On Tuesday, September 15th, the National Highway and Safety Administration visited RIDC’s PennSTART facility in New Stanton, Pennsylvania. The event had around 90 attendees from across the transportation safety industry and the northeast Appalachian region. Representatives from academia, public office, and private industry collaborated in discussions on the role of PennSTART, attended site tours and demonstrations by the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon Formula SAE teams. This event drew together key partners and showcased Southwestern Pennsylvania’s interconnected autonomy and transportation cluster.
With over 6,000 direct jobs in the autonomy cluster in the region, this industry and region generate about $2.9 billion in economic output, with $12 billion being invested in SWPA autonomous vehicle companies between 2015 and 2020. With proximity to key sites for innovation and safety such as Safety21, a USDOT National University Transportation Center for Safety, and PennSTART which is a public-private transportation testing, training and research facility with the core purpose of advancing transportation safety, autonomous systems, connected infrastructure and emerging mobility technologies, the region is fast gaining national attention for its strengths and leadership in this sector.