AI Guidebook Funding, Emergency Summit Keynoters
DOT Tech News
June 29, 2026 · Transportation Technology Briefing
Good morning, DOT tech nerds and professionals. This week we're looking at a half-million-dollar federal study that could finally give transportation agencies a practical AI playbook. Plus, two big names are heading to the National Emergency Response Summit in July.
In this week's DOT Tech News:
- A $500K Federal Study Will Build the First AI Guidebook for Transportation Agencies
- FHWA Chief and DOT Research Head to Keynote National Emergency Response Summit in July
A $500K Federal Study Will Build the First AI Guidebook for Transportation Agencies
Old Dominion University researchers just landed a $500,000 Transportation Research Board grant to produce a national framework helping public transportation agencies adopt AI without leaving their workforces behind.
No coherent playbook currently exists for how transportation agencies should integrate AI. Every agency is experimenting on its own — with different tools, different risk tolerances, and no shared standards. This two-year project will conduct nationwide focus groups and surveys to map how agencies currently use AI, where gaps exist, and which job roles are most exposed to change.
The interdisciplinary ODU team spans civil engineering, engineering technology, and workforce development. They'll partner with Slalom Consulting and Noblis to produce a practical guidebook covering AI adoption strategies, workforce reskilling, cybersecurity risks, data reliability concerns, and guidelines for keeping humans accountable on safety-critical decisions.
The research sits inside ODU's MonarchSphere ecosystem — a Google Cloud-powered AI platform the university launched in Fall 2025 — giving the team scalable infrastructure to support the work. The final deliverable will give agencies something concrete: structured recommendations they can act on rather than vendor pitches to sort through alone.
Why it matters: Transportation agency CIOs and their software vendors are operating without a shared rulebook — this study will likely become the closest thing to one, making it essential reading for anyone selling into or building for the public-sector DOT market.
Source: Department of Transportation
FHWA Chief and DOT Research Head to Keynote National Emergency Response Summit in July
Federal Highway Administration Administrator Sean McMaster and DOT Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology Seval Oz will headline the National Transportation Emergency Response Summit on July 22–23 in Las Vegas.
NTERS brings together transportation officials, public safety leaders, and emergency managers for a day-and-a-half of structured sessions focused on cross-state coordination, lessons learned, and resilience-building. The summit runs immediately after the WASHTO Annual Meeting, giving western state DOT leaders a direct pipeline into the national emergency response conversation.
A bipartisan Governor's Roundtable on Regional Resilience will feature Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen and Hawaii Governor Josh Green as virtual panelists. State DOT executives from Texas, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Nevada will also lead sessions covering topics from regional coordination to how connectivity and technology strengthen emergency response capabilities on the ground.
Other sessions address the changing nature of emergency events, cross-sector partnerships, and how regional summits build toward a more unified national response framework. Registration is open at washto2026.com.
Why it matters: State DOT technology teams and their vendors need to track how federal leadership frames emergency response priorities — the tools, platforms, and interoperability standards discussed at NTERS tend to shape procurement decisions and grant requirements in the months that follow.
Source: Department of Transportation / AASHTO Journal
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