Food delivery robots to roam Chicago in pilot program

Robot operators will partner with restaurants and grocery stores to test the app-based robot deliveries. City leaders will look at device boundaries, vandalism, and other potential issues.

By Katie Pyzyk • Oct. 3, 2022

How to move pilot projects to permanent programs

Officials from Frisco and San Antonio, Texas, and the New York Public Library system, shared at the Smart Cities Connect conference their challenges when transitioning trials to full programs and their strategies to overcome them.

By Danielle McLean • Sept. 30, 2022

Explore the Trendline➔

Smart Cities Technology and Data

Cities are increasingly looking to technology and data to address real-world issues from traffic safety to law enforcement.

By Smart Cities Dive staff

3 takeaways from the Smart Cities Connect fall conference

Public- and private-sector professionals shared ideas on how to get support for procurement, make progress on open-source and interoperable technologies and more.

By Maria Rachal • Sept. 30, 2022

Report: 9 in 10 companies will require return to office by 2023

Notably, nearly three-quarters of companies surveyed said they still intend to hire remote workers in the future.

By Kathryn Moody • Sept. 30, 2022

Don’t let flying taxis be the next scooters, city planners warn

Private companies could begin operating air taxi services by 2024, experts said during the ITS World Congress in Los Angeles. Cities need to plan their regulatory approach now.

By Michael Brady • Sept. 27, 2022

Connected vehicle insights help Washington D.C. better understand school zone traffic safety

The district uses crash, volume, speed and demographic information from Safety View by GM Future Roads and INRIX to help reduce injuries among children.

Sept. 26, 2022

NYC to give free high-speed internet to public housing residents

The Big Apple Connect program will provide free internet and cable services to more than 300,000 people who live in New York City Housing Authority developments by the end of 2023.

By Danielle McLean • Sept. 23, 2022

To break an impasse in connected vehicle tech, transportation leaders call for a federal policy framework

A national framework could address the chicken-and-egg problem of who should invest in the technology first, carmakers or communities, transportation experts say. Without such guidance, each is hesitant to move forward.

By Michael Brady • Sept. 19, 2022

How Black-owned grocers are filling industry gaps

From a cashierless store in Atlanta to health-focused pop-up markets in Los Angeles and Chicago, grocery concepts from Black entrepreneurs are making the changes they want to see in food landscapes.

By Catherine Douglas Moran • Sept. 15, 2022

Smart cities incubator and accelerator program takes shape in Colorado

Colorado Smart Cities Alliance Executive Director Tyler Svitak talked through plans to bolster technology workforces and companies with the help of federal grant money.

By Charles Pekow • Sept. 12, 2022

Advanced mobility, mass timber projects chosen in $1B federal regional challenge

The American Rescue Plan’s $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge will support joint efforts to use mass timber to accelerate affordable housing, spur American manufacturing for advanced mobility, and much more.

By Maria Rachal • Sept. 9, 2022

Populus eyeing more cities worldwide after $11M funding round

CEO Regina Clewlow discussed the mobility management company’s plans to expand its staff and scale its platform to additional cities in the U.S. and Europe.

By Carol Brzozowski • Sept. 7, 2022

Automatic braking systems have trouble seeing pedestrians at night: IIHS test

Automatic emergency braking systems, a standard feature on most new cars, did well in identifying pedestrians during the day but performed poorly at night in tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

By Dan Zukowski • Aug. 31, 2022

Smart streetscapes center plans community-driven research in 3 cities

Harlem, New York; New Brunswick, New Jersey; and West Palm Beach, Florida, will become test beds for community-informed engineering research on smart cities technologies.

By Maria Rachal • Aug. 17, 2022

More automated bus lane enforcement cameras coming to NYC

Oakland-based startup Hayden AI announced its first contract this week with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority for hundreds of bus-mounted cameras.

By Maria Rachal • Aug. 12, 2022

Why cities are exploring metaverse technology

Santa Monica, California, and Seoul, South Korea, are among the cities exploring how metaverse technology can improve city services or attract and boost businesses. Still, some people fear it could leave residents behind.

By Karen Kroll • Aug. 8, 2022

Cities hope bus-mounted cameras will hold bus lane violators accountable

Baltimore, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C., are among the cities trying this technology to identify perpetrators, but legal snags and questions about effectiveness remain.

By Charles Pekow • Aug. 5, 2022

Together, EVs, AVs and multimodal transportation will create more vibrant cities

Gas stations, subway stations, parking garages and roads are among the city features we can reimagine as new mobility technologies change how we get from point A to point B, writes a leading exec at Gensler.

By Andy Cohen • Aug. 5, 2022

For his new smart desert city, billionaire Marc Lore eyes Nevada, Utah and Arizona

During a town hall in New York City, the Diapers.com founder and his team envisioned Telosa having dozens of “15-minute cities” and a resident-controlled endowment to help pay for government services.

By Adina Solomon • July 29, 2022

Coral Gables, Florida, deploys drones designed to respond to emergencies sooner than police

Bond's Air Guardian surveils for threats during large events, identifies suspects during ongoing criminal activity and assesses fires or natural disasters before first responders can arrive. 

By Danielle McLean • July 26, 2022

Pop-up bike lanes assessed with high-tech and low-tech strategies in New Jersey

Virtual reality-capture technology, traffic cameras and lidar footage — plus chalk, stencils, and a pool noodle — helped Rutgers University researchers evaluate temporary bike lanes in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

By Charles Pekow • July 25, 2022

Miami Beach pilot aims to address loud cars with noise-detecting cameras

Following implementation in Knoxville, Tennessee, and New York City, the Florida city is looking to use technology to help crack down on noise violations from vehicles.

By Danielle McLean • July 22, 2022

Amazon expanding drone delivery service to Texas

The mayor of College Station said in a statement that being an early adopter of the service could put it "at the forefront of the development of drone delivery technology.”

By Max Garland • July 15, 2022

Washington, DC, among cities piloting transparency standard for digital tech

Cities implementing the Digital Trust for Places and Routines communications standard incorporate signs with visual icons and QR codes that inform the public of nearby technology like sensors and cameras.

By Austyn Gaffney • July 15, 2022

With IT modernization plan, Chicago aims for more accessible, transparent and secure data

A holistic initiative to modernize data access and IT infrastructure citywide could put Chicago at the forefront of urban tech efforts, government IT experts say.

By Austyn Gaffney • July 13, 2022