PLANES, TEAMS AND AUTOMOBILES.
Beyond people getting to their jobs and activities safely, transportation is a fast-changing industry that requires more attention and careful planning than ever before. With the addition of autonomous and electric vehicles, updates in transportation logistics will ultimately affect every individual. State leaders gathered to discuss these changes in February and provide an update on the industry as a whole.
Panelists from left:
Samuel Chinnis, professor of global logistics at Guilford Technical Community College
Michael S. Fox, chairman of the North Carolina Board of Transportation
Kevin J. Baker, executive director of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority
Basil Yap, Unmanned Aircraft Systems program manager for the N.C. Division of Aviation
Charles Hodges, executive director of NC Go!
Marc Finlayson, founder and CEO ofFinlayson Consulting
The gathering was hosted by the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority and was sponsored by Martin Marietta, the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority and Guilford Technical Community College. The transcript was edited for brevity and clarity.
WHAT'S THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY RIGHT NOW?
FOX We're certainly continuing to grow as a state. As former Secretary [Jim] Trogdon liked to say, by 2040, the state of Mississippi will have moved here because we're expecting another 4 million people. We've got to be prepared for that. We're one of the four fastest-growing states, along with Texas, Florida and Georgia.
Here in North Carolina, we know why. It's a great place to live; it's a great place to work. You've got the beaches; you've got the mountains; you've got great universities. There's a lot to like about North Carolina, but knowing that all those people are going to be coming here, it is incumbent upon us to be prepared for that so that growth can be benficial instead of a burden.
The worst time to open a new transportation infrastructure facility is when it's already overloaded, so we need to get ahead of that and plan in all modes. I think we're a leader in the United States in a lot of transportation issues including unmanned aerial vehicles and drone technology.
HODGES It's also going to change the needs of the transportation system because for those things to work optimally in the world of true driverless vehicles, you've got to have smart roadways. It's not just cars talking; it's the roadways talking, and there's a huge cost to redesign and upfitting all those things. The decision-makers have a limited knowledge about that, but the public really has a limited knowledge. They just think it's generations down the road, and it's not. We expect within 10 or 15 years, well be approaching fully automated vehicles on the road.
What I'd really like to see is us being the first state that starts to raise the holistic things that are needed for a smart transportation system, because I think we can generate so much...
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