Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the winners of the Intersection Safety Challenge Stage 1B: System Assessment and Virtual Testing at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting. The purpose of the Intersection Safety Challenge, a multi-stage prize competition, is to encourage teams of innovators and end-users to develop, prototype and test intersection safety systems (ISS) that leverage emerging technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to identify and mitigate unsafe conditions involving vehicles and vulnerable road users at roadway intersections. The Challenge draws on the expertise of researchers and practitioners from across the United States, including universities, State and local agencies, private sector developers, and other organizations.
“Congratulations to the DOT Intersection Safety Challenge Stage 1B winners today. We look forward to the next stage of this exciting safety development – a Stage 2 prototyping and field-testing effort. Enhancing the safety of vulnerable road users at our nation’s roadway intersections is a critically important element in driving down fatalities on our roads to zero.”, said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Chief Scientist Dr. Robert C. Hampshire.
For Stage 1B, DOT awarded 10 teams with prize amounts ranging from $166,666 to $750,000, for a total of $4,000,000 in prize awards. The lead entities of each of the winning teams are listed below. Please go to the program website to learn more about each winning team: https://its.dot.gov/isc/.
Tier | Prize | Lead Entity | Lead Entity Type |
Tier 1 | $750,000 each | University of Michigan | Academic |
University of California, Los Angeles | Academic | ||
Derq USA | Private Sector | ||
University of Hawaii | Academic | ||
Tier 2 | $166,666 each | Miovision | Private Sector |
Orion Robotics | Private Sector | ||
Florida A&M University and Florida State University | Academic | ||
University of Washington | Academic | ||
University of California, Riverside | Academic | ||
Ohio State University | Academic |
The Intersections Safety Challenge is a multi-stage prize competition. In Stage 1A, the winning teams each received $100,000 for proposing innovative concepts of intersection safety systems (ISS). These winning teams continued their participation in Stage 1B to further demonstrate technical aspects of their safety systems to identify vehicles and people moving on the road – both inside and outside of a vehicle – and predict potential collisions using real-world scenarios.
Improving the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vulnerable road users is of critical importance to achieving the Department’s vision of zero roadway deaths and serious injuries. The Intersection Safety Challenge supports these Departmental priorities, supports the National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS), and sets the stage for the future deployment of roadway intersection safety systems nationwide.