Florida Automated Vehicles summit lands in Tampa

Jacksonville Transit Authority's Sameer Pawar shows off an automated vehicle // Credit Corey Beltran 9/8/23

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The Florida Automated Vehicles Summit took place in Downtown Tampa, and it’s a look ahead to the future of transportation.

The conference highlights how Florida can implement automated and electric vehicles. Vendors from across the nation came together to showcase their transportation technology.

Dave Miller represents Yunex Traffic, a mobility company. It’s focused on Vision Zero, which is a strategy to bring roadway fatalities and injuries to zero. Tampa released an action plan for Vision Zero in 2021.

Vehicle at the demonstration // Corey Beltran, 2023

“What we’re doing is we have a camera up here that’s looking for moving objects within its field of view, so it’s classifying those as whether it’s a car, a pedestrian, or a cyclist, and we’re feeding those locations and their path projections to the car.”

Republican state legislator Fiona McFarland was recognized at the summit. She’s the chair of the Transportation & Modals subcommittee in the House of Representatives. She sees a bright future for automated vehicles of all kinds.

“What I’m most excited about, and Jeff will be right there with the Florida Policy Foundation, is to go up. There’s been tremendous conversations about advanced air mobility, and I think that’s the next frontier for us here in Florida.”