ICT in the news

The Illinois Center for Transportation is making headlines most recently because of a proposal that is poised to boost the impact the facility has on the future of transportation research.

A plan is in the works to build a roughly two-mile test track for self-driving vehicles on more than 250 acres of land. The test track, which has been dubbed the Illinois Automated and Connected Track or I-ACT, would allow researchers to test self-driving vehicles in a variety of real world scenarios, including approaching a railroad crossing, an intersection with traffic signals, and encountering a bicyclist or pedestrian.

The plan is just one of many spurred on by the Smart Transportation Infrastructure Initiative, which is designed to unite leaders from government, industry and academia, including the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University.

Click here to watch ICT Director Imad Al-Qadi’s live interview with WCIA 3 News. The developments at ICT were also featured here in the Rantoul Press and here in the News Gazette. The story was also picked up here by the Associated Press.