On Monday, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced it was awarding Texas a $19.2 million grant to advance connected and interoperable vehicle technologies.
The grant, part of the Saving Lives with Connectivity: Accelerating V2X Deployment program will provide the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) with funding for its Texas TRUST Project, Transforming Roads, Unleashing Smart Technologies. The project will serve as a model to accelerate and sport deployments of vehicle to everything technologies, the department said. Texas’ grant was part of a larger $60 million grant package with other grants going to Arizona and Utah.
“As this Department explores every measure that can help reduce roadway fatalities, connected vehicle technology—like V2X—has potential to make roads safer and save lives,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “The grants we’re announcing today are helping accelerate the development and adoption of potentially life-saving V2X technology nationwide.”
Texas A&M will use the grant to deploy V2X technology in Houston and College Station in the area near the Texas A&M University campus, and along the corridors connecting the two cities. The project will enhance safety, efficiency and overall mobility for vulnerable road users, officials said, including users at signalized intersections, emergency responders navigating through varying traffic scenarios, transit operators looking for efficient route, workers in construction zones, and everyday motorists.
“Texas is a leader in promoting and deploying V2X technologies to explore the potential to save lives on our nation’s highways,” Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said. “The funding provided today will help accelerate the technology so that we can deploy it on a national scale and provide new tools to combat fatalities on our nation’s highways.”