H.R. 8579

Strengthening Methods to Advance Research and Technology in Transportation Act or the SMART Transportation Act

This bill addresses provisions related to advanced transportation technologies.

Among other provisions, the bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to

• provide grants to deploy, install, and operate advanced transportation technologies to improve safety, efficiency, system performance, mobility, intermodal connectivity, and infrastructure return on investment;
• establish a connected vehicle deployment pilot program to provide competitive grants to spur operational deployments to meet the transportation needs of certain entities through the use of the best available and emerging intelligent transportation systems;
• create an automated driving system demonstration program to provide competitive grants to test the safe integration of automated driving system technologies into the on-road transportation system, ensure significant data gathering and sharing of project data, and encourage collaboration and partnerships of multiple stakeholders; and
• implement and deploy an advanced digital construction management system program under its technology and innovation deployment program to include deploying advanced digital construction management systems that enable the use of digital technologies on construction sites by contractors and leverage the use of such technologies.

DOT must ensure that grant recipients represent diverse geographical areas of the United States, including urban and rural areas.