U.S. government defines moonshot transportation innovations

As part of a major 2021 infrastructure law, the U.S. government established a new agency within the Department of Transportation, the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Infrastructure (ARPA-I) tasked with funding high-risk, high-reward next-generation technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the nation's transportation infrastructure systems. The goals of this agency are to advance innovative science and technology solutions that lower long-term costs, reduce environmental lifecycle impacts, expand the benefits, and boost the resilience of transportation infrastructure. To achieve this vision, significant investments are proposed in advanced materials, structures, components, systems, and capabilities. These will be delivered employing the innovation model from DARPA and ARPA-E, existing federal agencies focused on moonshot innovations in defense and energy technology, respectively. The first effort spearheaded by the new agency, the Complete Streets Artificial Intelligence Initiative, awarded $2.4 million to a dozen American small businesses in 2024 for solutions leveraging AI for local government planning.

As national governments test approaches for moonshot science and technology innovation to bolster urban climate adaptation, they will help promising commercial innovations overcome hurdles to entering the marketplace, significantly accelerating innovation and its adoption.