The Future of Transportation is Here—In North Carolina

Just a few short years ago, self-driving cars seemed futuristic.  Now the future is here. If you drive in the Triangle, self-driving cars will soon appear on a road near you. What is happening in N.C. Last month the News and Observer reported that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) had selected Interstate 540 in North Carolina (named the Triangle Expressway, but more commonly known as the toll road) as one of ten testing sites for driverless car technology. According to the N&O, the Turnpike Authority’s application stated that the road would be available for testing by January 1, 2018.  The article said it was not clear whether testing would occur on closed roads or in normal traffic. This news follows a December announcement that UNC’s Highway Safety Research Center has been selected to run a national university transportation center funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The new Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety (CSCRS) will continue and expand up the Highway Safety Research Center’s efforts to make road travel safer. The CSCRS director said that CSCRS would conduct and coordinate research to address legacy safety issues—such as impaired driving and speeding—as well as traffic safety problems brought on by new technology. Work to be done. One leading think tank reports that half of the states selected by the USDOT for the self-driving car testing sites have “autonomous vehicle policies,” in the form of executive order or legislation. North Carolina is in the half that does not. Federal policy. The [...]