Governor John Kasich wants to position Ohio “to lead on developing the vehicles, highways and smart transportation technologies of the future,” and the new “DriveOhio” initiative is part of that plan, The Columbus Dispatch reports. As part of the Department of Transportation, DriveOhio “will offer manufacturers and researchers one point of contact to coordinate with state agency assistance in developing driverless vehicles, ‘smart’ roads and other technology,” according to the article. Ohio is creating “‘smart highways,’ such as a 35-mile stretch of Rt. 33 between Dublin and East Liberty, by installing fiber-optic cable and sensors to collect data and allow autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles to communicate with each other.” At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this year, Kasich “played up Ohio’s new high-tech offerings” to major auto manufacturers and invited tech-giant Google “to consider an investment in a plant and jobs in Ohio.” For more, read the full article.
State’s “DriveOhio” initiative will be hub for smart transportation research
