MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI
CITY OF LOS ANGELES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2015

Contact: Communications Office, 213-978-0741

MAYOR GARCETTI ANNOUNCES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR

A one-year fellowship, funded by Goldhirsh Foundation grant, will help bring LA transportation into the digital age

LOS ANGELES – Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced a new transportation technology advisor fellowship at Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). Serving in a one-year fellowship, made possible by a grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation, the technology advisor will create a citywide strategy that outlines the future of road safety, road use efficiency, traffic regulation, and traffic enforcement and will create a policy plan for the City to ensure a safe, mobile, sustainable future for the Los Angeles.

The technology advisor will work closely with DOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds and Chief Technology Officer Peter Marx and will help position Los Angeles as a national model in sustainable, tech-enabled transportation and as a test bed for technologies that will change the future of transportation. The advisor will also help the DOT design strategies to meet the transportation goals outlined in the Mayor’s Sustainable City Plan, released last month.

“It’s about time the car capital of the world planned for the future of transportation in the digital age – moving beyond the car to bikes, ride shares, and autonomous vehicles,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Working together with my Department of Transportation General Manager Seleta Reynolds and CTO Peter Marx, this expert will help us answer questions about how LA can better prepare our streets, systems, and infrastructure to make our city the most livable, modern city it can be.”

“Technology is exploding the choices people have to get around town: carshare and rideshare are here and growing; bikeshare is coming next year; and the arrival of connected and self-driving cars is imminent,” said Seleta Reynolds, GM for LADOT. “These choices hold tremendous promise to reduce congestion, save lives, and make transportation fun again, but only if we have a thoughtful plan to get to these outcomes. Taking full advantage of technology in transportation is natural for LADOT, among the first to go all in on smart signals and smart meters. We look forward to leading this first-of-its-kind strategy for our city.”

“Los Angeles has long been associated with advancing transportation,” said Chief Technology Officer Peter Marx. “We’re seeing technologies today that will dramatically change how we move around our City. We see technologies emerging everywhere we look, whether it is using a tablet on the subway, charging an electric vehicle from a streetlight, using a smartphone to find a route, or riding in an connected autonomous vehicle. LA will continue to lead in thinking through how a City moves around most efficiently, most sustainably, and most enjoyably.”

“LA has the talent, the creativity, and the political will to be a global leader in the next generation of technology-driven transportation,” said Goldhirsh President Tara Roth. “We here at the Goldhirsh Foundation look forward to supporting Mayor Garcetti’s vision to define the future of mobility for Los Angeles.”

Mayor Garcetti announced the fellowship at today’s Fast Company FC/LA Creativity Counter Conference in Playa Vista. Interested applicants can visit www.lamayor.org/tech to sign up for more information.

This initiative is part of Mayor Garcetti’s agenda to infuse technology to better help Angelenos get around, including supporting ridesharing at LAX and creating a data-sharing partnership with the traffic smartphone app Waze to help Angelenos cut commute times.

Earlier this year, Los Angeles was ranked 4th in a list of 70 major American cities for high-tech transportation options in a report from CALPIRG Education Fund and the Frontier Group.