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Florida Automated Vehicles Summit displays new technologies in downtown Tampa

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Published  September 4, 2024 9:56pm EDT
Tampa
FOX 13 News

Automated Vehicles Summit in Tampa

FOX 13’s Jordan Bowen takes us to the Florida Automated Vehicles Summit in downtown Tampa, with displays ranging from autonomous cars to hovercrafts.

TAMPA, Fla. - Everything from autonomous vehicles to passenger drones to hovercrafts are on display in downtown Tampa for the next few days as part of the 12th annual Florida Automated Vehicles Summit.

Sean Poole, the president of Kyra Solutions, has an overall goal to make roads safer by making drivers more aware through what's called IntelliRoad. The technology uses location data from a driver's smartphone to give drivers audio to alert drivers to incidents on the road like a wrong way driver or disabled vehicle ahead.

"What we were able to demonstrate was a vehicle coming to a stop on the side of the road, which if this happens in the middle of the roadway or even just on the shoulder, it can cause a deadly crash if motorists are unaware," Poole said.

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IntelliRoad is not an app. It's simply audio alerts. The technology automatically activates when using Apple Maps, Google Maps or Waze, but in order for it to work, the government agencies over the roads in your area must buy the technology. Currently, it's operating in Central Florida on a 20-mile stretch of the Florida Turnpike.

"It's able to be able to provide safety for all which is important," Poole said.

IntelliRoad is one of several new technologies on display from Wednesday to Friday outside Marriott Water Street in downtown Tampa.

"It's not just, self-driving vehicles that we're talking about. It's rideshare. What's the future of rideshare? We've obviously seen an incredible growth in that in the last decade. It's electrification of vehicles. It's an electric vertical takeoff and landing," Florida Policy Project Founder Jeff Brandes said.

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A drone designed to carry a passenger developed by the company SafeFlyr was also on display. A test involved putting 100 pounds of weight in the passenger's seat.

Poole hopes policymakers like many who visited Wednesday see the safety benefits and invest in autonomous technology.

"We're here to provide safety for all," Poole said.

The summit runs Wednesday to Friday outside the Marriott Water Street in downtown Tampa.

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