Each January, thousands of transportation professionals converge on Washington, DC, for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting. The event brings together researchers and practitioners to share findings and perspectives across engineering, construction, planning, and policy. This year, representatives from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) participated in multiple sessions to discuss Administration priorities including the rise of new transportation technologies. Across these discussions, one theme surfaced repeatedly: the role of automation in improving safety across surface transportation. 

Automation at the forefront of innovation 

In a session on USDOT’s Innovation Agenda, officials from several USDOT offices emphasized that emerging technology is reshaping transportation—and that the Department is seeking to be intentional about how it uses these tools to improve safety and efficiency. They pointed to USDOT’s efforts to position itself as a leader in transportation innovation and funding, including ARPA-I initiatives and competitive grant programs such as Safe Streets for All (SS4A), BUILD, and SMART. 

At the same time, officials described an active push to modernize regulations to keep pace with technological change. They argued that regulations should avoid being overly prescriptive and blocking innovation. 

Administration officials repeatedly connected this emphasis on innovation to USDOT’s top priority: safety. Officials argued that autonomy could be transformative—enabling safer and more efficient movement of people and goods and, in some cases, reducing reliance on human drivers. They also framed automation as a potential tool for achieving a long-term safety goal: reducing annual traffic fatalities from roughly 40,000 to zero. In their view, autonomous technology could lower crash risk by reducing the need for some drivers to get behind the wheel, including older adults, young drivers, or people who may be impaired. 

Voices from the Modal Administrations  

A separate session featuring USDOT modal administrations reinforced some of the same themes. Modal administrators repeatedly returned safety as the Department’s north star, and technology as a key lever to make the system safer. They pointed to examples across modes, from AI-supported traffic management to unmanned aircraft traffic management using drones, and automated rail track inspections that can identify defects before they lead to incidents. Administrator comments on prioritizing safety are consistent with several department efforts toward promoting safety in the face of emerging technologies. In April 2025, USDOT unveiled the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s Automated Vehicle Framework which includes maintaining a standing general order on crash reporting for vehicles with automated driving systems.  

However, administrators also noted that promoting emerging technologies requires careful integration into the existing transportation environment. Officials from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and NHTSA, in particular, emphasized that investing in the “human element” remains essential for transportation safety. The NHTSA administrator’s comments are supported by extensive behavioral research from the agency.  

That caution reflects a practical reality. Despite the benefit of automation reducing certain risks, most automated systems still operate in environments built around human behavior. For example, an automated vehicle may reduce crash risk for someone who no longer needs to drive, but it still shares the road with human drivers in a largely human-centered system. As a result, traditional safety strategies—behavior change campaigns, enforcement, and education—remain important for protecting both human and automated road users. Training also matters so the workforce understands how automated systems function and what to do when a system fails and a human must intervene. 

The Challenge for USDOT 

Taken together, these discussions highlight a central challenge for USDOT: how to support the rapid integration of automation while ensuring it is introduced safely and responsibly. Automation can help identify patterns, gather data, and respond quickly—potentially preventing crashes before they occur. But realizing those benefits will require sustained research and careful policymaking, as well as preparation of the roadway system, road users, and the transportation workforce. 

Each modal administration focuses on specific areas within transportation, but the administrators were aligned in their prioritization of safety and the department’s role in taking a leadership role in guiding the transition towards automation. It is valuable that the modal administrators aligned together with the goal of leveraging technology to promote the core principle of safety. Centered around the same goal, the department can move towards improving safety as one organization through promoting technological advancements like automation in each modal or focus area.   

At the same time, USDOT representatives emphasized that transportation research must translate into practical solutions. The modal administrators encouraged TRB’s research community to see itself as a partner in this work. They used their platform to remind attendees that USDOT relies on researchers not only to explore new ideas, but also to help translate innovation into practical, deployable solutions.  In his comments at the Chair’s Plenary session, USDOT Deputy Secretary Steven Bradbury also praised the work from researchers and emphasized the desire for practical solutions. To that end, he praised the move to cancel some research grants at University Transportation Centers, which he argued addressed what he called “extraneous social justice policy goals,” like climate change and racial justice. 

As a result, USDOT faces a balancing act—advancing technological innovation like automation and integrating it safely—while operating under an administration focused on reversing policies from the Biden administration.