Secretary of Transportation Unveils 30-year Plan At Google

The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, arrived at Google in a self-driving car to unveil a 30-year vision of the direction of American transportation and to discuss the challenges that lie ahead. Foxx explained that the Department of Transportation (DoT) has been working for more than a year on a plan to improve the nation’s roads, rails, ports and air control towers in preparation for the anticipated increase of 70 million more people to be living in the United States by the year 2045. Last month, at an address at the Transportation Research Board’s annual convention, Foxx stated that, “We’ve been planning like it’s 1975. In a real sense, our transportation system hasn’t caught up with the 21st century.”

By choosing to announce the framework at Google, alongside the company’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, it appears that the DoT is embracing the potential for major changes in the future of transportation, including self-driving cars. This event also included the first public viewing of Google’s new two-seater prototype self-driving car, which will begin road tests on Bay Area streets once it is approved by the state Department of Motor Vehicles. In a dramatic display, Foxx and Schmidt took a ride together in the tiny electric-powered vehicle, which dropped them off at an entrance to the corporate campus and then drove away on its own. “This is awesome, this is cool,” remarked Foxx, as Schmidt and the head of Google’s self-driving car project, Chris Urmson, illustrated how it works.

Foxx met with Google employees, who asked about a multitude of issues, including public transportation options. Foxx explained that more options should be made available across the country, as well as discussing the necessity of finding additional ways to fund them. He stated that the Federal Highway Trust Fund will run out of money soon if congress doesn’t act quickly. “We’re going to see more private sector investment in infrastructure over the next 30 years, I expect, and that’s partly because we are in such a hole with our own infrastructure,” Foxx said. Foxx further explained that due to the increased fuel efficiency of cars, fewer gas tax dollars are funding the Highway Trust Fund, which is the primary source for the government’s transit spending.

Interestingly, the U.S. government’s anticipation of self-driving cars goes all the way back to a document published in 1977 by the Transportation Secretary of that time, William Coleman. In that document, Coleman predicted that Americans would already be using autonomous cars by this time, which would reduce traffic congestion and improve the safety of roads. “By 2000, the driverless car may become a viable possibility,” the document stated. Now it’s 2015, and although it’s a bit later than Coleman predicted, self-driving cars appear to be on the way to becoming a reality on our roads. How will the DoT plan to manage this dramatic change and utilize it to improve traffic conditions across the country? Foxx explained that in addition to the necessity for additional public-private partnerships to advance technology, the government must effectively prepare safety regulations before emerging technologies such as self-driving cars are ready to be launched. “The idea here is not to be prescriptive, it’s to define the problem and let the solutions evolve organically,” he said.

The fact that Foxx chose to unveil his report at Google is a strong sign that the government has identified the need to work directly with those who are advancing automotive technology, in an effort to prepare the country for a transportation future that may look radically different than anything that has existed in the past.