Smart City reality check

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Maybe it was Midwestern modesty. Or perhaps it was a deer-in-the-headlights realization that transportation leaders from across the country would now be watching them.

But when Columbus, Ohio, beat 77 cities from across the United States to win the federal government's Smart City Challenge in 2016, the initial elation was followed by apprehension.

"When we won, I think we thought maybe we were further behind some other cities," said Jordan Davis, director of Smart Columbus, a joint-venture organization created to spearhead the public and private sectors' smart-themed initiatives. "We had every vendor knocking on our door, pitching this and that."

But Columbus wasn't behind cities such as tech-savvy San Francisco or Austin, two of the seven finalists for the $40 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation and $10 million from billionaire Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. Much of the transportation technology that leaders across America envisioned as a means to reinventing their cities remained in its infancy.

Three years after winning the Smart City Challenge, which helped Columbus further raise $720 million in private-sector pledges, Columbus has indeed delivered on many goals. It deployed automated vehicles and connected cars, installed electric charging infrastructure and encouraged adoption of green-friendly vehicles. In August, a beta version launched of Pivot, an app that allows customers to plan and pay for multimodal travel.

Davis and others have figured out where the promises of tomorrow meet the realities of today. At a time when the drumbeat to push smart technology has reached a starry-eyed crescendo, Columbus offers a clear-headed playbook on what a Smart City is actually capable of in 2019.

When business and community leaders first gathered to write the Columbus grant proposal, they envisioned autonomous vehicles playing a prominent role in their blueprints of the transportation future.

In particular, they crafted plans to use self-driving shuttle buses to better connect Easton, a neighborhood about 20 minutes north of downtown that features a shopping mall, entertainment center and corporate campuses. A single transit stop in the area leaves prospective commuters with a long way to walk to their jobs. If an automated shuttle could connect the disparate parts to the transit stop, it seemed like an opportunity to encourage use of public transportation at a time when 83 percent of the city's commuters take single-occupancy vehicles to work.

"Every vendor told us 'No way,' " Davis said. "Because of the road conditions in the area, because they needed to do a left turn, because they were in an environment where people don't follow the speed limit. They were like, 'It's not going to happen.' So that was pretty eye opening. We thought based on headlines and what we're sold in conferences, these shuttles can do anything. Which is just not true."

Columbus recalibrated. Shuttle-service provider May Mobility launched a three-mile circular route that links downtown with parking areas across the Scioto River. The six-seat electric vehicles are intended to provide something like a last-mile link between commuters and their jobs.

The pilot project was set to end last month. In December, another autonomous initiative will replace it. French shuttle provider EasyMile will begin service on routes that link a transit center in the Linden neighborhood with St. Stephen's Community House, a nearby nonprofit center.

When it came time to pursue their goals of encouraging electric-vehicle adoption in the greater Columbus area, city leaders soon realized automakers were a potential hurdle — they were largely reluctant to provide inventory in a state which didn't have regulations that mandated zero-emission vehicles or similar standards.

"One in particular was telling us, 'No way, it's not going to happen, it's a compliance car,' " Davis said.

What Davis and others soon realized, however, was the city had unexpected allies in car dealerships. Approximately two dozen dealers are official partners of Smart Columbus. Some provide cars to Smart Columbus as part of a test-drive program that allows residents to get acquainted with EVs. In return, the city shares leads with the dealerships.

Early results are encouraging both city and dealership leaders.

In perhaps one of its signature accomplishments, Smart Columbus says the percentage of new EVs registered in Franklin County, home to Columbus, and six contiguous counties, has risen from 0.37 percent to 2.34 percent of total registrations since the city won the Challenge — a six-fold increase.

Installing charging stations to support that growing demand has been a central focus. American Electric Power has worked closely with the city on charging stations and has targeted the installation this year of 300 Level Two chargers and 75 DC fast chargers at key public, workplace and multifamily locations throughout the city.

Helping connect vehicles to infrastructure has been another focus.

Smart Columbus has been working with partners such as auto supplier Bosch to install technology known as Vehicle-To-Everything throughout the Linden neighborhood, Ohio State University's campus and along key corridors that can alert drivers to real-time hazards.

One hundred roadside units are expected to be installed at key intersections, while 1,500 to 1,800 vehicles will have the equipment needed to receive these safety messages. Among them will be 350 buses operated by the Central Ohio Transit Authority, and 200 vehicles run by Columbus' police and fire departments.

Even as Columbus deploys one of the most robust connected-car pilots in the nation, there's hesitation in the city and across the country to make significant investments.

Within the private sector and across the federal government, there's wide disagreement on which technology will be the best avenue for sending these potentially life-saving messages.

Some favor Digital Short Range Communications; others say 5G is the best choice. But there are questions about 5G's scalability.

"We have to invite economic activity but also be responsible with public investment, and that's something I don't think any of us really had an appreciation for" in the beginning, Davis said. "We are declaring 5G the future, but really, we haven't proven it out."

Whether it's the competence of autonomous-vehicle systems, a tussle over the technology behind connected cars or the practical realities of encouraging automakers to sell more electric vehicles, Columbus now has the wisdom to understand what many others miss in the Smart City fervor: A long road remains before new technologies fulfill their considerable potential.