“DriveOhio,” housed within the Department of Transportation, will offer manufacturers and researchers one point of contact to coordinate state agency assistance in developing driverless vehicles, “smart” roads and other technology.
“Just as the Wright brothers gave birth to flight here in Ohio, we are positioning the state to lead on developing the vehicles, highways and smart-transportation technologies of the future,” Kasich said.
The state is creating “smart highways,” such as a 35-mile stretch of Rt. 33 between Dublin and East Liberty, by installing fiber-optic cable and sensors to collect data and allow autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles to communicate with one another.
Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research and the Transportation Research Center along Rt. 33 also offer testing and research opportunities into “smart mobility.”
While visiting the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Wednesday, Kasich played up Ohio’s new high-tech offerings to executives of Ford, Chrysler, General Motors and other companies. He acknowledged Honda as a partner in Ohio’s efforts to make the state a smart-transportation research center.
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