WASHINGTON – Eight states’ transportation departments, recognizing the need for increased collaboration on automated vehicles, teamed together to create an online community where public and private sector AV stakeholders can share information, align needs, and collaborate on activities. The forum they designed, AccelerateAV.org, launches on Thursday, June 15.
AccelerateAV.org is free and is open to all AV ecosystem stakeholders. The multi-functional platform is designed to allow for user networking, collaboration, consultation, and resource sharing. Users can join conversations, search for other users, share news and events, or participate in events and discussions.
The forum was initiated by the AV Pooled Fund, which is made up of eight state DOTs that joined forces in 2020 to try to align the needs of the AV industry with the abilities of state DOTs to assist with those needs. The states in the AV Pooled Fund are Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.
The AV Pooled Fund hired the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE) to build the site. PAVE held focus groups of AV stakeholders and distributed a survey to hundreds of prospective forum users in designing a site that would be most useful to all participants.
Interested forum participants can visit AcclerateAV.org for free registration.
