How Cities Can Better Prepare for the
Era of Connected Transportation
T
he growth of the “internet of things,”
wired and wireless connectivity,
and the widespread prevalence of
smartphones are rapidly transforming
transportation. Cities are
exploring ways to use technology to
reduce vehicle congestion, optimize
public transit routes, increase safety and
enable faster response from emergency
responders and roadway maintenance
crews. But for these types of connected
transportation initiatives, cities, states
and local governments will need both
new technology architectures as well
as physical infrastructure to enable
the sharing of data between all types
of vehicles, transit systems and the environment
around them.
Forecasts show more than 380 million
connected cars are expected on the
road by 2021. Each of these automated
vehicles are like a data center on wheels,
capable of generating up to four terabytes
of data per hour as they communicate
with each other and the infrastructure
around them. With hundreds
of millions of these vehicles hitting the
roads in the next few years, cities and local
governments have a short timeframe
in which to prepare for this.
Cities will need to focus on building
greater connectivity and establishing
policies and procedures for
data privacy, security and exchange.
1. Build Greater Connectivity
One of the greatest challenges that
cities face is the need for greater connectivity.
Much of the transportation
infrastructure today is either not connected
or is built on legacy systems,
making it diffi cult to gather and share
data. For connected transportation to
become a reality, cities need to be able
to gather data in real time from IoT-enabled
assets, like traffi c lights and road
sensors, combine it with other data,
such as current weather data or video
feeds from IP cameras, and share it.
To increase connectivity, cities will
need to invest in building out both the
technology infrastructure, as well as
the physical infrastructure assets. Cities
will need to begin building a data
center architecture that is capable of
scaling to handle the huge volume of
data and traffi c that will be generated
by the hundreds of millions of connected
vehicles and infrastructure
assets that will all be communicating
with each other.
All the while, cybersecurity needs
to be end-to-end, spanning from the
data center to the hardened assets at
the edge of the network. As transportation
systems become more connected,
they increasingly become alluring
targets for cybercriminals.
16 | Expo Daily | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | OCTOBER 9, 2017
2. Establish Policies
for Data Privacy
In addition to increasing connectivity,
cities, states and local governments
will also need to consider how to
address data security and privacy
considerations. Concerns are being
raised over how much control drivers
of connected vehicles have over
the data they generate and share, as
well as what parties get to use the data
generated by the diff erent elements of
a connected transportation system.
3. Identify Projects that
are Core to Your Mission
While it can be tempting for city
offi cials to want to green-light projects
that seems glamorous or will
provide quick results, those won’t
solve long-standing challenges or
serve the community in the way it
should be served.
With the ability to bring together
all diff erent types of connected
assets and data onto one common
platform, cities will be able to implement
the types of connected transportation
initiatives that match their
core mission and serve their citizens
through improved safety, effi ciency
and mobility.
MassTransitmag.com/12368493
SMART CITIES
iStockphoto
Cities and local
government will
need to learn how
to identify the
types of projects
that are core to
their mission.
Barry Einsig is a
global automotive
and transportation
executive with Cisco.
Cities will need to focus
establishing policies
and procedures for data
privacy, security and
exchange.
By Barry Einsig
Forecast
380
million
connected cars are
expected to be on
the road by 2021
