The U.S. Department of Transportation has settled on the seven finalists in its search to find the city with the most compelling proposition for developing a "Smart City."
Last December, the USDOT, in partnership with Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Inc., issued a challenge to cities around the U.S. with the hopes of better defining what it means to be a smart city. It's looking for plans to integrate autonomous vehicles, connected transit, smart sensors and other smart tech to modernize urban travel.
The city that seems to have the best plan of the bunch will be awarded a $40 million grant to move its winning idea forward.
While it's still searching out the city with the smartest game plan, the USDOT has narrowed a field of 78 applicants down to just seven. And apparently there are a lot of compelling ideas being put forth, as the USDOT originally planned to name five finalists this month.
"The level of excitement and energy the Smart City Challenge has created around the country far exceeded our expectations," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
The finalists are as follows:
‣ Austin, Texas
‣ Columbus, Ohio
‣ Denver, Colo.
‣ Kansas City, Mo.
‣ Pittsburgh, Pa.
‣ Portland, Ore
‣ San Francisco, Calif.
From here, the finalists will each be awarded $100,000 grant to flesh out their proposals. The USDOT will announce the winner of challenge during the C3 Connected Mobility Showcase at SXSW this June.
In announcing the finalists, the USDOT revealed that Amazon, the front runner in the cloud race, is joining the challenge to help the remaining seven refine their proposals. Other companies offering advice to the competing cities include NXP, Autodesk and Mobileye.
The applicants' visions of a "greener future represents the best of American ingenuity," said Barbara Bennett, president and COO, of Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Inc.
"As the Smart City Challenge's philanthropic partner, we hope to catalyze a transportation transformation across the country that will dramatically drive down emissions from this leading source of carbon pollution," Bennett said.
