From Left: Marc Molinaro, Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration; Jonathan Morrison, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Sean McMaster, Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration; David Fink, Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration; Paul Roberti, Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; and Derek Barrs, Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

At the 2026 TRB Annual Meeting, the “Meet the Administrators: Views on Research and Innovation” session at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting brought together senior leaders from across the U.S. Department of Transportation to discuss agency priorities for research, innovation, and deployment across all transportation modes.

The session opened with remarks from Owen Morgan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, who framed the discussion around USDOT’s commitment to advancing safety and efficiency by reducing barriers to American innovation. Administrators then shared perspectives on how research informs policy, regulation, and real-world implementation within their respective agencies.

Across modes – aviation, highways, motor carriers, rail, highways safety, pipelines, and transit – the discussion highlighted how research and innovation are shaping agency approaches to safety, technology adoption, and system performance. The session offered a valuable snapshot of how federal leadership is thinking about research-to-deployment pathways and reinforced the critical role of innovation in delivering safer, more efficient, and more resilient transportation systems nationwide.

Image: Kirsten Korosec

New York Governor Kathy Hochul plans to introduce legislation that would effectively legalize robotaxis in the state — except for its most populous metropolis: New York City. 

Hochul, who made the comments Tuesday during her State of the State address, said the legislation would advance the next phase of the state’s autonomous vehicle pilot program. 

Details on the proposed legislation and when it might be released are thin. However, there are some hints contained within a document that outlines an array of proposals and promises Hochul made in her State of the State address. 

Among them is language to expand the state’s existing AV pilot program to allow for “the limited deployment of commercial for-hire autonomous passenger vehicles outside New York City.” 

The document goes on to say companies that want to operate robotaxi services commercially will have to submit applications that “demonstrate local support for AV deployment and adherence to the highest possible safety standards.”

It’s not clear what “limited deployment” or “highest possible safety standards” mean. Nor does the document outline how the state will track or make judgments on a company’s safety record, except that multiple agencies will be involved, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Transportation, and New York State Police.

The governor’s office told TechCrunch more will be shared in the governor’s executive budget proposal that is set to be released on January 20.

Still, the remarks were enough of an opening to make Alphabet-owned Waymo cheer. “Governor Hochul’s proposal to legalize fully autonomous vehicles is a transformative moment for New York’s transportation system,” Justin Kintz, Waymo’s head of global public policy, said in an emailed statement.

Source: TechCrunch

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UZURV Partnering with Houston Metro to Support METROLift Paratransit Service

UZURV has become the new service provider for METROLift, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County’s (Houston Metro) paratransit service. UZURV provides METROLift an additional option to assign trips as a provider integrated within the program. “Our goal is to ensure that every METROLift customer can travel with confidence, respect and dignity,” said Houston Metro Vice President of Specialized Transit Services Michael Andrade. “UZURV shares that vision, and this partnership helps us deliver more consistent, dependable service well into the future. By working together, we’re creating lasting improvements that will benefit riders for years to come.” 

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Florida Highway Will Include Wireless EV Charging Segment

A new Florida highway will feature a three-quarter mile segment of wireless electric vehicle charging infrastructure. According to a Mashable article by Neal Broverman, “The technology will allow vehicles — most likely EV trucks and buses — to extend their range, but will not allow a full charge.” The road, which is expected to open in 2029, will serve as another test for charging roadways. Last year, Detroit deployed a quarter-mile test segment using similar technology. “Besides wireless charging, State Road 516 will also feature solar panels for nearby infrastructure, wildlife crossings, and shared-use paths that carve out space for non-automobile travel.”

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A Monterey County Study Outlines Ways Rural and Low-Income Communities Can Get Around Easier with Zero Emissions

The study, conducted by Mobycon Inc. and Shared-Use Mobility Center, kicked off in earnest earlier this year with various public events to gather feedback. It aims to identify sustainable transportation options, especially in rural and low-income communities.

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U.S.-Canada Preclearance Projects Set to Move Forward

Canada and the United States say two long-planned preclearance projects are moving ahead this year, despite earlier comments that raised questions about the future of the program. U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra suggested last fall that Washington might need to reconsider preclearance operations amid declining Canadian travel to the United States. However, the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa later said preclearance remains a critical part of U.S. border strategy, with staffing and resources continually assessed to meet operational needs. Preclearance allows travelers to complete U.S. border inspections before departure, speeding entry and connections while helping authorities intercept security threats earlier.

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Ontario Government Has Spent $270K on Outside Lawyers in Fight to Remove Bike Lanes

Documents show the Ontario government has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on external legal fees to fight a successful legal challenge — which the province is appealing this month — against its plan to remove bike lanes on major Toronto streets. Justice Paul Schabas ruled on July 30, 2025 that the removal of certain bike lanes under provincial legislation introduced in late 2024 will "put people at increased risk of harm and death, which engages the right to life and security of the person."

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Uber Says Proposed Halifax Bylaw Changes Are Red Tape, Will Make Rides Pricier

Halifax councillors are mulling changes to modernize the municipality’s bylaws around taxi operators and drivers for rideshare companies, such as Uber. The proposed amendments, which were recommended by the Transportation Standing Committee, aim to impose new licensing requirements on ridesharing services. The current bylaw requires the ridesharing companies to be licensed by the municipality but not the drivers themselves. If passed, the bylaw amendments would require ridesharing drivers to submit background checks and training documents to the municipality for verification.

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What the UK’s New Road Safety Strategy Means for Britain

The UK Government has today published its first Road Safety Strategy in over a decade. The Strategy sets out a goal to cut road deaths and serious injuries by 65% by 2035, with a more ambitious 70% reduction target for children under 16. Its launch comes against a stark road safety backdrop. Four people are killed on Britain’s roads every day with thousands more seriously injured each year. Over the past decade, 22 European countries have made greater progress than the UK in reducing road fatalities. Meera Naran MBE, an independent road safety campaigner whose eight-year-old son Dev died in a road traffic collision, described the Strategy as a “significant milestone for road safety.” In particular, Naran highlighted the UK’s adoption of the Safe System approach which underpins the new Strategy. The Safe System approach is a road safety model built around five key pillars: safe roads, safe speeds, safe vehicles, safe road users and post-crash care.

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China and EU Agree Price Floor, Chinese EV Exports to Europe Set to Rise 20%

Talks between China and the European Union (EU) over tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles have wrapped up. The EU last year imposed high tariffs over concerns about the low-price push of Chinese EVs, and China hit back with retaliatory tariffs on some European goods. The two sides have now agreed to set a price floor for Chinese-made cars exported to the EU instead of imposing tariffs. As a result, some forecast that Chinese EV exports to Europe will grow an average of 20% a year over the next two years.

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Norway Reaches 97% EV Sales as EVs Now Outnumber Diesels on Its Roads

Norway has released its December and full year 2025 automotive sales numbers and the world’s leading EV haven has broken records once again. The country had previously targeted an end to fossil car sales in 2025, and it basically got there. In 2017, Norway set a formal non-binding target to end fossil car sales in the country by 2025 – a target earlier than any other country in the world by several years. Norway was already well ahead of the world in EV adoption, with about a third of new cars being electric at the time – but it wanted to schedule the final blow for just 8 years later, fairly short as far as automotive timelines go.

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Can a Cooperative Model Fix Public Mobility?

Every morning in India’s megacities, commuters can be seen jostling for space on overcrowded buses or haggling with auto drivers who quote fares on a whim. For most office-goers, options are limited -- stand in endless queues for a bus or open a ride-hailing app and brace for surge pricing and cancellations, or both. This daily grind captures India’s continuing urban transport crisis. Despite years of policies and plans, public transport in most cities remains inadequate and overburdened. Buses—the backbone of urban mobility—are in short supply. Metros have grown fast in some cities, but they only cover certain corridors and can’t handle last-mile trips or spread-out journeys. Into this chaos comes what many see as an unlikely challenger—Bharat Taxi, a cooperative mobility platform being billed as the “Amul model for taxis,” where drivers are shareholders rather than gig workers governed by algorithms.

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Nigerian Auto Dealers Consider Electric Vehicles as Demand for Petrol Cars Drops 

Car dealers in Nigeria are increasingly considering a shift toward EVs as demand for petrol- and diesel-powered cars continues to decline, industry operators have said. The National President of the Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDN), Mr. Ajibola Adedoyin, disclosed this in a telephone interview with The Punch, explaining that dealers are reassessing their business models in response to changing market conditions.

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Eve Air Mobility Completes First Hover Flight of Electric Air Taxi Prototype

Eve Air Mobility has completed the first hover flight of its all-electric air taxi engineering prototype at Embraer’s Gaviao Peixoto test facility in Brazil. 

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From Left: Victoria Sheehan, Executive Director of TRB; Matt Daus, President of IATR; and Kim Ramkishun, Executive Director, IATR

On Monday, January 12th, building on years of collaboration, IATR President Matt Daus and Transportation Research Board (TRB) Executive Director Victoria Sheehan formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the start of the International Subcommittee meeting. The MOU establishes a framework for ongoing collaboration, knowledge exchange, and engagement between regulators, researchers, and practitioners worldwide, and further integrates IATR into TRB’s evolving international architecture. Thanks to Victoria Sheehan; Randell Iwasaki, President of Iwasaki Consulting Services, and Chairman of the International Road Federation (IRF Global); Caroline Alméras, Secretary General of the European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI); and Christos Xenophontos, Assistant Director of Administrative Services at Rhode Island Department of Transportation; for their leadership, collaboration, and sustained efforts in bringing this MOU to fruition.

Following the MOU signing, Matt delivered a presentation to the Executive Subcommittee on International Activities highlighting IATR’s mission, global footprint, and current work at the intersection of technology, regulation, and deployment. Matt also summarized IATR’s work on autonomous vehicle and robotaxi policy, including its Guiding Principles for AV Deployment, and emphasized the importance of international cooperation in addressing the regulatory and socioeconomic impacts of automation.

The signing of the IATR–TRB MOU and the Subcommittee presentation reflect a renewed commitment to global partnership at a moment when transportation challenges, and solutions, are increasingly interconnected.

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