Past Events

Every year, leaders from regions across California gather in Monterey for the Regional Leadership Forum. This event combined a focus on current issues with deeper level discussions about the role of regional governance in California. For 2018, the Forum explored the ways that Senate Bill 1 is making California a better place to live, work, and thrive. MTI was a proud co-sponsor of this event. 

Secretary Norman Y. Mineta is a hometown boy hardened in the crucible of the Japanese American internment camps of WWII; who succeeded against all odds as San Jose High School student body president, a UC Berkeley and ROTC graduate, Army intelligence officer during Korea, the first Japanese American mayor of a major US city, 21 years in congress in progressively more powerful positions retiring as chair of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, president of a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, and the Secretary of Commerce for Democratic President Clinton then Secretary of Transportation for Republican President Bush where he served for seven years, the longest in history.  Though now retired, that quiet but profound super-achiever continues to maintain his hometown contacts through SJSU's Mineta Transportation Institute, the San Jose Norman Y. Mineta International Airport, and by serving on numerous nonprofit and commercial Silicon Valley boards. The Rotary Club of San Jose is immensely proud to host this most distinguished of the Valley's public benefactors, an honorary member of the Rotary Club of San Jose, and the dear friend to all who know him simply as, "Norm".

This webinar, organized through the U.S. Department of Transportation, Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office covered recently concluded and ongoing projects related to safety and regulatory concerns for the expanding market of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). The work presented was conducted within the past year at the RiSA2S Research Center of San José State University, a multi-disciplinary innovation center for the Risk and Safety Assessment of Autonomous Systems with funding support from the Mineta Transportation Institute. The activities of the lab are aimed at improving safety and better informing regulatory agencies in their recommendations for the certification process of autonomous systems. In particular, the seminar delved into three topics of current interest:

1. An analysis of current AV accident statistics based on the data provided by the California Department of Motor Vehicles;
2. An examination of triggers and contributory factors of disengagements of the autonomous technology that controls the car; and
3. An overview of current issues related to driver’s reactions to disengagements when collaboration is expected (e.g., Level 2 and 3 AVs) and presentation of ongoing human-in-the-loop study.

With the rise of autonomous vehicles, there are both opportunities and challenges in how these technological advances can be harnessed to reshape future cities and improve the socio-economic health of cities. Opportunities exist to reduce collisions and improve access to healthcare for those who need it most — particularly high-cost, high-need individuals at the younger and older ends of the age spectrum. Opportunities also exist to connect individuals to jobs and change the way cities organize space and optimize trips. That said policy has lagged in this area. And despite some high-level policy suggestions from organizations such, technological change is outpacing urban planning and policy. The purpose of this symposium was to frame and develop policy around the topic of AVs particularly focused on:

• Land Use
• Social Implications of the Technology
• Economics

MTI was a proud platinum co-sponsor of this event.