The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and the University of Kansas Transportation Center hosted an Innovative Technology Summit for Kansas transportation sectors to better equip for the future.
The event, hosted at the University of Kansas campus on Aug. 7, included 15 presentations from more than 20 industry professionals. The summit aimed to provide transportation industry professionals from academic, public, and private sectors with valuable insights into innovative technology programs, shared research, projects, training opportunities, and networking with industry peers.
“This is the second year for the annual KDOT Innovative Technology Summit… both the University of Kansas, and Kansas State University partner with KDOT with research projects, so we are trying to bounce the location around Kansas,” Lindsay Francis, Local Technical Assistance Program Director of University of Kansas Transportation Center said.
The event featured a ‘Current and Future Role of Innovative Technology in Kansas’ Transportation from Calvin Reed, Kansas Secretary of Transportation, and Dan Scherschligt, Executive Director of the Kansas Asphalt Pavement Association. Scherschligt and Reed said they highly encourage businesses to take on risks with innovation. The two also established the importance of partnership and collaboration, which are two keys to any advancements in innovation.
“It doesn’t matter where you are at, If you’re not failing you’re not growing,” Scherschligt said.
The speakers covered topics from using drones to scout areas for possible hazards to incident detection, road safety assessment tools, and using crowdsourced data to measure timing recommendations for improved signal efficiency. The Innovative Technology Summit and its event K-TRAN Research Needs Day event which is Aug. 8 have nearly 120 total attendees, Francis said.
Francis said that she has seen trends of all things automation and AI at this year’s summit, since both topics are at the forefront of emerging technology.
“It’s interesting to see what it can do, what problems can it solve? What are the uses? I think those discussions are at the summit today,” Francis said.
Using Data to Drive Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety Countermeasure Implementation at KDOT- Max Wilcox, KDOT Transportation Safety Planner, and Jenny Kramer, KDOT Active Transportation Manager, presented data from the ‘Drive to Zero Crash Data Dashboard,’ which shows that there have been more than 7700 fatal or serious injury vehicle crashes in the past five years in Kansas. The data also shows that 63.26% of crashes occur on local roads, while 16% happen on U.S. highways, 10.9% on Kansas highways, and 9.8% on the interstate.
Under the Hood – Video Analytics for Automated Incident Protection: Josh Kissel, who works in Automated Incident Detection (AID) and Traffic Management at Traffic Vision, presented his topic on computer vision and how it can help incident protection. Kissel said he sees continued advancements that make AI and robotics faster and stronger in transportation-specific computer vision in the near future.
Potential of Autonomous Maintenance Technology Deployment in Kansas: Husain Aziz, a civil engineering assistant professor at Kansas State University, showed how to improve work zone safety. The presentation also featured an autonomous truck-mounted attenuator, which aids in worker safety while serving as a mobile crash barrier to lessen the impact of a possible rear-end collision.Charge Up with Zero Emission Fleet Transitions: Adam Gleason, Zero Emissions Engineer, and Matt McLaughlin, Program Manager at HDR, introduced how companies can make plans for transitions within their company to zero emission fleets. Gleason and McLaughlin also mentioned other possible risks and challenges that may occur during a transition.
Accelerating Mobility Innovation: Alvaro Villagran, Director of Federal Programs at Shared-Use Mobility Center, presented his experience from technical assistance, pilot projects, and other innovative mobility projects that agencies from around the country have created.
Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program
The Innovative Technology Program provides financial assistance to partners for innovative technology projects that improve safety, leverage state funds to increase total technology investment and help both rural and urban areas of the state improve the transportation system with an annual budget of $2 million.
Projects are awarded based on providing the best transportation benefits to Kansans. Funds for accepted projects are intended to be spent on technology investment. Through the program, a 25% minimum local match is required.
