Federal Highway Administration awards nearly $60M for speedy deployment of vehicle-to-everything technologies

Through the Saving Lives with Connectivity: Accelerating V2X Deployment initiative, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will award nearly $60 million to recipients in Arizona, Texas, and Utah looking to advance deployments of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies.

Meant to promote road safety, mobility, and efficiency through technology, the program seeks to use recipients as national models for advancing connected and interoperable vehicle technologies. V2X technologies allow vehicles and wireless devices to communicate both with each other and with roadside infrastructure, offering warnings and information.

“As this Department explores every measure that can help reduce roadway fatalities, connected vehicle technology—like V2X—has potential to make roads safer and save lives,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said. “The grants we’re announcing today are helping accelerate the development and adoption of potentially life-saving V2X technology nationwide.”

One recipient was chosen from each of the three states. In Arizona, this was the Maricopa County Department of Transportation (DOT), which will receive $19.6 million to guide large-scale deployment of V2X technologies in order to connect 750 physical roadside units and virtual roadside units to approximately 400 vehicle onboard units. Transit, emergency and freight fleets will be the targets there, to help with transit signal priority, emergency vehicle preemption and more.

For Texas, it will be Texas A&M Transportation Institute to take home $19.2 million for V2X deployment in the Greater Houston area, the city of College Station and the corridors connecting the pair. These efforts will work to improve safety, efficiency and overall mobility for vulnerable road users, emergency responders, transit operators and more.

Lastly, the Utah DOT will bring in $20 million for V2X deployment in three states: Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. Applications will focus on safety, mobility and environment, including support for demonstrating measurable impact and addressing critical needs such as connected intersection, weather impact and other safety alert technologies.

“These grants are leading the way in promoting and deploying V2X technologies to explore the potential to save lives on our nation’s highways,” Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said. “The funding provided today will help accelerate the technology so that we can deploy it on a national scale and provide new tools to reduce deaths on our nation’s roads and highways.”

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