The U.S. Department of Transportation grant 60 million for research on autonomous driving

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced nearly $60 million in federal grant funding to eight projects in seven states to test the safe integration of automated driving systems (ADS) on U.S. nation’s roadways.

These grants aim to gather significant safety data to inform rulemaking and foster collaboration amongst state and local government and private partners.

Over 70 applicants, including states, universities and departments of transportation, applied for the funding.

The Ohio Department of Transportation, the City of Detroit and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority in California each received $7.5 million. The University of Iowa and Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station both received just over $7 million. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute received a total of $15 million for two projects. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation received more than $8.4 million.