IoT Touted in Senate Hearing as Highly Beneficial to Transportation Sector

The U.S. transportation network could significantly benefit from the IoT by alleviating traffic congestion, reducing cargo shipping delays at ports, monitoring rail and pipeline infrastructure safety, and helping policymakers better focus limited resources in maintaining roads and bridges, said Senate Surface Transportation Subcommittee Chairwoman Deb Fischer, R-Neb., during a Tuesday hearing. Fischer said the Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things (Digit) Act (S-2607) she sponsored with Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii (see 1604270025), could further help the transportation sector since the bill calls for a nationwide strategy to accelerate IoT innovation and use. Booker, the subcommittee's ranking member, said society is in the "stone age" of the IoT. If government doesn't get its act together, it won't help the commercial sector to "flourish" but actually "drag them down" because agencies would be working in silos "tripping up and undermining innovations," he said. Doug Davis, head of Intel's IoT group, testified that by "converting vast amounts of data into meaningful actionable intelligence" The IoT will help improve transportation safety, efficiency and mobility and address infrastructure issues. He pointed to autonomous vehicles as one area that will benefit through the IoT. "The average American commuter spends 38 hours per year stuck in traffic, which collectively costs [the] U.S. economy about $121 billion per year in just wasted time and fuel," he said, using Census Bureau statistics. Intel recommends the government work with the tech and transportation sectors to develop an "ambitious national strategy" that prioritizes safety and security, promotes a technology neutral platform, encourages open global standards and invests in public-private partnerships, he said.