JOB SUMMARY:

Come on board with us and take a journey that will challenge your mind and develop your career. The quality of our lives, the shape of our communities and the productivity of our Nation’s economy depend on our transportation systems. We recognize and value the importance of our workforce and the diversity of backgrounds and ideas that each employee brings.

The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Program uses advanced computer systems and telecommunication technologies to improve the efficiency and safety of our Nation’s surface transportation system. The Department of Transportation (DOT) established the ITS Joint Program Office in 1994 to serve as DOT’s primary advocate and national leader for the ITS Research Program. It coordinates program components with the other DOT organizational elements (the Federal Highway Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) to ensure that the Nation’s traveling public and the economy benefit from technology advancements that increase mobility and safety, i.e., faster, safer, and more reliable transportation.

Application deadline: August 22, 2012

KEY REQUIREMENTS:

• You must be a U.S. citizen
• Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date
• Provide all required documents by closing date

DUTIES:

The Program Director will influence the future of the nation’s ITS program. The selectee uses expert knowledge and experience with the application of advanced computer information and/or telecommunications technologies to the delivery of surface transportation to establish the strategic direction for the ITS program; advises the Research and Innovative Technologies (RITA) Administrator and the ITS Management Council on ITS policy, program strategy, and budget allocation; and represents the Department’s ITS program interests. As an advocate for the Joint Program Office’s Department-wide role in administering the ITS program, the selectee maintains contact and coordinates with the technology industry, automobile industry, and transportation interests, both public and private, and exhibits independent innovation in leading the ITS program. The Program Director oversees Federal ITS research and development, operational tests, and deployment projects and activities being conducted by DOT modal administrations and directs the development and maintenance of the National ITS Architecture and standards.

Click here to learn more and to apply

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(via Mashable)

This awesome infograph below from Mashable.com illustrates the dangers associated with the texting while driving .. To think about nearly ~1.3 million crashes that happened in 2011 had a cellphone involved makes me shudder..

Related articles

• Texting and Driving: A Crash Course [INFOGRAPHIC](mashable.com)

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• Texting and driving test throws teens into a tizzy(intomobile.com)

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• How Driving And Texting Can Cost You Your Life [Infographic](thetechnologycafe.com)

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(via autobloggreen)

It is always an awesome sight to see how machines build another machine.  As it happens, I can’t help but think if this venture succeeds, that would mark the first time Detroit really faced a serious challenge from Silicon Valley.. June 22nd, the announced delivery date for first batch of customers (other than the ones who got the Founder series) is just few days away and let’s see what is going to happen.. Hit or miss, you gotta love the boldness of Elon Musk to enter into this venture and fight the carmarking heavyweights of Detroit and other global auto industry powerhouses.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s ITS Professional Capacity Building Program (ITS PCB) is offering free online ITS standards training. The 18-module series is aimed at practitioners in state and local highway agencies and transit agencies who seek the skills needed to procure, implement, and operate ITS standards-based devices and equipment. Consultants, system designers and integrators, and system testers will also find the training informative and are welcome to view the modules. Modules are FREE and can be viewed anytime on the ITS PCB website: http://www.pcb.its.dot.gov/standardstraining.

Training Modules

I have had the privilege of listening to Bryan in person at many industry-related events over the years but never heard some of the things he has shared in this awesome interview with Channel Next Cast. He goes into details about his entry into the business and how his company is innovating the transportation data to solve the congestion, in addition to offering excellent advice for wanna-be innovators & entrepreneurs. It is truly refreshing to see a dynamic youngster like him bring the much needed innovation and fresh, outside the box thinking towards solving the age old transportation problems – primarily congestion.

One interesting fact that I liked from Bryan’s interview: He is not a fan of red light cameras (like most of us) and he thinks traffic congestion problems can be solved for the large part in the next 10 years. Hmmm!

For those interested, here is a graphic from today’s Wall Street Journal article that covers INRIX and other start-ups working on transportation-related “big data“.

Image Courtesy: Wall Street Journal

Summary of the interview (made available by ChannelNextCast on YouTube.com):

Bryan Mistele wants to eliminate one of society’s biggest issues — traffic. How’s he going to do it? Find out in this episode of nextcast.

Growing up, Bryan knew he wanted to run his own tech company. After spending time in high school working with electrical engineers, he wrote down a life goal: start and be CEO of a two hundred person tech company. Now with 300 employees, he and his team at INRIX are tackling the ever-present problem of traffic. Bryan tells Jeff how they’re making this worldwide problem completely personal, by optimizing technology and getting people where they want to go. He also shares his secrets of success with Jeff — the perfect combination of persistence and naivete. * When Brian left Microsoft, he thought INRIX would be completely funded within a month. Twelve months and 70 rejections later, his company finally came to life. He credits this with a healthy balance of persistence and naivete. “Venture capitalists all told us we would be crushed…now we are the leader.”
* He also says he owes much of his success to wisdom gained in his early years, working at an electrical engineering firm. Following their advice of finding a partner who shares your career goals led him to the wife who encouraged him to persevere in the face of VC rejection. “If I hadn’t had that person in my life I never would have gotten off the ground,” he says. * It’s always been Bryan’s dream to run his own tech company, from the time he wrote it down as a life goal at age 16. He noted that in a big company, your future is tied to someone bringing you along up with them. Now, as a CEO, “whether it succeeds or fails, it’s up to me…and I like that.”
* Is this a trend? Our second nextcast guest who says he’d eliminate traffic cameras, Bryan explains that they actually cause more accidents than they prevent. What other improvements to the world of traffic does Bryan have to offer? We’re less than a decade away from seeing them all come to life.

(source: CBSnews)

Image Courtesy: CBSnews.com

(Source: Symphony Services via Mashable.com)

Image Courtesy: Mashable.com

(Source: NTOC)

The latest national traffic signal assessment conducted by the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC), a group of transportation associations, shows that gradual but steady progress is being made on the management and operation of traffic signals despite continued funding challenges. NTOC today released the 2012 National Traffic Signal Report Card with a grade of 69, equivalent to a D+ letter grade, based upon the assessment. The 2012 score is a modest four point improvement over the 2007 result of a D letter grade (65). The effort to improve the Nation’s traffic signal systems is driven by benefits such as reduced fuel consumption and congestion mitigation. Grading themselves in five areas, 241 respondents, representing approximately 39 percent of all traffic signals in the United States, completed the self assessment. The complete grades are as follows:

The 2012 National Traffic Signal Report Card shows that while there is still much work to be done, many jurisdictions have used objectives-based approaches that result in improvements to their management and operations of traffic signals. The 2012 National Traffic Signal Report Card Technical Report and Executive Summary can be found at www.ite.org/reportcard.