COLUMBUS – Millions of additional federal transportation dollars are headed for central Ohio to finance research into advanced transportation technology including driverless cars.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $6 million grant to the cities of Dublin and Marysville and Union County for the Northwest U.S. 33 Smart Mobility Corridor.
The area is home to more than 50 automotive related companies including Honda’s manufacturing and research development facilities and Ohio State University’s Transportation Research Center in east Liberty, which houses 7.5-mile automotive test track.
“We are now in a position to expand the region’s efforts as a ‘Smart City’,” Dublin CIO Doug McCollough said.
Columbus won the $40 million Smart City Challenge in June, a transportation department grant to develop transportation technology. The city is matching the federal grant with its own funds, along with $90 million in pledges from public and private sector partners, to testing autonomous vehicles at Easton and connected vehicle technology in in a number of locations.
The Northwest Smart Mobility Corridor grant will provide funding to analyze “dedicated short range communications” for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications for connected and automated vehicles and infrastructure.