Ideas

Why the Feds Are Investigating Tesla’s Autopilot and What that Means for the Future of Self-Driving Cars

Tesla’s Autopilot enables hands-free driving, but it’s not meant to allow drivers to take their eyes off the road.

Digital Government

How FAA’s Latest Challenge Looped in Data Newbies

In addition to creating new visualizations about national airspace, the agency encouraged employees who don’t work with data or in IT to give its tools a spin.

Cybersecurity

TSA, Transportation Officials Give Insight into New Cybersecurity Mandates for Pipeline Operators

Agency leaders expressed a commitment to avoiding duplication of their efforts as lines blur between cyber and physical security.

Digital Government

NASA Ranks as the Best Place to Work in Government for Ninth Year

The federal government still has “a lot of work to do to improve its competitiveness with the private sector as an employer of choice,” head of the nonprofit that released the rankings says. 

Digital Government

FAA Knows It Needs More Tech Experts, Just Not How Many

The Federal Aviation Administration needs IT experts, as well as specialists in emerging technologies like drones and 3-D printing, but doesn’t have hard, quantitative data on those workforce gaps.

Artificial Intelligence

Federal Shared Services Provider Needs a System to ID Bots in Its Data Center

One of the four central financial service providers wants to use more robotic process automation in its data centers but needs to be able to track those bots—and any potential malicious bots creeping in, as well.

Policy

Buttigieg Underscores Urgency of Transportation Infrastructure Investment

Republican lawmakers are skeptical of the scope of the Biden administration’s planned infrastructure package, which the president is expected to provide more details on next week.

Digital Government

At South by Southwest, DOT’s ‘Secretary Pete’ Points To Federal IT Priorities

He’d like to help make the 2020s ‘a turning point in the story of American transportation.’

Emerging Tech

FAA, Choctaw Nation to Conduct Drone Studies

The partnership will investigate moving goods at low altitudes and traits of human operators.

Emerging Tech

FAA Names Five Host Airports to Test Counter-Drone Tech

The ultimate aim is to create national airport standards for drone detection and mitigation.

Cybersecurity

Highway Safety Agency Wants Car Makers to Know What’s in Their Software

The agency is seeking comment on a software-heavy update of its cybersecurity best practices.

Emerging Tech

FAA Unveils Final Drone Rules for Remote ID, Nighttime Flights and Operations Over Humans

Unmanned aircraft systems will have to broadcast their “digital license plates” to legally zip around most places in the future. 

Ideas

Smart Concrete Could Pave the Way for High-Tech, Cost-Effective Roads

The life of structures could be extended, however, if damages were monitored in real time and fixed early on.