WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Dave Joyce (OH-14) announced that the Ohio Department of Transportation’s DriveOhio will receive a $7.5 million Automated Driving Systems (ADS) Demonstration Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. This grant program aims to gather safety data to help inform rulemaking, foster collaboration amongst state and local governments and private partners, and test the safe integration of autonomous vehicles on our nation’s roads.

As the former Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies, Dave secured the language in the Fiscal Year 2018 House appropriations bill that ultimately provided the federal funding for this grant program. Earlier this year, Dave joined the entire Ohio Congressional delegation in writing to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao and advocating on behalf of ODOT’s application for this funding.

“Automated vehicle technology is advancing at a rapid pace and we need to conduct the research and testing necessary to ensure that technology can be implemented safely,” said Rep. Dave Joyce. “I am proud to have supported ODOT’s application for this important funding and look forward to seeing how DriveOhio will use this award to help protect Ohioans, ensure passenger safety and support the ever-evolving technology surrounding automated vehicles.” 

Specifically, this funding will help DriveOhio conduct a multi-pronged demonstration approach focusing on rural environments, cooperative automation, and robust data collection to enable the development of effective and informed ADS policies, which will take place at North America’s largest independent automotive proving grounds, the Transportation Research Center (TRC). By leveraging Ohio’s leadership in connected vehicle environments, ADS technology, and research centers like TRC’s SMARTCenter to apply lessons learned from existing ADS deployment efforts to understudied rural, suburban and urban environments as well as highway settings, DriveOhio’s project will better integrated these communities into the larger statewide transportation technology ecosystem. 

DriveOhio is the state’s center for the innovation, incubation and implementation of autonomous and connected vehicle technologies. Bringing dozens of private and public entities together under a single umbrella, DriveOhio aims to improve transportation safety enhance mobility, expand access and improve reliability, as well as attract, prepare and retain Ohio’s workforce talent.

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