With its growing high-tech economy, key freight corridors and progressive economic outlook, the Dallas-Fort Worth-North Central Texas Region is quickly becoming one of the nation's leading innovation centers for Self-Driving Vehicles and Smart City Connectivity.

Join your municipal colleagues and a roster of national and local experts at a full-day "Connected and Autonomous Vehicle 101" seminar at the Hurst Conference Center to explore the key aspects of the Autonomous Vehicle Economy and the infrastructure and policy changes that counties, satellite cities, small towns and rural communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth-North Central Texas region will need to consider in order to take advantage of coming electrification and self-driving technologies.

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2022

8:00 am - 4:30 pm

At the Hurst Conference Center

1601 Campus Drive

Hurst, TX 76054

Darran Anderson, Director of Strategy and Innovation for TxDOT. His responsibilities include leadership and strategic direction for the innovation and continuous improvement of people, processes and technology of the agency. He oversees the Strategic Planning, Information Management, and Research and Technology Implementation divisions. He directs technology and business process improvements, and strategic research and innovation initiatives across TxDOT. He is also responsible for coordinating TxDOT's strategies and performance analytics. His experience extends across the areas of leadership, strategic planning, operations, portfolio and project management, technology programs, training, tests, experimentation, and modeling and simulation.

Tom Bamonte, Senior Program Manager for Automated Vehicles for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the metropolitan planning organization for Dallas-Fort Worth. At NCTCOG Tom works on automated vehicle pilot programs, the data infrastructure for automated vehicles, and related transportation technology and planning issues. Before joining NCTCOG he served in senior legal positions at the Chicago Transit Authority, the Illinois Tollway, and the North Texas Tollway Authority. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Northwestern University School of Law.

Michael Brown, Institute Engineer for Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). Michael has been a leader in the development of intelligent systems for over twenty-one years. He has served various federal, state, and commercial clients in projects spanning the areas of Advanced Traffic and Traveler Information Systems, Connected and Automated Vehicles, and Smart Cities. Mr. Brown is a subject matter expert for numerous standards committees in standards development organizations including Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Dr. Ann Foss, AICP, Principal Planner for the Office of Strategic Initiatives at the City of Arlington, Texas.  Ann has been with the City of Arlington since 2016 and currently serves as the Principal Planner for the Office of Strategic Initiatives. As Principal Planner, Ann performs comprehensive planning for the City and is heavily involved in transportation planning for the City, working to secure grant funding and pilot new technologies, including autonomous vehicles and demand response ride sharing. She is also responsible for managing the Arlington Urban Design Center. Ann holds a BA in Anthropology and Environmental Science from Haverford College, a MS in Urban Planning from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Public Policy from the University of Texas at Arlington. She has worked as a professional planner in New York, NY, Dallas, TX, and Arlington, TX. Ann is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a certified Chief Operator of the EasyMile autonomous vehicles.

Dr. Dale Neef, host of the CAV 101 Roadshow, is an author and strategic technology consultant who advises state and local municipalities, organizations, and communities on the infrastructure and policy implications of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. A specialist in transportation economics and technologies, he has been a technical consultant for the Asian Development Bank, has worked for IBM and Computer Sciences Corporation, and was a fellow at Ernst & Young’s Center for Business Innovation. A veteran facilitator, he has conducted executive planning workshops with corporate and municipal teams in more than a hundred organizations worldwide, and has taught at a variety of institutions, including Cornell University and the International School of Management in Paris. A frequent contributor to journals, and a regular speaker at technology conferences, Dale earned his masters and doctorate from Cambridge University, was a research fellow at Harvard, and has written or edited eight books on the economics of knowledge and data management and the role of technology in economic development and society. He was a member of the American Planning Association's Smart Cities Task Force, and hosts the “Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Roadshow for Counties, Satellite Cities and Small Towns,” an American Planning Association-approved Certificate Maintenance course which provides 101-level education for municipalities across America.