The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) held a pitch competition on Friday at USDOT headquarters for the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Infrastructure (ARPA-I) Ideas and Innovation Challenge and selected the prize winners.
ARPA-I invited innovators from the private and public sectors to showcase innovative concepts that can improve safety, lower costs and enhance infrastructure. The competition was held in two phases. During phase one, 15 semi-finalists were selected from 448 submissions. During phase two, the semi-finalists submitted detailed proposals. The final four were selected to advance to the final.
“The level of ingenuity and technical excellence displayed by all four finalists today is a testament to the incredible talent driving the American spirit of innovation,” Seval Oz, USDOT assistant secretary for research and technology, said. “These teams brought a game-changing approach to our most critical infrastructure challenges. Paired with our historic gathering of directors from all five ARPA agencies, today marks a pivotal moment in our nationwide collaboration to prepare and modernize our transportation infrastructure.”
The winners are:
1st place: Agentic AI for Freight was awarded $300,000 for adaptive, resilient middle-mile freight operations.
2nd place: BIO-BUILDS was awarded $200,000 for biologically innovative operations for a lean, durable infrastructure.
3rd place: PRISM was awarded $150,000 for AI-powered real-time intelligence for shared mobility.
4th place: NavSentinel was awarded $50,000 for resilient, spoof-proof GNSS navigation receivers.