The City of San Diego was selected as one of 22 municipalities to take part in a national collaborative exploring how emerging technologies and mobility options can improve transportation. Selected cities will work together to identify transportation solutions that utilize technological innovation such as considering private sector partnerships that complement local transit systems.
The Smart Cities Collaborative will offer guidance on how to safely and efficiently keep people and goods moving through the City with attention to new technologies like ridesourcing services and bikeshare programs. The second-year collaborative is hosted by the nonprofit Transportation for America.
“From smart streetlights to the Get It Done app, San Diego has embraced the use of technology to provide high-quality customer service to our residents,” said Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer. “The Smart Cities Collaborative allows us to work with and learn from other cities, maximizing new technology that gives San Diegans convenient and safe transportation alternatives and improving our quality of life.”
The City of San Diego has already launched initiatives at the nexus of infrastructure, technology and transportation including a smart streetlights project in partnership with General Electric. This project will deploy 3,200 smart sensors on City streetlights in 2018. The sensors save energy and optimize transportation by identifying open parking spaces and providing commuter metrics.
The City is also re-timing street lights to keep vehicles and pedestrians moving more efficiently, and has more than doubled its electric vehicle infrastructure in Fiscal Year 2017.
San Diego was selected from a group of 50 cities that applied to be part of the Collaborative this year. The City is joined by 21 other participants, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.