U.S. DOT Announces 7 Finalist Cities for Smart City Challenge

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, joined by Barbara Bennett, President and COO of Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc. and Rick Clemmer CEO of NXP^® Semiconductors, announced seven finalists for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Smart City Challenge on March 12, 2016. The finalists are: Austin, TX; Columbus, OH; Denver, CO; Kansas City, MO; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, OR; and San Francisco, CA. The USDOT has pledged up to $40 million (funding subject to future appropriations) to one city to help it define what it means to be a “Smart City “and become the country’s first city to fully integrate innovative technologies – self-driving cars, connected vehicles, and smart sensors – into their transportation network. NXP joined the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge as a provider of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) technology. With this partnership, NXP, together with its partner Cohda Wireless, will provide the contest’s winning community with wireless technology that allows cars to securely exchange data, such as hazard warnings, over distances of more than a mile to prevent accidents and improve traffic flow.