Transportation and mobility. Austin area residents say it’s the region’s top priority today and in the future.

To address the need, it appears that electric vehicles, traffic cameras, hybrids and mobility apps will all play a part in making our infrastructure more efficient. While self-driving and flying cars are still many years away, two thought leaders who spoke at the Chamber’s annual transportation event showed how the private sector is hard at work addressing how we get around cheaper, greener, safer and more efficiently.

Highlights from the event

• Gregg Lowe, CEO of Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL) said that new technology will continue to support accident-free assisted driving. This could also significantly improve traffic times in highly congested areas such as the MoPac expressway (Texas Highway Loop 1).

The use of technology includes using radar, sensors and fusion to increase vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to infrastructure and vehicle to pedestrian communications. Lowe showed a video example of Freescale technology at work. An elderly driver who fell asleep at the wheel was alerted and woken up by an internal system in his car that recognized the issue, averting a potentially deadly accident

See his presentation here.

• Richard Garriott, the Austin-based gaming leader and global exploration entrepreneur, believes that a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system would be an effective part of helping people get around town. During his presentation, Garriott discussed the benefits of a potential PRT system in Austin: private, low cost, point-to-point, non-stop and on demand. He also revealed the results of an extensive study that showed how the City of Austin and University of Texas at Austin could increase access to the area while reducing traffic.

See his presentation here.

More Funding Needed for Transportation

In addition to using private-sector innovation to address mobility needs, the Chamber discussed how taxpayers will also need to build more infrastructure. Voters took a positive step on November 3, 2015 when overwhelmingly passing Texas Constitutional Amendment Proposition 7. While the result will pump billions of extra public dollars in the coming years to help fix Texas’ congested and clogged highways, including hundreds of millions of dollars in the local Austin community, it’s just a small step.

“Our biggest issue is I-35. It’s one of most congested downtown highways in the country,” said Drew Scheberle, Chamber Senior Vice President, Austin Chamber. “In addition to advocating for Prop 7, which voters overwhelmingly approved on Tuesday night, the chamber also encourages our region’s elected officials to create a sensible, cost-effective plan to put a regional transportation bond on the November 2016 ballot to fix I-35 and important regional arteries.”

The Chamber is also advocating for several transportation projects that need to stay in the current regional plan. This includes moving forward with proposed improvements to MoPac South, Mopac North and improvements at the “Y” in Oak Hill.