerate vehicle and transportation safety
research, development and deployment by promoting innovation and
competitive market-based outcomes, while using Federal funds
efficiently and leveraging private sector investment across the
automotive, transportation and technology sectors.'' As drafted by
bicameral and bipartisan Members of Congress, this statement should
serve as a constant guiding principle; it is critical that USDOT drive
technology-neutral policies based on competitive market-based outcomes
to ensure U.S. consumers benefit from the life-saving capabilities of
the most advanced technologies, which stay apace with technology
evolution for decades to come.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\65\ H.R. 22, Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (2015),
https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr22/BILLS-114hr22enr.pdf.
\66\ Joint Explanatory Statement of the Committee of the Conference
at 10 (2015), http://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/
joint_explanatory_statement.pdf.
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It is imperative that the U.S. align our future transportation
strategy with the realities and direction of the worldwide open,
competitive marketplace and the areas of largest global investment. We
must architect and adopt a leading-edge, future-proof strategy that
invests primarily in AVs (self-driving cars) and 5G cellular technology
starting with V2V real-time collision avoidance applications. However,
USDOT is not promoting--or even seriously researching--advanced
cellular technologies like 5G for V2V safety critical applications,
which many industry experts believe will be the leading global V2V
safety technology.\67\ For the U.S. to stay apace our global
competitors, Congress should direct USDOT to undertake a meaningful,
technology-neutral cost-benefit analysis vs. DSRC \68\ to ensure that
U.S. consumers are poised to reap the benefits of the best V2V safety
technology(ies) that will evolve at the pace of marketplace
innovation--and enable U.S. IoT transportation leadership now and in
the future.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\67\ See, e.g., DSRC Confronts a Battle for relevance at ITS World
Congress (2014): https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/
automotive/powertrain-body-chassis-and-safety/reports/report-detail/
dsrc-confronts-a-battle-for-relevance-at-its-world-
congress?Related#.Vwgur_krJD8
\68\ It is critical that the Nation's limited funding be invested
in 5G and AVs independent of DSRC, as AVs and 5G connectivity operate
independently of (and without need for) DSRC. Yet, USDOT investment in
AVs and cellular to date primarily have encouraged a DSRC aspect to the
test bed or project. Despite many comments by high-tech industry
advocating advanced cellular/5G for V2V safety and questioning a DSRC
mandate in the agency's 2014 V2V ANPRM, USDOT still has not funded any
advanced cellular testbeds for V2V safety communications that would
enable a head-to-head comparison with DSRC.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most of the world is developing and testing AVs and 5G connectivity
for real-time collision avoidance independent of DSRC (if they are
testing DSRC at all). Let the technologies' capabilities determine
marketplace winners and losers, rather than force industry investment
in a technology (DSRC) chosen in 1999 before mobile broadband even
existed--and that will put the U.S. behind other countries. Seventeen
years later, we should be investing in the future (aligned with the
greater global marketplace), rather than forcing U.S. investment in an
old technology. If we invest the time now to do broader technology R&D
and transition to a more future-proof strategy, policymakers will be
ensuring that U.S. consumers have the benefit of the best collision
avoidance technolology(ies) that will evolve at the pace of innovation.
Without this, we risk thwarting U.S. global leadership and, more
importantly, the potential to save more American lives.
DSRC has been slow to develop (in testing phase for nearly two
decades) and is not poised to evolve at the pace of innovation because
the marketplace is unlikely to see the global industry support or
voluntary widespread market demand that would enable economies of
scale. Also, unlike 5G, which industry is evolving from existing 4G
networks and infrastructure, DSRC will require entirely new
infrastructure at massive taxpayer expense for years to come; the cost
of building and deploying new infrastructure for DSRC and covering all
necessary rural and urban areas is estimated to be approximately
$3,000/mile.\69\ For these reasons, innovations like next generation
cellular 5G are developed, tested, built out and commercialized at a
far faster pace than DSRC--and will continue to evolve on pace with
innovation. In the end, the losers will be U.S. consumers deprived of
the best cellular V2V safety technologies that evolve on pace with a
competitive marketplace.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\69\ 5G-PPP Automotive White Paper (Oct. 2015).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Encourage Open Platforms. Open IoT technology platforms are
critical to the ability of U.S. companies to compete globally because
they ensure cross-industry support and agreement. Open platforms allow
multiple manufacturers to ``plug in'' their technologies, while
proprietary platforms only allow use of a single manufacturer's
proprietary technology. This encourages developers to create solutions
that span from car to cloud in a simple way. Government should
encourage industry to collaborate on open platforms for autonomous and
connected vehicles.
Open platforms are necessary to accelerate and maximize innovation
across the increasingly broadening automotive and transportation
industries and enable economies of scale. For example, Intel is widely
deploying ''state of the art'' autonomous reference platforms that are
open, standards-based and scalable to support safe and secure computing
both in the vehicle and the connected data center. This enables other
stakeholders and innovators to contribute core technology including
platform software, machine learning algorithms and data collected from
vehicle sensors to enable a safe and secure driving experience.
Support Open Standards and Consortia Efforts. Global standards and
consortia efforts are critical to maintain the long term viability of
technology advancements. They enable a commercialization path that is
scalable, interoperable and reusable across a variety of use case
deployments, vendors and sectors. Accordingly, a certain level of
standardization and interoperability is vital to the successful
commercialization of self-driving vehicles, connected cars, ``smart''
fleet management and the intelligent transportation ecosystem.
Industry-led voluntary global standards can accelerate adoption, drive
competition, and enable cost-effective introduction of new
technologies, while providing a clearer technology evolution path that
stimulates investment.
Industry is in the best position to lead development of
technological standards and solutions to address global transportation
ecosystem opportunities and challenges to enable self-driving vehicles,
connected vehicles, ``smart'' fleet management and intelligent
transportation systems. Policymakers should refrain from mandating
specific technologies, standards, or protocols and, instead, let the
marketplace determine technology winners and losers. Government should
encourage industry to collaborate in global, open-participation
standardization efforts to develop technological best practices and
standards, and it should participate in the development of standards
where there is a government interest and encourage the use of
commercially available solutions to enable the benefits of these new
technologies to become reality sooner.
Invest in Public-Private Partnerships. The tech industry is
critical to the future of U.S. transportation policy dialogue. A
vehicle is an increasingly complex data center on wheels, requiring
evermore high-powered processors and Internet connectivity--with self-
driving cars expected to process at 1 GB of data per second.\70\ As
part of a National IoT Transportation Strategy, policymakers should
encourage Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to launch and scale
globally competitive transportation test beds. These testbeds are
necessary to accelerate deployment of technologies such as 5G which is
critical to U.S. leadership in V2V safety-critical and V2X
communications and machine learning which is critical to autonomous
driving.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\70\ Smart Data.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Government and industry collaboration can be one of our Nation's
best assets to accelerate the adoption of world-class transportation
systems. Viable PPPs between government and the auto and tech
industries must entail logical investments for both government and
industry, as well as ensure scalability of automotive innovations and
sustainability of transportation infrastructure in the long term. Using
public and private resources to facilitate U.S. research leadership,
and governance for in 5G connectivity and autonomous driving, while
leveraging existing industry standards and investments, will accelerate
our future toward self-driving vehicles, connected cars, ``smart''
fleet management, and intelligent transportation infrastructure.
Intel recommends that policymakers encourage PPPs in the following
areas that are critical to the success of safe and secure autonomous
and connected vehicles:
Trusted Data and Secure Compute--Fully autonomous driving
will require the processing capabilities of a ``mini data
center on wheels.'' A self-driving car will require up to 40
Teraflops of computer graphics processing speed, which is the
equivalent to 20 HD TVs inside each vehicle. Compare: A Play
Station 4 uses only 1.84 Teraflops. Along with this enormous
computing power, every data exchange to and from the vehicle
must be trusted, safe and secure. As discussed above, powerful
computing with integrated security is Intel's core competency,
and what our data center customers have required for decades.
5G Connectivity--As discussed at the outset, soon-to-be
launched 5G--boasts superior key performance indicators for
vehicle connectivity use cases, especially V2V safety-critical
applications. To align the Industry, Intel is driving standards
workgroups in 3GPP and the Wi-Fi Alliance to influence new
standards, converge protocols and demonstrate functionally safe
and secure safety-critical use cases. Intel and our partners
around the world in the academic, auto and technology
industries are working collaboratively to drive robust, open,
secure and scalable 5G standards for V2V safety-critical
communications.
Security as a Foundation--Intel has long touted security as
a foundation for the IoT. Securing connected vehicles and the
supporting infrastructure is foundational to keeping passengers
safe and secure and requires an end-to-end system (vehicle to
cloud) approach. Not only must every vehicle be safeguarded
against cyber threats, but every device connected to the
vehicle and the personal information available via these
devices, must also be kept private as it moves between the
vehicle, connected devices, connected infrastructure, and the
cloud. Intel formed the Automotive Security Review Board \71\
to help align the tech and automotive industries and
cybersecurity experts on guidelines and best practices to make
vehicles secure.
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\71\ Intel commits to mitigating automotive cyber security risks,
Intel Corp. (Sept. 2015), https://newsroom.intel.com/news-releases/
intel-commits-to-mitigating-automotive-cybersecurity-risks/.
Machine Learning--The fully autonomous vehicle must become
the ultimate learning machine. It will be relied upon to make
smarter and safer decisions than even the most skilled human
driver. Intel has been investing in companies with expertise in
functional safety \72\ and doing foundational research in Deep
Learning for many years and is working to ensure that our
products both in the vehicle and in the data center are capable
of bringing the intelligence needed for the vehicle to sense
and adapt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\72\ Intel Acquires Yogitech to Strengthen its Internet of Things
Group, Venture Capital Post (April 2016), http://www.vcpost.com/
articles/119131/20160407/intel-yogitech-altera-corp-autonomous-
vehicles.htm
Open, Standards-Based Platforms--Intel is working with
fellow tech and auto industry leaders to define industry
standards to accelerate autonomous driving deployments and
create economies of scale that enable rapid marketplace
adoption. This will enable industry leaders to contribute core
technology including platform software, machine learning
algorithms and data collected from vehicle sensors to enable a
safe and secure driving experience.
Conclusion
Intel appreciates the opportunity to share our perspective on the
enormous opportunity of the IoT in the transportation sector. We look
forward to working with this Committee and other policymakers to
develop a strategy for U.S. leadership in the next evolution of
transportation--one that is poised to evolve at the pace of innovation.
Senator Fischer. Thank you very much.
Next, we have Dr. Robert Edelstein, Senior Vice President
of AECOM. Welcome.
STATEMENT OF DR. ROBERT EDELSTEIN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, ITS
PRACTICE LEAD, AECOM
Dr. Edelstein. Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Booker,
members of the Subcommittee, on behalf of AECOM, I would like
to thank you for the opportunity to testify on the advancement
of new technologies to enhance our transportation and
infrastructure across the country.
AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm where we integrate design,
build, operations, maintenance, as well as finance of
infrastructure programs. According to Engineering News-Record,
we ranked number one in transportation as well as other market
sectors.
Over the years, we have seen transportation management
centers, or TMCs, evolve from becoming single-dimensional to
multidimensional, multimodal, and multijurisdictional. We look
at the next wave as incorporating predictive algorithms and
automated decision support systems so we can stay ahead of
congestion rather than reacting to it.
AECOM is a global leader in TMCs. Our forte is really in
the area of operations where we operate at over 40 facilities
throughout the United States. In Florida and California, we
developed dynamic pricing software to support the managed lane
systems. In Virginia, we've operated the reversible roadway
systems. In New Jersey, we've worked with IBM in developing the
next generation of advanced traffic management systems
software, positioning themselves to incorporate the predictive
algorithms and decision support systems in the future. In
Michigan, we operate four TMCs, and that is really the hotbed
of all connected vehicle testbeds as well as research. As well
as Missouri, where we are operating the gateway TMC, which will
be accommodating the new innovations of the Road to Tomorrow
program in the near future.
The pace of change in this area really creates a critical
need for extensive technology partnerships. Strong and adaptive
technology partnerships allow communities to build upon the
lessons learned from previous efforts across the country.
AECOM has collaborated with firms like Xerox, where we
developed the dynamic pricing software, with IBM working on
smart city projects over in India, as well as work that we have
done in New Jersey. Next month, we were selected and will be
starting work with the Colorado Department of Transportation on
the RoadX program. We've also been supporting the Missouri DOT
on their Road to Tomorrow program and coming up with new
technology partnerships and new innovations.
The Internet of Things provides endless opportunities for
TMCs to grow. As no one owns the Internet, nor the controls or
the information that is transmitted across it, the same can be
said about the Internet of Things. There are about 75 million
servers that operate the global Internet. There are 1.2 billion
cars on roadway systems throughout the world, more than 20
percent here in the United States. But cars are inefficient.
They are parked 95 percent of the time. Our transportation
systems outside the peak hours and the middays are
significantly underutilized.
So there is a reason why leading global Internet companies
are looking at connected and autonomous vehicles as they
understand the issues are similar to the decentralization that
created the Internet many decades ago.
IoT approaches will allow people and cargo to be
transported more efficiently across multimodal transportation
networks at designated pickup and drop-off times. This will
enable the balancing of transportation supply and demand in
real-time and allow the user, the end-user, to optimize their
trips based on what's right for them in terms of the modes that
they use, the schedules, and the routes.
In recent years, there have been several innovations that
have been incorporated into our transportation systems--smart
roadways, data management systems, integrated corridor
management, and now most of the attention is being focused in
on the connected and autonomous vehicles.
I would like to leave you with my vision of the future for
the TMC of the future, at least in my perspective. The TMC of
the present continues to focus in on traffic operations and
safety, and rightfully so, while the TMC of the future will
start accommodating these next-generation ITS strategies--
managed lanes, active traffic management, et cetera.
The Internet of Things will start to include both
transportation and nontransportation functions together. While
this integration may be virtual or it may be a collocation of
operations staff, and there are some advantages and
disadvantages to both approaches, the integration has the
potential to open up new areas to apply the IoT and big data to
operate our systems more efficiently, so I would ask that you
consider the TMC of the future when we start building our Smart
Cities.
And my testimony that I'm submitting for the record has
included a number of policy recommendations that I would like
you to consider as you deal with these issues in the future. So
on behalf of AECOM, I would like to thank you for receiving my
testimony. I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Edelstein follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dr. Robert Edelstein, Senior Vice President,
ITS Practice Lead, AECOM
Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Booker, and members of the
Subcommittee, on behalf of AECOM, I thank you for this opportunity to
testify on the advancement of new technologies to enhance
infrastructure and transportation across the country. Whether we are
discussing the so-called ``Internet of Things'' (IoT) in transportation
and infrastructure, or more broadly, the application of technology, and
the utilization and analysis of data to evaluate, manage and improve
system performance, there is much being accomplished in this area.
My name is Robert Edelstein, and I am a Senior Vice President and
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Practice Leader for AECOM.
When I joined AECOM in 1978, my focus was largely on the planning,
design and construction of transportation facilities including
roadways, transit systems, airports, seaports, and multimodal
transportation centers. This focus has transitioned to making these
infrastructure projects more efficient in terms of operational
integration. This is now facilitated through the advent IoT and big
data applications.
About AECOM
AECOM is a premier, fully integrated professional and technical
services firm positioned to design, build, finance, operate and
maintain infrastructure assets around the world for public and private
sector clients. We have nearly 92,000 employees--including architects,
engineers, designers, planners, scientists and management and
construction services professionals--serving clients in over 150
countries around the world. AECOM is ranked--for the seventh
consecutive year--as the #1 engineering design firm by revenue in
Engineering News-Record magazine's annual industry rankings, and has
been recognized by Fortune magazine as a World's Most Admired Company.
The firm is a leader in all of the key markets that it serves,
including transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, oil and
gas, water, high-rise buildings and government. AECOM provides a blend
of global reach, local knowledge, innovation and technical excellence
in delivering customized and creative solutions that meet the needs of
clients' projects. A Fortune 500 firm, AECOM companies, including URS
Corporation, Tishman Construction and Hunt Construction Group, have
annual revenue of approximately $18 billion.
Evolution of Transportation Management Centers (TMCs)
Over the years, transportation management centers (TMCs) have
transformed from being single-dimensional (e.g., focusing on signals,
freeways, transit systems) to becoming more multi-jurisdictional and
multi-modal. The ``TMC of the Future'' is anticipated to evolve in
applying predictive models and automated decision support systems to
stay ahead of congestion rather than reacting to it.
AECOM is a global leader in TMCs in all aspects of master planning,
design, software development, systems integration, construction, and
operations. Our forte is in the area of operations where we have worked
in over 40 TMCs, thereby giving us an end-user's perspective of ITS and
how to take it to the next level.
In Florida and California, we developed dynamic pricing software to
operate their managed lanes networks. In Virginia, we designed,
operated and maintained their reversible roadways systems. In New
Jersey, we developed the next generation of Advanced Traffic Management
System software to support predictive analytics and decision support
systems. In Michigan, we are operating four TMCs where Connected
Vehicle test beds are operating. In Missouri, we are operating the
Gateway TMC in St. Louis which we anticipate will accommodate ``Road to
Tomorrow'' innovations in the future.
Performance measures are reported on a monthly and annual basis for
many of these TMCs. For example, the most recent annual report for the
Florida DOT TMC in Miami shows a benefit-cost ratio of 53, meaning that
for every dollar invested in the program, $53 is being returned in
terms of travel time savings and safety benefits. This considers the
fact that for every minute that a lane is blocked it translates to 4
minutes of delay and the probability of a secondary accident occurring
increasing by 2.8 percent. Therefore, if you can clear the blocked lane
15 minutes faster, then you can avoid a one-hour delay and reduce the
probability of a secondary accident occurring by over 40 percent.
Technology Partnerships and Smart Cities
The pace of change in this area creates a critical need for
extensive technology partnerships. Innovation is occurring through
these numerous and varied partnerships, and Federal, state, and local
policy should do everything possible to encourage and facilitate
continuation of dynamic partnering opportunities. Project sponsors need
to pursue platforms that are flexible and will allow them to grow and
develop over time as the community sets its priorities and develops its
blueprint to guide future decision-making.
Strong and adaptive technology partnerships allow communities to
build upon lessons-learned from previous efforts across the country. We
recommend integrating the transportation technology strategy with the
long-range regional transportation plan to connect the dots between
existing conditions, forecast future conditions, and transformative
technologies. Further, being creative and catalyzing new partnerships
with the private sector is what enables adaptive solutions to be
developed to new and changing challenges.
AECOM collaborates with many of the technology giants including
Xerox with whom we developed the Los Angeles dynamic pricing system,
and with IBM where we are developing software systems for the New
Jersey Turnpike and collaborating on developing smart cities in India.
We were recently selected for the RoadX program in Colorado, and we
are assisting the Missouri DOT on the ``Road to Tomorrow'' program in
developing technology partnerships and innovations. In response to
these emerging trends, the Colorado DOT is forming a technology-driven
innovation venture called ``RoadX''. This initiative is aiming to make
traveling in Colorado crash-free and delay-free, and will improve the
efficiency of the state's transportation system within the next 10
years. The collaborative project focuses on building partnerships and
entrepreneurial relationships that will deliver innovative solutions to
reduce the cost of transporting goods, turn a rural state highway into
a zero-death road, and improve congestion on Colorado's critical
corridors. The program will employ a multi-pronged deployment,
operations, innovation and technology approach with several efforts to
be completed in the next five years. The Missouri DOT ``Road to
Tomorrow'' program is looking at a broad suite of innovations including
solar roadways, ``Internet of Things'' applications for smart traffic
control, safety and road assistance, as well as smart pavement
applications and truck platooning. Aggressive approaches to innovation
such as these efforts require strong technology partnerships.
Internet of Things (IoT)
As no one owns the Internet, nor the controls and routes used to
transmit data, the same could be said about the IoT. While there are 75
million servers running the global Internet, there are 1.2 billion cars
driving global transportation (of which 20 percent are in the U.S.).
Personal vehicle ownership is grossly inefficient: cars are estimated
to be parked 95 percent of the time and our transportation systems are
under-utilized during non-peak periods.
There is a reason the leading global Internet companies are looking
at connected and automated vehicles as they understand the issues are
similar to the decentralization of car ownership that created the
Internet decades ago.
IoT approaches will allow people and cargo to be transported more
efficiently across multimodal transportation networks at designated
pickup and drop off times. This will enable the balancing of
transportation supply and demand in real time by optimizing routes,
modes, and schedules while eliminating human errors, thereby reducing
accidents.
Working IoT strategies into our short and long-range transportation
plans is a challenge. AECOM is currently supporting the New Zealand
Transportation Authority in preparing them for connected and automated
vehicles by assessing various scenarios of technology adoption rates
and identifying the appropriate technology infrastructure improvements
that will support it.
Innovations
In recent years, several innovations have surfaced to embed
technology into our transportation systems to enable them to operate
safer and more efficiently. Many DOTs have embraced a Transportation
Systems Management & Operations approach which focuses on developing a
higher level of operational integration across transportation modes
while being aligned with performance measures used to improve
operations. Other strategies include smart motorways, smart parking,
data management, dynamic pricing, integrated corridor management, and
electric vehicle charging systems. In addition to ITS, our ``New
Ventures'' Practice seeks innovations in all aspects of our business
such as the Hyperloop program which will eventually transport pods of
people and cargo at speeds in excess of 700 mph. Meanwhile, smart
cities, connected and automated vehicles have been receiving the most
attention.
Examples of innovative projects where a great deal of the
excitement is focused include:
Lake Tahoe Smart Parking: This is a demonstration of how
this technology improves the user's experience in mobility.
Estimates indicate that 30 percent of urban congestion is
created by people circling city streets looking for parking.
LA Metro Mobility Hubs: The mobility hub model brings
multiple technology-enabled transportation choices together in
a single place to create a more streamlined experience for
commuters, visitors or residents going about their daily
business in the Los Angeles region. This project, funded by the
Jobs Access Reverse Commute program, is also a way to make the
benefits of a smarter transportation system accessible to those
without access to the Internet at home.
Connected Vehicle Data Applications for TMCs: Transportation
agencies understand the importance of connected and automated
vehicles and the impending emergence of this technology on the
roads. AECOM is helping agencies figure out how to integrate
this more holistically into the transportation ecosystem.
Each new innovation brings with it unique benefits, such as better
management of infrastructure, and more responsive government services.
Innovations can stretch limited resources to address greatest demand,
bringing operational efficiencies that save taxpayers money, including:
On-demand services: Improve garbage collection efficiency
sending garbage trucks to collect trash based on sensors that
indicate the need for service.
Waste reduction: An estimated 2.1 trillion gallons of clean,
treated water is lost every year to leaks in water
infrastructure. For example, during 2013, Houston lost 15
percent of its water--15 billion gallons--to leaking pipes.
Even aggressive efforts to fix leaks will not keep up with the
rate of new leak formation. We need to better manage the flow
of water by embedding sensors in water pipes throughout the
distribution network which will save energy and water.
Optimized systems: We can better manage storm water to
minimize runoff and maximize capacity. Kansas City, Missouri is
using sensors at critical points across the city for advance
notification of potential flooding issues. Jacksonville,
Florida is using a combination of cameras, sensors and
analytics tools to quantify the passage of cars, pedestrians
and bikes to measure the high rate of fatalities and injuries,
inform planning staff of the need for new bike/pedestrian
infrastructure as well as tracking and evaluating resulting
behavior change, thereby increasing safety for pedestrians,
cyclists and drivers.
Use of data to preempt and predict problems before they
occur: Infrastructure sensors can provide an ongoing assessment
of the lifespan of major bridges, and even detect structural
problems. For example, on the Brooklyn Bridge, sensors monitor
cracks and temperature fluctuation.
Expanding the capacity of government to reach more people:
Digital kiosks in Kansas City and New York City, for example,
are making it possible for citizens to access city services
without needing to have access to smartphones or the Internet
at home. This is essential in helping local government bridge
the digital divide.
Better communication to stakeholders: This includes real-
time tracking of transportation (where is my bus) and other
services such as snow plows (when will my street be plowed).
When Pennsylvania was hit with a major snow storm last year
that crippled traffic on the interstates, the DOT used its
partnership with Google Waze to provide information to drivers
stuck in traffic/snow when the highways were shut down
TMC of the Future
I would like to leave you with my vision for the ``TMC of the
Future''. While the ``TMC of the Present'' continues to focus on our
core functions related to traffic operations and safety (i.e.,
incident, traffic, special event, and work zone management); and the
``TMC of the Future'' will accommodate next generation ITS strategies
(e.g., active traffic management, managed lanes, integrated corridor
management, connected vehicles, predictive modelling, decision support
systems); the Internet of Things has the potential for integrating
transportation operations with other city services (e.g., smart
parking, public safety, smart buildings, security, air quality,
emergency management, water & waste water management, and smart energy
grid systems).
While this integration may be virtual or a physical collocation of
operations staff, and there are pros and cons to each approach, the
integration has the potential to open new ways to apply the IoT and big
data to utilize our transportation resources to its highest and best
use while enabling the user to customize their trips based on their
specific needs and desires. I suggest that consideration be made to
incorporating the ``TMC of the Future'' concept into Smart Cities.
Enabling Policies
Innovation is occurring at an incredibly rapid pace across this
country. To address these changes, and continue to foster innovation,
Congress may wish to consider the following:
Revisiting policies at the Federal and state levels to attract
technology partnerships. For example, public-private partnerships may
be considered where the auto manufacturers/original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) build new capacity (e.g., an additional traffic
lane) to accommodate autonomous vehicles. As the penetration of
autonomous vehicles grows over time, more vehicles would likely use
this dedicated lane. Funding for all infrastructure remains a
challenge. Through the current available and developing technologies,
it would be possible to enable the assessment of user fees which would
generate revenue to offset the costs of construction, operations and
maintenance. This also opens the possibility for revenue sharing
arrangements that could expedite the phase in of autonomous vehicles
while generating revenue for both parties.
Relieving regulatory constraints that may hinder implementation of
new technologies. Much of our public policy is built around the
technologies of the past and can make it difficult to introduce new
alternatives. This is particularly relevant when you think about how
cities function--if an inspector has access to real-time data in the
field, he or she may be empowered to make different decisions than if
he were to simply respond to the issue at hand.
Providing expanded funding for ``Smart City'' grants to allow more
cities to participate across the Nation. As 78 cities applied for the
USDOT Smart City Challenge grant, and only one (Columbus) was selected,
the interest in these technology developments is significant, and
demand for resources is high. Dedicated resources for Smart Cities
would provide an expanded national showcase of how IoT and big data can
be applied in a diverse range of applications. Federal funding for the
implementation of new technology applications can remove the risk for
project sponsors and provides technology partners (large and small) the
opportunity for a return on investment to cover their R&D costs.
Provide Federal funding for programs similar to RoadX (Colorado)
and Road to Tomorrow (Missouri). These programs are seeking technology
partnerships to innovate new technologies and apply them to our
transportation systems. While RoadX is funded by the Colorado DOT, the
Road to Tomorrow is primarily reliant on revenue generated from new
sources and innovative partnering strategies. New grant programs (such
as the nationally significant freight and highway (FASTLANE) grant
program included in the FAST Act can be helpful, as can funding
provided through the TIGER Grant Program. At the end of the day,
sustainable revenue streams are critical for major innovations to be
implemented in meaningful ways.
Areas for Future Focus/Opportunities
Standardization is critical: This will further help the scalability
of these solutions: data management (ownership, sharing, privacy,
security and future monetization strategies).
Open architecture and interoperability of systems: It is important
to maintain flexibility to adapt systems over time as technology
evolves so quickly. Communities need to be sure that they are building
a platform that can adapt as the technology changes.
Workforce Development: Managing digital infrastructure requires new
skill sets and there is a foundational need to focus on digital
literacy at all levels within government (from the field technician to
supervisors and management). We need to build local capacity for data
analysis which requires the ability to contract with and hire talent
equipped for the new world of big data.
Closing
On behalf of AECOM, I would like to thank you for receiving my
testimony and look forward to addressing your questions.
Attachment
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Fischer. Thank you very much.
Next, Mr. Jordan Kass, the President of Managed Services at
C.H. Robinson. Welcome.
STATEMENT OF JORDAN KASS, PRESIDENT OF MANAGED SERVICES, C.H.
ROBINSON
Mr. Kass. Chairman Fischer, Ranking Member Booker, and
members of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee,
thank you for the opportunity to testify at today's hearing.
As one of the Nation's largest third-party logistics
providers, C.H. Robinson has a unique view of how goods and
commerce flow from manufacturer to consumer. My name is Jordan
Kass, and I am President of Managed Services for C.H. Robinson.
I joined Robinson in 1999 by way of an acquisition.
At that time, I created a startup within Robinson trying to
figure out how to leverage Internet technology within the
supply chain. Today, that startup business manages over $3
billion of logistics spend in 170 different countries on behalf
of our customers. Our mission is to develop innovative
technology platforms paired with managed services that help our
customers connect, automate, and optimize their supply chains.
C.H. Robinson has over 150 offices around the world
networked through our common proprietary platform called
Navisphere, which provides our employees, our customers, and
our carriers visibility to freight shipments around the country
and globe.
Today, we are also speaking on behalf of the Transportation
Intermediaries Association, which represents 1,500 3PLs of all
sizes.
We do not own any commercial trucks ourselves, but build
technology platforms and logistics services that streamline
complex transportation management on behalf of our customers.
Our diverse carrier base includes motor carriers, railroads,
airfreight, and ocean carriers.
The division of Robinson that I lead works with some of the
largest companies in the world, and this platform that we have
developed serves as the platform these companies use to gain
visibility and control over our supply chain. Our customers
include companies like Microsoft, Delphi Automotive, and Ocean
Spray.
A major component of our value proposition is routing
massive amounts of information and money quickly and accurately
around the world. This is enabled by technology and automation.
From the truck driver using our cell phone app to find
available loads to the customer who needs to find desired
landed costs tracked to the item level, data and the Internet
of Things is driving change in our business. We are rapidly
expanding these tools and information available to all trading
partners across the supply chain.
For example, a single truck owner-operator uses our app to
check in like a GPS-equipped truck, and similarly a global
shipper can view tracking updates anywhere in the world via a
PC, smart phone, or tablet.
Businesses today are part of global cross-functional teams
of coordinating production, customer service, sales, finance,
and transportation. They work together toward an end goal of
customer experience and agile market response.
As Congress considers the implications an increasingly
connected world has on policy, we see things differently, from
a supply chain and flow of goods viewpoint.
Today, others have discussed privacy and IT infrastructure.
However, we think that Congress also needs to look at practical
issues regarding freight movement brought about by the Internet
of Things. We fully understand that the Subcommittee does not
have jurisdiction over all the issues I will mention. However,
the Internet of Things forces us to look holistically with our
customers at end-to-end supply chain practices. We want to
reiterate that the greatest challenge Congress and
subcommittees may have with the Internet of Things is that it
will force the government to work across silos or be left
behind by more agile governments. The following are our
recommendations.
First, tax rates. Many of the companies leading the
revolution around the Internet of Things are operating with a
tax code designed for the 1980s. For example, C.H. Robinson is
a service company with no assets and we pay full U.S. corporate
tax of 35 percent. Even though we are 208 on the Fortune 500,
we are a Fortune 100 corporate taxpayer. If Congress wishes to
incubate globally leading countries, a corporate tax reform is
a prerequisite.
World-class customer customs agency. We see the U.S.
customs clearance process as a significant risk to supply
chains. When the ACE system goes down for 2 hours during
produce season in San Diego, it impacts supply chains across
the Nation. Congress needs to make sure our U.S. customs agency
provides world-class service and works well with agencies to
ensure safe and efficient movement of goods.
Increasing resources for cargo theft deterrence. Cargo
thieves are using the Internet to target specific freight. Law
enforcement is challenged to investigate cargo thefts and
victims in many locations. A stolen load of almonds may
originate in California, be stolen in Nevada on a truck based
out of Missouri. We recommend increasing penalties for cargo
theft and providing law enforcement resources to fund cargo-
theft specific units.
Land use and planning around the rise of megacities.
Increasingly, freight moves between a handful of global cities
seeing huge population and density growth, including Chicago,
Houston, New York, and LA. Issues of land use, truck parking,
congestion, vehicle size, and operating hours all interact with
the growth of things and the speed of change of delivery direct
to the consumer.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide insight into how
the Internet of Things is impacting supply chains. We look
forward to working with the Committee on policy that allows
U.S. logistics companies to continue leading the world.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Kass follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jordan Kass, President of Managed Services,
C. H. Robinson on behalf of Transportation Intermediaries Association
Chairwoman Fischer, Ranking Member Booker, and members of the
Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, thank you for the
invitation and the opportunity to testify at today's hearing. As one of
the Nation's largest third party logistics providers, C. H. Robinson
has a unique view of how goods and commerce flow from manufacturer to
consumer. The transportation brokerage and third party logistics
industries have grown substantially the last 10 years and I will
provide you an overview of our role in the marketplace and policy
recommendations to consider around the Internet of Things as it relates
specifically to supply chains.
Introduction of Jordan Kass
My name is Jordan Kass and I am the President of Managed Services
for C. H. Robinson. I joined C.H. Robinson in 1999 via the way of an
acquisition. At that time I created a startup within the framework of
CH Robinson. You may recall that was the peak of the dot.com boom and
everyone was trying to figure out how to leverage Internet technology.
The business I began for CH Robinson was focused on bringing the
Internet into the world of logistics and supply chain. Today, that
business has grown tremendously and we manage over $3Billion dollars of
logistics spend in 170 different countries on behalf of our customers.
Our mission is to develop innovative technology platforms paired with
managed services that help our customers connect, automate, and
optimize their supply chains.
Introduction of C.H. Robinson
C. H. Robinson was founded in 1905 and facilitates the movement of
over 17 million shipments per year. We have been named the #1 3PL for
five years in a row by Inbound Logistics magazine and have pioneered
many industry innovations. We are also speaking today on behalf of the
Transportation Intermediaries Association, which represents 1500 3PL's
of all sizes. C.H. Robinson is a leading member of TIA and serve on
their board of directors. C.H. Robinson is the 10th largest publicly
held company headquartered in Minnesota, and we have over 150 offices
across the United States. All of our offices are networked through a
common proprietary platform, called Navisphere, which provides our
employees, our customers and our contracted carriers' visibility to
freight shipments across the country and across the globe regardless of
mode.
We are a Fortune 250 company with annual revenues of more than
$13.5 billion serving manufacturing, retail and wholesale customers of
all types across the economic spectrum. We do not own any commercial
trucks ourselves, but rather build technology platforms and logistics
services that allow us to streamline complex transportation management
on behalf of our customers. We have developed the largest and most
diverse carrier base in the U.S. in order to transport our customer's
freight. Our carrier base includes motor carriers, railroads, air
freight, and ocean carriers. Leveraging our technology platform, our
expert talent worked with approximately 68,000 transportation providers
in 2015.
As I mentioned, the division of C.H. Robinson that I lead is
focused on delivering technology and services that connect, automate,
and optimize global supply chains. We work with some of the largest
companies in the world and our platform serves as the technology these
companies use to gain visibility and control over their supply chain.
Our customers include companies like Microsoft, Delphi, John Deere, and
Ocean Spray.
A major component of our value proposition is to route massive
amounts of information and money quickly and accurately around the
world. Our platform vis-a-vis the Internet formulates the information
and visibility pipes our customers require. Again, I want to emphasize
that we do this on a massive scale.
This is enabled by increasingly sophisticated technology and
automation across the supply chain. From the truck driver using a cell
phone to search for available loads on our Navisphere Carrier app to
railroads sending massive tracking data in electronic formats to
customers desiring to know landed costs tracked to the item level, data
and the Internet of Things is driving incremental change in our
business. One example of the massive role data plays can be seen in our
every increasing machine to machine communication. Every day, C.H.
Robinson transmits and receives over 20 million electronic
communications.
We are rapidly expanding the tools and information available to all
trading partners across the supply chain. For example, single truck
owner operators can use our app to perform a tracking check call just
like a GPS equipped truck without ever picking up the phone and
similarly a global shipper can view that tracking update anywhere in
the world via a phone, PC, or tablet.
Businesses and transportation departments are part of global cross
functional teams coordinating sophisticated supply chains across many
silos. Production, customer service, sales, finance and transportation
all work together towards an end goal of customer experience and agile
market response. As Congress rightly considers the implications of how
an increasingly connected world impacts policy and society, we would
like to provide insights we see from a supply chain and flow of goods
viewpoint. While other witnesses will discuss issues of privacy,
security, and IT infrastructure, there are many practical issues
Congress should also consider regarding supply chain changes coming
from the Internet of Things and how U.S. companies can lead in this
industry.
We fully understand that this subcommittee does not have
jurisdiction over all the issues we will mention. However, the Internet
of Things crosses many of our company's silos and has forced us to look
holistically with our customers at end-to-end supply chain practices.
We want to reiterate that the greatest challenge Congress and this
subcommittee may have with the development of the Internet of Things is
that it will force the U.S. Government to break down silos and work in
cross-functional teams or be left behind for smaller countries and more
agile governments to lead the way. Following are recommendations the
Internet of Things working should consider:
Tax Rates
Many of the company's leading the revolution around the Internet of
Things are operating with a tax code designed for manufacturing in the
1980s. For example, C.H. Robinson is primarily a service company with
no assets and we pay the full U.S. corporate tax rate of 35 percent
annually in addition to state taxes. Even though we are #208 on the
Fortune 500, we are a Fortune 100 corporate taxpayer when the Fortune
500 is ranked in terms of raw corporate tax paid. Over the last 11
years, our company alone has paid more than $2 billion in Federal
corporate tax.
If Congress wishes to promote and incubate globally leading
companies in the Internet of things based in the US, corporate
tax reform is a pre-requisite.
World Class U.S Customs Agency
The Internet of Things provides companies the ability to source
parts and inputs and sell globally. Consumers can now buy directly from
overseas retailers and manufacturers and with the increase in the de
minimis value by Congress from $200 to $800, we increasingly see the
U.S. Customs clearance process as a significant risk to supply chains.
When the ACE system goes down for 2 hours during produce season in San
Diego, or U.S. EPA holds up a shipment at the port of Baltimore because
they are understaffed, it impacts supply chains across the Nation. Just
as successful companies are now forced to work across silos, one of the
biggest challenges that the Internet of Things will place on the U.S.
Government is on the customs service and their coordination with other
government agencies of all types.
Congress needs to make sure our U.S. Customs agency provides
world class services and that they are able to work well across
agencies to ensure a safe and efficient movement of goods or
the U.S. will not hold a leadership position regarding the
Internet of Things.
Increasing Resources for Cargo Theft Deterrence
While many will be focused on personal privacy and the data
collected on individuals through the Internet of Things, please also
remember to strengthen cargo theft penalties. One of the unintended
consequences of increased technology in the supply chain is the
increased ability of cargo thieves to target specific freight across
the country. Law enforcement is challenged to prioritize and
investigate cargo thefts with victims and stakeholders in many diverse
locations. For example, a stolen load of almonds may originate in
California, be stolen in Nevada, on a truck based out of Missouri and
brokered by a company in Chicago.
We recommend that Congress increase penalties for cargo
theft and provide law enforcement resources to fund local and
regional cargo theft specific law enforcement units.
Land Use and Planning around the rise of Mega Cities
A trend that we are monitoring closely is the trend of megacities.
Increasingly, freight movement is concentrated in and between a handful
of global cities that are seeing huge population and density growth,
including cities in the U.S. like Chicago, Houston, New York, and Los
Angeles. Providing goods to these urban populations is a growing
logistics challenge Congress should monitor and prioritize. Issues of
land use, truck parking, congestion, vehicle size, and operating hours
all interact with the growth of the Internet of Things and the speed of
change of delivery directly to the consumer.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide insight into how big data
and the Internet of Things is impacting supply chains. We commend the
Committee on their focus on this important topic, but emphasize that
the rate of change in the market continues to accelerate. We look
forward to working with the Committee and the working groups
established by this legislation to quickly and specifically identify
policy areas that will allow U.S. companies to continue to lead the
world.
Senator Fischer. Thank you very much to the entire panel.
We will begin our first round of questions, 5 minutes for each
member.
I would like to start with one issue that I've been
concerned about, and that is the creation of these regulatory
silos. I'm worried about the lack of coordination between
government agencies where we may see duplication take place,
and cross purposes happen on this with regulations.
When my Ranking Member and I and two other Senators
introduced the DIGIT Act, one thing we wanted to be sure to do
was have a working group created, and we did that. That is a
working group with government and also private stakeholders.
And we want to make sure that we can look at streamlining and
having complementary regulations between agencies when we
address the Internet of Things.
So I would like to ask all the members of the panel, what
do you believe is causing these regulatory silos? And what do
you think is the best way that we can encourage cooperation
among agencies in order to look at how best to allow that
innovation and creativity to continue to take place with the
Internet of Things?
Who would like to start? Yes, Doctor?
Dr. Edelstein. I think the departments of transportation,
including the U.S. Department of Transportation, have already
taken that first step. That first step is really transportation
systems management and operations, or TSM&O. The way I look at
it, with TSM&O and IoT, when those two worlds collide, it is
going to unleash really unlimited potential.
Transportation systems management and operations is
creating operational integration between the various modal
partners, whether it be buses, trains, toll roads, freeways, or
arterial operations. It is also aligned with performance
metrics so everybody has some skin in the game with regard to
defining those performance metrics, tracking those performance
metrics, and making sure we are making certain improvements
that are noticeable by the end-user, which is that the
traveler.
So, again, it's not a regulatory issue, but it is more of
an operational issue, and I think that it is starting to come
together rather quickly in many States throughout the country.
Senator Fischer. Mr. Davis?
Mr. Davis. Chairwoman Fischer, I think you are asking a
great question. Let me touch on a couple things.
First, I want to applaud the work that has been done on the
DIGIT Act and the goals that that is trying to achieve. I think
that is a very important direction for us to be taking with
regard to the Internet of Things.
You asked an interesting question about the history in
terms of why we have these silos, and I think it's really been
because of the optimization that has been needed in those
various different industries. We want to optimize what is
happening in shipping, optimize what is happening in retail, in
the network infrastructure, so I think that's been a very
natural kind of evolution.
But as we think forward around the Internet of Things, that
will be one of our challenges to scale, to have these local
optimizations, because we are seeing that these technologies
needed to create the connectivity between things and the data
center or cloud will need to become more and more common.
That is why we are advocating the implementation of open
platforms to allow for much greater flexibility to break down
some of those silos. That will be essential for the Internet of
Things to be able to scale.
We look at 5G technologies. We look at what we are trying
to accomplish across the industries with regard to security.
These things are going to have to become much more open.
They're going to have to be driven by public-private
partnerships to define the right capabilities. That is what is
going to enable scalability as we go forward in the Internet of
Things.
Senator Fischer. Do you think we are going to have to see a
collision take place before we will have that openness? Or will
we be proactive in trying to head it off before we get there?
Mr. Davis. Well, obviously, I am hoping that we can be
proactive and avoid a collision, but I think that is really why
it is important to think about this globally and think about
what is happening in other parts of the world and have that
national IoT strategy for the U.S. to really be in a leadership
position to help shape how that evolves.
I think as far as we can think ahead and be proactive, that
will avoid that ultimate collision.
Senator Fischer. Thank you. I'm running out of time, but if
the other three witnesses can give me a short answer?
Yes?
Mr. Monje. Senator, your question is exactly right. It's
something that we've been driven to do by the White House
directives.
We are working very closely with the Federal Trade
Commission when it comes to privacy. They are in charge, but we
have a huge stake in it, and we're working very closely with
them, the national NTIA on issues of cybersecurity broadband
access, and the FCC when it comes to spectrum.
We are not only reaching across the Federal Government but
also down into the States as well. NHTSA is establishing their
regulatory framework working very closely with the States,
because what you don't want to have is patchwork.
Senator Fischer. OK.
Ms. Reynolds, did you have a comment?
Ms. Reynolds. I appreciate the question. Obviously,
government silos are nothing new. They are something that we
have struggled with for quite a long time. I think that what it
really comes down to is the way that we measure success is
often at odds.
To Dr. Edelstein's point about having a shared performance
metric and hearing a clear signal, which we've heard from U.S.
DOT and the Federal Government, that the road to funding is
paved with partnerships and that if you want to be at the
table, you need to bring private partners along with you, you
need to bring the State, you need to bring your region, are
really bringing up some very uncomfortable sacred cows that we
have to wrestle with.
So I think that is one of the major ways that there has
been kind of a happily forced arranged marriage among different
sectors of the public and private side.
Senator Fischer. And, Mr. Kass, shortly, if you could
condense?
Mr. Kass. My expertise is supply chain and technology. It's
not government. So having said that----
Senator Fischer. You're the best one to answer the
question.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Kass. Having said that, as I said in my testimony,
these walls need to be broken down. If we don't do this, what's
going to happen--there are two supply chains at work. There is
a physical one and a virtual one. The virtual supply chain is
about moving information and money. In the Internet of Things,
that's going to be visible. If we don't fix this problem, all
of the problems that exist today, the nodes, the failure nodes,
those are going to be exposed on a massive scale. So we have to
get out in front of this and get out in front of it quickly.
Senator Fischer. Thank you very much.
Senator Booker?
Senator Booker. Thank you very much.
When I was Mayor of my city, I discovered, in just getting
accountability for my team members, that if I started
encouraging constituents to tweet at me problems, that I would
begin to find out about things. And it worked better than I
knew. I could find out about potholes before my road engineers.
I could find out about traffic lights out. I started
crowdsourcing what was going wrong in the city. Obviously,
that's a very rudimentary, inefficient way, when you can set up
cities like Los Angeles where you could have sensors detecting
problems and funneling information at the speed of light. So
the Smart Cities Initiative to me, as a former Mayor, is really
exciting.
Would you please give Mayor Garcetti my best when you get
back to Los Angeles? I studied with him at Oxford. He still
owes me 10 pounds. At this point, it's worth only like $.50,
the way the pound is going.
[Laughter.]
Senator Booker. But tell him I want my money.
Would you tell me what kind of challenges you guys are
facing in implementing what is a cutting-edge vision to try to
make Los Angeles--what are the biggest obstacles to being a
smart city that you are finding?
Ms. Reynolds. So thank you for the question. I will say it
is two things.
One, fundamentally, public and private sides are going to
have to get way outside our comfort zones in order to achieve
the kind of partnership that we need. Our procurement
practices, for example, I would say, are probably the single
biggest hurdle to really getting public partners to the table.
As soon as it takes us 18 or 24 months to write a request for
proposals and bring a vendor on board, the technology has
passed us by. The Federal Transit Administration and others
have done a really good job signaling that they are willing to
waive some of the Federal procurement requirements to allow
cities to have access to these funds. I would identify that.
Second, I would say that the role of government--our most
rudimentary tool is that we can say no. I think that oftentimes
we find ourselves in that position when we are encountering the
sort of disruption or introduction of new technologies in
transportation in our cities. We need to pivot to using one of
the other sort of lesser used powers of government, which is to
bring people together, to convene, possibly to regulate, and to
make sure that the price of entry into our cities is that you
have to serve them equitably.
I will just give one example. Mayor Garcetti executed a
data-sharing agreement with Waze. One in four drivers in the
City of Los Angeles is using Waze to get around our city with
positive and potentially negative impacts.
The way we have been using it is bringing Waze data into
our ATSAC system, fusing the data streams that we have to make
our system even smarter. We save Los Angeles drivers over 40
hours every year because we have a smart transportation signal
system.
That is just the tip of the iceberg, and it points to the
other big challenge, which is that we don't have the skillsets
inside government. I don't have a civil service classification
for data scientists in the City of Los Angeles, and we
desperately need those kinds of skillsets and capacity-building
inside government so that we can really come to the table as an
equal partner.
Senator Booker. I appreciate that. That is what the White
House is finding out with their innovation team. Procurement is
one of the biggest problems we have. The procurement process is
set up for dealing with big, massive companies, not the small
innovators who are at the cutting edge. I appreciate that.
In the 1 minute and 30 seconds I have left, Mr. Kass, Mr.
Davis, I get very annoyed when I watch other countries who are
beginning to out-innovate us. We should be the innovation
capital of the globe. I'm a competitive guy. I want us to be
number one.
But when I see government regulations choking things like
the drone industry, for example, in watching innovation in that
sector go over to Europe as opposed to here because we haven't
created an environment that is best for that. So to the two men
who are in the private sector, could you guys just tell me what
are other countries doing better than us that we should be
doing better than them?
Mr. Davis. I think it's a great point. That is one of the
reasons we have been advocating for public-private
partnerships, to be able to bring private industry alongside
what is happening from a regulatory standpoint as well as what
is happening in areas like academia, to be able to provide
those kinds of partnerships to go off and define what needs to
happen. Again, the emphasis is on what as opposed to the very
specific how of the implementation.
That is what we often find ends up happening when we try to
put regulation in place too early as the technology is still
rapidly evolving. We should agree on what we are trying to
accomplish as opposed to the very specific implementation.
That is one of the things that we find as we look at what
is happening globally, the opportunity to innovate much more
openly.
Senator Booker. Jordan, why don't you hold on, because I
want to be respectful to Senator Cantwell. She is a dear
friend, and I don't want to make her angry, and I'll let her
go. We will come around to another round.
Mr. Kass. Yes. No problem.
Senator Fischer. Senator Cantwell?
STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON
Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to
the panelists.
Is it Monje?
Mr. Monje. Monje.
Senator Cantwell. Monje. Thank you so much for your work.
I wanted to talk to you and Mr. Davis about freight because
this is something we want to be strategic about in the United
States. The opportunity to ship more goods to markets overseas
from the U.S. is a very important economic strategy for us, but
it has to move in a timely fashion. And obviously, there are
lots of challenges.
So how is the Department of Transportation--we have had
this strategic freight plan--working with the Internet of
Things? We had I think it was one of the California ports here
last year, and they talked about the efficiencies that you can
roll out at our ports by having this kind of data and
information on cargo movements and on trucks.
Mr. Monje. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the question.
Freight is the lifeblood of our economy, and this Congress
has been on the record in really pushing us as a department to
come up with a strategic plan to work with States.
In terms of the Internet of Things, it has tremendous
potential. We know we are going to see 45 percent more freight
over the next 30 years on our roads, on our ports, across our
seaways. Some of the things we are doing include testing and
improving the quality of the technology called FRATIS, which we
are implementing at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles,
and it is helping operators get cargo off ships and to where
they need to go a lot quicker.
We have a connected vehicle pilot in Wyoming that is really
focused on speeding truck traffic along Interstate 80, which
has major weather events. So how are we using technology to
move that forward?
As part of our Smart City Challenge, we actually got a lot
of really neat examples of communities that are trying to
figure this out for themselves. Columbus is proposing, and they
won, so they are going to be able to implement, the ability to
practice truck platooning along smart corridors, better ways to
do urban parking.
One of the neater ideas that came is from Austin, which is
actually looking at shared urban delivery lockers, so people as
they get off the bus will be able to pick up their groceries or
a package, and they don't have to make an extra trip to get
there.
So we are doing a lot of foundational research in the
maritime area. We know that this is a tremendous area of
opportunity, and that we need to be partners in that process.
Senator Cantwell. Mr. Davis, I think the average tractor-
trailer gets something like 6 miles per gallon, so anything we
can do to increase the fuel efficiency there is going to be a
huge savings.
I know that, again, DOT has SuperTruck. Is that what you
were referring to? The SuperTruck program? I didn't get the
acronym you used.
Mr. Davis. FRATIS is what I referred to.
Senator Cantwell. How do you spell that?
Mr. Davis. F-R-A-T-I-S.
Senator Cantwell. OK. Well, I also know that you have a
SuperTruck program, and it is focused on getting more like
nine, almost 10 miles per gallon. So how do you think that some
of these tools could be used to help the transportation sector
on timing on deliveries?
Mr. Davis. I think we've seen some really exciting
technologies in the early stages. I think that Mr. Monje talked
about a couple. Mr. Kass even described a few, which is to be
able to put technologies in trucks that enable us to understand
how they are being driven and to be able to provide feedback to
the driver about he or she can drive more efficiently.
We have seen this implemented in a couple of large trucking
firms already, and they see some of those pretty impressive
improvements in fuel efficiency. I think that is one.
We are seeing technologies evolve that allow us to be very
cost-effectively identify the location and the conditions of
high-value freight so that we know where it is, we know what
kind of conditions it is being subjected to.
And then to be able to use autonomous technologies, to be
able to identify maybe containers that are coming in on a ship
with where trucks are located to be able to synchronize the way
they are offloaded to take advantage of the trucks or the
traffic conditions to move that material effectively.
So we are seeing some very interesting early stage
technologies. The challenge is how we make that more and more
common across all of those applications to enable it to scale.
Senator Cantwell. I think we learned in air transportation
now that there is a cell lot and everybody hangs out in the
cell lot.
I think that statistic is quite impressive, a 45 percent
increase in freight traffic. I mean, we want the United States
to make things. We want to sell things. We want to move them.
But the congestion level at the ports is so great, so a
strategy that could ease that traffic in there and move it in a
more systematic way would mean huge savings and would help us
with our competitiveness in manufacturing, so I hope that we
will stick with it.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Fischer. Thank you.
Senator Markey?
STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD MARKEY,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS
Senator Markey. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The Internet of Things leads also to the Internet of
threats, because, obviously, every device that has the Internet
built into it then becomes subject to hacking. That's just the
bottom line. So you have to basically deal with the digital
tale of two technologies. It is the best of technologies, it is
the worst of technologies simultaneously.
So if you don't deal with threats, then all you are doing
is ignoring the inevitable problems that are going to be
created.
So really, today's new cars are just computers on wheels.
That's all they really have become. That is why in 2013, and
again last year, Senator Blumenthal and I asked 20 automakers
what they are doing to protect our computers on wheels, and
here is what we learned.
Thieves no longer need a crowbar to break into your car.
They just need an iPhone.
Last year, we witnessed firsthand how easily cars could be
hacked. We watched as hackers remotely took control of the
brakes, the steering, and the acceleration of a Jeep Cherokee.
Chrysler had to recall 1.4 million vehicles to fix this
cybersecurity problem.
But in this new Internet of Things era, cybersecurity just
cannot be an afterthought. Rather than addressing cybersecurity
problems after a hack has occurred, we have to ensure robust
cybersecurity protections are built into these technologies
right from the beginning.
That means that we need enforceable rules of the road to
protect driver privacy and security. That is why I introduced
legislation with Senator Blumenthal, the Security and Privacy
in Your Car act, or SPY Car Act, that directs the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Trade
Commission to establish Federal standards to secure our cars
and protect our drivers.
So for all the panelists, please, answer yes or no. Do you
believe that cars should have mandatory cybersecurity
standards, including hacking protections to protect all access
points in a car; data security measures that prevent unwanted
access to all collected information; and hacking mitigation
technologies that can detect, report, and stop hacking attempts
in real-time?
Dr. Edelstein?
Dr. Edelstein. Definitely, yes.
Senator Markey. Yes. OK.
Mr. Davis?
Mr. Davis. Definitely yes. The one thing I would add is
that I think it is important to define what we need to
accomplish to address the things that you described, but also
to allow technology to evolve quickly.
Senator Markey. But if it evolves and it is still not
installed, we should mandate that is installed?
Mr. Davis. Yes, we should define requirements to ensure
these things are secure.
Senator Markey. Mr. Kass?
Mr. Kass. Yes, we need the appropriate controls, but I
agree we need to do it in a very balanced way that doesn't kill
innovation.
Innovation is like a whack-a-mole, right? You try to beat
it down, it is just going to pop up someplace else. So we
really need a way, a mechanism, of ensuring that if we are
going to put controls in place, that it is not offsetting the
innovation that is about to take place, but rather helping it
and making sure it thrives.
Senator Markey. But haven't you found over the years, Mr.
Kass, that if people can get away without building in the
protections against hacking or privacy, that they just do it to
save money?
Mr. Kass. People never cease to amaze me.
Senator Markey. Thank you so much. So it's not just whack-
a-mole. It's just whack-a-bad-person.
Mr. Kass. Well, no, I was speaking of innovation. We can't
policy our way out of it. Someone is going to innovate, and it
needs to be us. We need to lead.
Senator Markey. Right. We have to do it, but at the same
time, we then have to tell people who don't want to install the
safety protections that they have to do it.
Mr. Kass. Fair enough.
Senator Markey. OK, thank you. That's all I'm really
saying.
And, Ms. Reynolds?
Ms. Reynolds. I think the answer is certainly yes, and I
will add that there is a role for smart infrastructure as well.
One of the few benefits to having started our connected signal
system in the 1980s is that it is all hard fiber and it is
virtually unhackable. There will be a role for infrastructure
to manage not just the hacking but the 12 or 20 different
vehicle software technologies that are out there.
Senator Markey. But again, I didn't get the correct answer
from the auto manufacturers.
Ms. Reynolds. Yes.
Senator Markey. Thank you so much. I mean, seatbelts are
good but not just yet. Airbag is good, but not just yet. We
just want the technology to evolve a little bit more. So when,
Lord, will you put those seatbelts, those airbags, those
hacking protections in?
Mr. Monje?
Mr. Monje. Thank you, Senator. And thank you for your
leadership on this issue.
You know, cybersecurity is going to be a continuous
challenge for the rest of this century. There is substantial
motivation on our part to get it right on behalf of safety,
certainly from the manufacturers.
NHTSA is doing everything we can. We have established
standards, a security credential management system for V2V
technology to ensure that those packets of information can be
shared safely. We are going to continue to work with industry,
continue to work with experts to make sure we continue to fight
this threat.
Senator Markey. Dr. Edelstein--if I can just have one more
minute, please? Thank you.
Do you believe also that we should make owners explicitly
aware of collection, transmission, retention, and use of
driving data and provide owners the right to say no to data
collection and retention without losing access to key
navigation or other features?
Dr. Edelstein. Yes.
Senator Markey. Yes.
Mr. Davis?
Mr. Davis. Yes.
Senator Markey. Yes.
Mr. Kass?
Mr. Kass. Yes. And just generally speaking, with all the
information that is going to be available, this concept of
opting out I think is important.
Senator Markey. Excellent, thank you.
Ms. Reynolds?
Ms. Reynolds. Yes.
Senator Markey. Excellent.
Mr. Monje. Yes, sir. It's very important to only collect
the information you need and make sure consumers know what they
are sharing.
Senator Markey. Thank you.
So I think that is a great balance here. It's not all good.
Like any other technology, there is the bad as well. And we
just have to make sure that we build in the protections at the
same time that we build in the opportunities. And if we do
that, then I think we discharge our responsibility as
policymakers.
I thank you, Madam Chair, Mr. Ranking Member, for this
hearing.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator Markey.
Dr. Edelstein, in your written testimony, you discuss
several innovative transportation projects that you are
currently working on.
For example, you mentioned that AECOM employs sensors to
monitor the Brooklyn Bridge for cracks and also for temperature
fluctuation. What is the impact of real-time data monitoring on
our Nation's critical transportation infrastructure assets,
especially as it relates to public spending on maintenance?
Dr. Edelstein. We're not monitoring the Brooklyn Bridge.
That was a case example that other people are doing, but it has
nothing to do with AECOM. I just wanted to get that out.
Again, my vision for the control centers of the future, I
really see it getting into not only moving people and cargo
more efficiently, but also asset management in real-time. This
way we can put sensors out on our bridges. We can monitor smart
buildings with regard to energy systems. We can put sensors out
on water systems to see if there are any potential leaks in the
pipes that will cause inefficiency.
So what I am looking at is a control center--again, it can
be a virtual control center; it doesn't have to be one massive
building--a control center that would monitor all of the assets
that the agencies own, operate, and maintain.
I think by doing that, you will get more efficiencies, and
I think it will dovetail very nicely with the smart city
concept. With the smart city concept, I think the platforms
that they will be using allows everything to be interconnected,
but there needs to be something there, a control center, that
monitors all of these assets in real-time to gain more
efficiencies with the systems.
Senator Fischer. As you have this control center that is
monitoring in I would assume a more timely and also more
accurate manner, how do you see that affecting safety in the
future? And also looking at the reliability of our
infrastructure, using the example of the Brooklyn Bridge?
Dr. Edelstein. OK. Well, with regard to safety, if it was
the Brooklyn Bridge and you had another incident with regard to
I-35, the bridge up in Minnesota, hopefully by having the
sensors out on the bridge, we could be more proactive in
detecting if there is something wrong with the bridge ahead of
time so we could make some corrections to it before you have a
catastrophe, something like that.
In terms of reliability and other forms of safety, the
traffic management centers are already doing that. They are
able to detect an incident or a lane closure or an accident a
lot faster than the way that we used to do it without the
technologies embedded into the systems.
For example, we've been working on a project down in Miami
for about the last 10 years operating their control center.
When we first started, it took about 15 minutes or so to clear
a lane blockage incident. Now it is about half the time. That
half the time translates to safety benefits as well as travel
time reliability.
In terms of safety benefits, for every minute that we save
in a lane-blocking event and clearing that lane that much
faster, it translates to nearly 3 percent of probability of a
secondary accident happening. So if you take a 15-minute lane-
blocking event, take a lane-blocking event and you can clear it
15 minutes faster, you are talking about improving the
probability that you won't have a secondary accident by about
40 percent.
In terms of travel time reliability, the formula is, I
think for every minute that you save, it translates to 4
minutes of saving. So, again, a 15-minute clearance improvement
would translate to about an hour backup delay that you are
saving.
So I think it all ties together, whether you are managing
assets, or you are managing traffic as well as safety.
Senator Fischer. Do you see cities and States and also
private businesses stepping forward and willing to embrace
these new technologies? Is there enthusiasm on their part? Or
is it balanced with I guess reality in looking at the cost?
Dr. Edelstein. It is more so the latter. There is
definitely enthusiasm. No doubt about it. But many cities are
struggling, just paying the day-to-day bills. They have to deal
with potholes. They have to deal with physical safety
improvements as well as infrastructure improvements that may
increase capacity in some of their roadway systems.
Technology is nice. They are looking at that as a long-term
solution. But balancing the firefighting issues that they deal
with on a day-to-day basis and the budget and the evolution of
technology as it comes online, it's pretty tricky.
But I would have to say that most cities and States, they
are very enthusiastic about technology innovations. But again,
there is just so much money to go around.
Senator Fischer. Thank you very much.
Senator Booker?
Senator Booker. Chair Fischer, Senator Klobuchar has asked
if she could go next. She has a committee to return to.
Senator Fischer. Senator Klobuchar?
STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much. I am the ranking
member on this hearing we are having on a bill that we passed
last year on sex trafficking, but I want to thank you all for
coming. I especially want to thank Mr. Kass who represents here
C.H. Robinson, which is headquartered in Eden Prairie,
Minnesota, with his 22 years of experience in freight
logistics.
As you may know, C.H. Robinson has evolved from a wholesale
produce brokerage house to a major third-party logistics
provider, is the largest network of motor carrier capacity in
North America, had gross revenues of $13.5 billion in 2015, and
is one of 17 Fortune 500 companies based in my State. So we are
proud of the work that they do and what they can bring to this
discussion.
Mr. Kass, could you talk about how you have leveraged the
Internet of Things at your company to increase the efficiency
of multimodal shipments?
Mr. Kass. Sure. When you think about our company, its focus
is on developing technology platforms and services to connect,
automate, and optimize supply chains. What the Internet of
Things has done is allowed us to create algorithms that quickly
and easily select the most optimal mode of transportation.
Many shippers today can't respond in the time, they don't
have the resources, they may not even have the expertise, to
take a look at what their freight network looks like in real-
time and, frankly, shift from a truckload shipment to an
intermodal shipment, which poses significant advantages.
The intermodal obviously is going to reduce the carbon
footprint. It is going to lower the overall cost. And it is
going to take capacity off the road, and I think put it in a
safer environment.
Senator Klobuchar. Very good. Thank you very much.
One of the things that we've learned in our state, which I
guess we share with all three members who are here today, New
Jersey, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, is that you can have all the
networks you want for transportation, but if you have snow and
the trucks can't move, then we have a problem, or the trains
can't go.
I know the Minnesota Department of Transportation has
applied for a grant through the U.S. Department of
Transportation's Advanced Transportation and Congestion
Management Technologies Deployment Program--that is quite a
mouthful--that is used to improve the effectiveness of
snowplows.
It is no small thing in our State. We are pretty proud of
how quickly we clear out our roads, but technology can always
make us better. Let's just say it works a lot better in
Minnesota than Washington, D.C.
Dr. Edelstein, how will the new communications
opportunities from the Internet of Things improve public safety
and the delivery of government services with things like
snowplowing?
Dr. Edelstein. Well, if you look at it, let's start with
the end-user. The end-user wants their street snowplowed within
a certain time-frame or they want to know at least when their
street is going to be plowed. By having the Internet of Things,
this could provide the communication between the individual and
the agency responsible for the plowing, so you open up the
communications.
Also, you are opening up the potential to optimize where
you have the snowplows, which roads deserve the highest
priority. And you can monitor that in real-time, so if you have
to do multiple runs of a street because the snow is still
coming down, again, you have the potential of using the IoT and
big data to optimize the routing of snowplows, assuming that
they have automated vehicle location devices on them, or some
type of sensors.
Senator Klobuchar. I think that is just a great example
because I really am stunned by how long it takes.
My daughter went from the public schools of Minnesota,
where she had no snow days for 7 years, and then when she got
to the Arlington Public Schools, which are very good, she had 2
weeks off in her first year.
So I do think that there has to be a better way to do that.
I understand areas that have more snow are more affected by it.
I guess my last question is just along those same lines,
the need to have broadband installation and fast speed
broadband to make this work. One of the bills that we have in
the MOBILE NOW Act would actually require focus more on dig-one
switches to try. When you have highway projects, you try to put
the Internet in at the same time to make it more efficient. And
obviously many of us on this committee are working on expanding
access for broadband in rural areas as well.
Any comments you have about the need to have Wi-Fi to make
all of this work?
Dr. Edelstein. That's really outside my expertise, so I'll
take a pass on that.
Senator Klobuchar. OK. Can you assume you need Wi-Fi if we
are going to have these things on snowplows?
Dr. Edelstein. Yes.
Senator Klobuchar. All right. OK, thank you.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar.
Senator Booker?
Senator Booker. I just want to finish up on the question I
was in before about what other countries are doing that is
better than the United States, what we can be learning so we
can, again, continue to be the global exporter of innovation on
the planet Earth.
So, Mr. Davis, you were sort of finishing your answer. I
didn't know if you wanted to add any more before I go to Mr.
Kass or Dr. Edelstein.
Mr. Davis. I'll just add one example. A great technology
enabler for the Internet of Things is going to be 5G wireless
infrastructure. We see a number of countries moving very
quickly there, creating testbeds, creating opportunities to do
trials. We'll see it not only in fixed infrastructure that
needs to be able to communicate back to a data center or cloud,
but even mobile infrastructure.
We see in Germany they are running trials now on the
autobahn to learn how to maintain high data rate connectivity
when a car is moving very fast down the freeway. We see around
the Winter Olympics, Summer Olympics coming up in the future in
South Korea and Japan, doing, again, early pilots, early
testbeds. I think the more that we can do things to foster----
Senator Booker. Why aren't we doing those here?
By the way, with the 5G, some of the innovation is because
you have a more predictable, understandable marketplace for
innovation and patents and the like over in Europe now than you
necessarily do here. Is that some of the reason why?
Mr. Davis. I think it is much more about just creating the
opportunity. We see these big events like the Winter Olympics
or the Summer Olympics. That becomes kind of a focal point for
that country to say let's go put a lot of resources in.
Senator Booker. So we're not, maybe government is not
creating sandboxes where people can----
Mr. Davis. I think we want to look for more testbeds. We
want to look for opportunities where we can say, hey, let's go
all in, let's create a solution to really kind of force the
technology to get deployed, for us to understand where we need
to do more optimization. I think it is looking for those kinds
of opportunities.
Senator Booker. OK, thank you.
Jordan, I mean, Mr. Kass, first of all, I want to just
echo, because you put in your comments, and it is something
that I feel very strongly about, that we have a ridiculously
bad tax environment to incentivize companies here. And I see it
in biotech with a lot of New Jersey firms inverting now because
of the bad environment.
So please don't think that I haven't gotten that point and
don't say, basically, hallelujah, amen, and join your chorus of
conviction to change that.
But what else are other countries doing besides creating a
better tax environment?
Mr. Kass. Firstly, thank you for reading my mind. I
appreciate that. That was going to be the way I answered the
question.
But secondarily, when I look at our global base of talent
and the diversity of it, there is something that is happened
here where we are just not developing math students the way
that other countries are. And I think that is core to
engineering, and it is core to where the Internet of Things is
going.
Don't get me wrong, we have talent. But if we are not
developing it at the speed and pace that some of these other--
--
Senator Booker. No, we've fallen from number one for
graduating engineers, math majors. Now we are out of the top
10. Other countries are realizing that this new economy is
going to necessitate having STEM folks, and America is falling
behind.
Mr. Kass. Yes, and then I would add to it the ones that we
do, there is a male bias to it, and we need to figure out how
to get that neutralized as well. So I would point you in the
direction of how we get that fixed.
Senator Booker. Great.
Dr. Edelstein, do you have anything to add, especially port
efficiency is something that even the Secretary of
Transportation and I have talked about, about how in the
Northeast people are choosing to use Canadian ports because
they are more efficient than ours are. Is there anything that
other countries are doing in terms of the Internet of Things
for freight logistics that we could be learning from here and
catching up on?
Dr. Edelstein. Other countries' freight----
Senator Booker. I'll tell you what, Dr. Edelstein, let me
move to my last question and try to get it in 10 seconds each.
If you had a government dollar, if we were going to be
investing, where would you focus your government dollar, Mr.
Davis, in terms of getting the biggest return?
Mr. Davis. As I said earlier, I think creating these
partnerships and these opportunities to really move technology
forward, between the private sector, the regulators, and
academia.
Senator Booker. Jordan?
Mr. Kass. It may surprise everybody, but it would be
infrastructure.
Senator Booker. Be more specific?
Mr. Kass. Specifically, the road infrastructure. If I
painted a picture of the United States, and I showed you the
traffic flows around the United States, you would see very
clearly on a map where those arteries were unbelievably
constricted in major cities around the world.
And there is a trend of urbanization. It is clear. There
were 10 megacities, cities over 10 million in population. There
were 10 megacities I believe 10 years ago. Now there are 23.
People are moving into cities because they need access to
products. That trend is clear.
If we don't fix the infrastructure, whatever we do with the
Internet of Things is just going to expose the fact that we
don't have the infrastructure to move the flow of goods
properly.
Senator Booker. Tax reform, infrastructure investment. I
really like you, Mr. Kass.
[Laughter.]
Senator Fischer. Thank you.
Senator Blumenthal?
STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL,
U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT
Senator Blumenthal. Thank you very much. Thanks for your
help and your service.
Because we have a vote, I'm just going to ask you one quick
question. Positive Train Control, what can we do to achieve it
more quickly and implement it around the country?
Mr. Monje. Well, I will start. Thank you, Senator. We've
been pushing positive train control, and thank you so much for
your leadership on this issue.
I think we are very excited at the Department of
Transportation that we have $199 million to spend thanks to the
FAST Act to help commuter rails get on board. There are still
significant challenges across the rail industry to implementing
this, including access to spectrum, including equipment issues.
We are doing everything we can. We are working with the
FCC. We are working with the class ones. We are working with
short lines, with commuter rails. We are doing everything we
can to hold their feet to the fire and to make sure we get this
technology deployed quickly and safely.
We know that technology would've prevented the crash in
Philadelphia. The opportunities for safety are substantial, and
we are dedicated to this technology.
Senator Blumenthal. Any other thoughts? How about sensors
at rail-grade crossings? These are practical, rail safety
measures that will save lives.
Dr. Edelstein. Yes, I think it's an excellent idea.
Unfortunately, it takes probably a good mile or so for the
train to slow down to get to the point where that person that
might be in the railroad crossing would avoid getting hit.
I live in Florida. We just had an incident like that last
week, where a family of four was at the railroad crossing.
Three of them got out, but one of them got hit by the train.
The communications need to be, obviously, with the driver
of the train. To bring it back to the control center wouldn't
give you enough time to react.
In urban areas where you have railroad crossing spaced
three or four per mile, it becomes a real tricky situation. Now
with the Internet of Things, this might be able to be managed a
little bit more efficiently than the way we used to do it in
the past.
But I think there is a lot of upside potential in
addressing these issues in railroad crossings.
Senator Blumenthal. Thank you all.
Thank you.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Senator Blumenthal.
I want to thank the witnesses for being here today. I think
we had a great hearing, and I appreciate your answers.
The hearing record will remain open for 2 weeks. During
this time, Senators are asked to submit any questions for the
record. Upon receipt, the witnesses are requested to submit
their written answers to the Committee as soon as possible.
With that, the hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:06 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Richard Blumenthal to
Hon. Carlos Monje, Jr.
Question. In 2008, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act,
which required DOT to issue regulations ensuring that each passenger
and freight railroad develop and implement a Risk Reduction Plan ``to
reduce the numbers and rates of railroad accidents, incidents,
injuries, and fatalities.'' One of the components mandated within the
Risk Reduction Plan was a Technology Implementation Plan. The
Technology Implementation Plan requires railroads to specify how they
will use ``current, new or novel technologies'' to reduce safety risks.
The 2008 law mandated these regulations governing Risk Reduction
Plans--including Technology Implementation Plans--by October 2012.
Almost four years since the deadline, there are no final rules ensuring
railroads have these plans that incorporate technology into their
safety practices.
Mr. Monje, the premise of this hearing is that new technology can
enhance safety. Congress mandated that DOT take action to ensure
railroads are using technology to save lives. That mandate is
outstanding. When will the Department of Transportation carry out the
Congressional mandate? When will each railroad be required to have a
Technology Implementation Plan?
Answer. The Department's Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has
initiated two rulemakings to implement this mandate: the System Safety
Program (SSP) rulemaking for commuter and intercity passenger railroads
and the Risk Reduction Program (RRP) rulemaking for Class I railroads
and railroads with inadequate safety records. Both rulemakings would
require certain railroads to develop and implement an SSP or RRP to
improve the safety of their operations. As part of its SSP or RRP, a
railroad would be required to set forth a technology implementation
plan. To ensure commuter and intercity passenger safety is achieved
through an informed rulemaking process, the Railroad Safety Advisory
Committee (RSAC) assisted FRA with both rulemakings. The SSP final rule
was issued on July 29, 2016 and is expected to be published in the
Federal register soon.
An advance notice of proposed rulemaking for the RRP rulemaking was
published in the Federal Register on December 8, 2010. 75 FR 76345. Two
public hearings were held in July 2011. The RRP NPRM was published
February 27, 2015 with the comment period ending October 21, 2015. 80
FR 10949 & 80 FR 60591. FRA held a Public Hearing on the RRP NPRM on
August 27, 2015. Once again, in an attempt to develop an informed final
rule, the RSAC's Risk Reduction Working Group met on September 29, 2015
to review and discuss comments submitted in response to the NPRM. FRA
is currently drafting the RRP final rule.