About ITS

ITS Joint Program Office

The federal Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) research program is by design multimodal. The ITS Joint Program Office (JPO) leads research activities. Each Modal Administration is responsible for participating in research activities and implementing the results of the research.

The ITS JPO, within the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), is charged with executing Title III - Intelligent Transportation System Research of Public Law 112-141 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act , enacted July 6, 2012, which requires the Department to:

Conduct an ongoing intelligent transportation system program to research, develop, and operationally
test intelligent transportation systems and to provide technical assistance in the nationwide application
of those systems as a component of the surface transportation systems of the United States.

The ITS JPO performs this role in conjunction with other surface transportation modal Administrations across the Department, including the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Maritime Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.   Together these agencies plan, program, and execute the ITS Research Program with oversight by the ITS Management Council, composed of the Administrators of each agency.  

The current ITS Research Program is described in the ITS Strategic Research Plan, 2010-2014.  The focus of the program is substantially on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity through the application of advanced wireless technologies to enable transformative changes in the surface transportation system. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, V2V and V2I applications have the potential to address 80% of unimpaired crashes. These capabilities may also have significant potential for congestion and air quality improvements.  The ITS Research Program develops and tests the underlying technology and applications and conducts policy research aimed at enabling  V2V and V2I capabilities. The ITS JPO also runs active programs for technology transfer, ITS professional capacity building and ITS evaluation, aimed at providing valuable resources for state and local agencies and other ITS stakeholders.

Other Modal Administrations are involved in all aspects of the ITS research to ensure the research meets stakeholder needs. As research initiatives move from development and testing  into technology transfer and longer term implementation support, the Modal Administrations also have an active role.