MDX hosted the 7th Annual Florida Automated Vehicles (FAV) Summit for 2019 on November 20 to the 22, focusing on Automated, Connected, Electric and Shared (ACES) mobility. This was the place to be as participants were witnesses to a technological revolution and the rapid change of the future of transportation. Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis opened the Summit in Miami emphasizing that Florida will continue to embrace and encourage innovation and technology.
FAV is a partnership amongst Florida’s expressway authorities, the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX), the Jacksonville Expressway Authority, the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) and the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) together with the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of Florida.
The FAV Summit brought together national experts and industry leaders to discuss autonomous and connected vehicles technologies, opportunities for implementation and the challenges of integrating these technologies with existing transportation systems. Speakers from the public and private sector, leaders in the field discussed the global impact of automated, connected, electric and shared mobility.
The Summit showcased live demonstrations from cutting edge companies such as Ford, Luminar, Voyage, Starsky Robotics, amongst others. Florida and Miami-Dade have been at the forefront of emerging automated vehicle policy solutions and bringing these technologies to the public. Florida’s partnership of expressway authorities and CUTR are leading the way in providing opportunities for developing the framework of mobility technologies for the future.
FAV Summit Demonstrators Beep, Voyage, Lyft, Uber, JUMP, Lime, Starsky Robotics, Ford/Argo AI, Luminar, SPIN, and Connected Wise are already conducting business in Florida.
The Summit conversation does not cover only cars and highways but in fact access to all options of mobility, from scooters, trams, the transfer of goods and services as well as transit and automated mobility services. This is a vision beyond roads, the discussion is looking also at sea and air vessels. It’s a total shift towards automation to provide a betterment to all facets of life.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez received this year’s Leadership and Innovation Award for his efforts in opening opportunities to use Miami-Dade County as the test bed for automated vehicles technology companies. Mayor Gimenez shared the award with Alice Bravo, Director of Miami-Dade’s Department of Transportation and Public Works.
MDX’s Executive Director, Javier Rodriguez highlighted Mayor Gimenez diligent work on recognizing the advantage of positioning Florida as a leader in the ACES mobility and in understanding the economic impact of these emerging technologies. Mr. Rodriguez pointed out that Gimenez’ vision comes from an understanding of how these technologies can improve the public’s quality of life, from safety, to the ability of choosing their choice of modes of transportation. Mr. Rodriguez was joined by Florida Senator Jeff Brandes (R-St Petersburg), last year’s recipient of the award and a leader in automated technology solutions and at the forefront of advancing Florida’s progressive testing laws.
