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Does the largest national transport system in the United States plan to use artificial intelligence? When the Texas Department of Transport announced its three-year strategic plan to implement artificial intelligence across agents in December, it identified 230 potential use cases.
AI “can fundamentally revolutionise what we do and create that transformation in the transport industry,” said Anh Selissen, chief information officer of the department, in a June 2 webinar on the Eno Center for Transportation planning.
The 2025-2027 plan sets a roadmap for faculties to integrate advanced analytics and intelligent systems into operational and transport systems.
Among the potential applications of AI, departments see the technology as a way to prioritize infrastructure projects, manage budgets and contracts, and avoid conflicts with utilities when planning project locations. AI can also provide decision support for emergencies, such as weather monitoring, identifying the best evacuation routes, and warning and response to road incidents and drivers on incorrect roads.
The department also envisions the role of AI in training the workforce and managing the vehicle fleet. “Our next step [in the process] “Because we bring in a lot of traffic data, we can actually do more powerful AI analysis on traffic and congestion information from the experiences of our stakeholders,” Selissen said.
So far, the department has used AI in 22 aspects of its job, according to Darran Anderson, director of strategy and innovation, including real-time and predictive traffic data analytics and crash detection. Layering AI over the department's highway camera network is to reduce incidence response times for emergencies and roadside assistance, he said.
Selissen said the department sees “millions of attacks” on computer systems every day, and cybersecurity has become essential to AI implementation. “If a hacker enters this system and basically penetrates the network, it will become a world of scars for your organization,” she said. The divisional strategies laid out in the three-year plan include educating risk staff and ensuring that AI systems are designed, tested and deployed in ways that ensure that they are secured.
Department guidelines include privacy protection, checks and balance to ensure fair results and provide impartiality to all users. “You have to learn that. You have to understand its ability to use it and understand the boundaries of what it should be used,” Selissen said of AI. She suggested trying out the pilot program and starting with a small task.
