Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently signed an executive order establishing the Arkansas Council on Future Mobility.
The council will search for opportunities to work with companies and create partnerships with businesses advancing the future of mobility, identify state laws that create barriers to the advancement of mobility, and make policy and incentive recommendations that will support the development of advanced mobility.
The council will submit a final report to Hutchinson before Nov. 30.
Council members include representatives from the Arkansas Auto Dealers Association; the Arkansas Trucking Association; Canoo, an electric vehicle manufacturer; Entergy; J.B. Hunt; several state agencies; Southern Arkansas University Tech; the University of Arkansas; and Walmart.
Cyrus Sigari, co-founder of UP Partners, will serve as council chairman.
“Today will lay the foundation for Arkansas’s leadership in the transportation industry for decades to come,” Hutchinson said. “Arkansas is already home to a growing number of mobility companies that are investing and operating in the state.”
Hutchinson said the state needed the council to continue to be a national and world leader in the sector. Canoo recently opened its headquarters and production facility in Arkansas. Companies such as Walmart and Gatik have driven more than 200,000 autonomous miles in their retail operations using autonomous box trucks.