IEEE ITSS and ITE Joint Forum
Infrastructure Support and Safety for Connected and Automated Transportation
IEEE ITSC2026 is pleased to announce the Forum on Infrastructure Support and Safety for Connected and Automated Transportation. This forum is organized jointly the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society (ITSS) and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). All registered ITSC Conference participants are invited to attend this forum.
Session 1: Integrated Safety for Connected and Automated Transportation: From V2X Deployment to Infrastructure-Ready Automation
11:30 to 13:00, September 16, 2026
Stazione Marittima Building: Galatea Room
Description:
Focusing on infrastructure support for connected and automated vehicles, this session brings together leaders from ITE, IEEE, industry, and public agencies to examine how infrastructure investments and connected vehicle technologies can enable safer and integrated transportation systems. Building on prior discussions of V2X deployment and automated driving, panelists will explore how physical and digital infrastructure supports both near term safety applications and long term automated driving integration. Topics include V2X deployment, cooperative vehicle infrastructure systems, standards, and system level considerations for reliable operation in mixed traffic environments. The discussion will highlight key technical, institutional, and policy challenges to infrastructure supported CAV deployment, along with strategies to address them. The session aims to bridge technology and infrastructure perspectives and provide a unified view of how transportation systems can evolve to support safer, more predictable, and resilient mobility.
Session Chair: Petros Ioannou, President, IEEE ITSS
- Presentations (15 min each):
- Report on US efforts on infrastructure support for CAVs, Jeff Lindley, Senior Advisor and Past Deputy Executive Director, ITE
- “Connected Automated Vehicles/Connected Interoperability (CAV/CTI) Activities”, Matt Mardy (ITE), Deputy Executive Director, Institute of Transportation Engineers, (ITE)
- Tim Leinmueller, Senior Technical Mananger, DENSO AUTOMOTIVE Deutschland GmbH (TBC)
- Panel Discussion: Gaps in and opportunities for infrastructure support for CAV
- Christoph Stiller (Karlsruher Institut für Technologies)
- Arnaud de La Fortelle (IEEE ITSS BoG member)
- Nobuyuki Ozaki VP Technical Activities
- Wei-Bin Zhang (IEEE ITSS Bog Members)
Session 2: Round Table Discussion: Opportunities for Collaboration Between ITE and IEEE
15:00 to 16:30, September 16, 2026
Stazione Marittima Building: Galatea Room
Description: This round table discussion session intends to facilitate a dialog between ITSS and ITE leaderhips to identify and advance opportunities for meaningful collaboration under the ITE–IEEE partnership. The session will follow the discussion at ITE annual meeting, focusing on developing actionable strategies across areas of shared interest and exploring joint initiatives such as co-sponsored research, technical committees, standards development, conferences, and knowledge-sharing platforms.
Invited discussants include representatives from ITE and ITSS, as well ITSS leadership. The discussion will take place as a dialog on the opportnities for collaboation between IEEE, ITE and other international orgnaizations concrete next steps to further the development of the infrastructure to support CAVs deployment.
Discussants
- ITE
- Matt Mardy, Deputy Executive Director
- Jeff Lindley, Past Deputy Executive Director
- IEEE ITS Society
- Petros Ioannou, President, University of Southern California
- Ljubo Vlacic, Past President, Griffith University
- Wei-Bin Zhang, BoG member, University of Calfornia at Berkeley
- James Misener, ITSS BoG member, WSB
- Arnaud de La Fortelle, BoG Member, ITSS
- Nobuyuki Ozaki, VP Technical Activities, Nagoya University
- Christoph Stiller, Karlsruher Institut für Technologies
- Members BoG and EXCOM
Matthew Hardy, Ph.D., is the Deputy Executive Director and Chief Technical Officer at the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), where he leads the organization’s technical programs, initiatives, and content development. He brings a unique blend of technical expertise and policy insight to his work, grounded in a comprehensive understanding of the transportation system. Prior to joining ITE, Dr. Hardy served as the Senior Program Director for Planning and Performance Management at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), where he provided national leadership on planning, asset management, organizational performance, and data management in close collaboration with state transportation agencies. In addition to his work at ITE, Dr. Hardy serves as an adjunct professor at George Mason University, teaching in both the engineering and public policy schools, where he mentors the next generation of transportation professionals. Dr. Hardy holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from George Mason University, where his dissertation focused on integrating simplified land use and transportation modeling to enhance the metropolitan planning process. He also earned a Master of Science in Transportation Policy, Operations, and Logistics, and a Bachelor of Science in Urban Systems Engineering, both from George Mason University. His academic background reflects a strong interdisciplinary approach that bridges engineering, planning, and policy—supporting his leadership in advancing multimodal and performance-based planning practices at the national level.
Presentation Description: Dr. Hardy will provide an overview of the current implementation of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technologies across the United States and discuss how these deployments are improving transportation safety, mobility, and system performance. He will highlight the importance of collaboration among public agencies, industry, academia, and standards development organizations to establish interoperable standards and consistent deployment practices that enable nationwide connectivity. Finally, Dr. Hardy will discuss how these cooperative efforts are creating the foundation for the safe, scalable deployment of infrastructure-ready automated driving systems (ADS).
Jeffrey Lindley is a Senior Advisor to ITE. He previously served as Deputy Executive Director and Chief Technical Officer for the Institute of Transportation Engineers, where he led the development and delivery of technical activities focused on serving the needs of the Institute’s more than 18,000 members, and more recently as a Senior Advisor to ITE on several technical projects and activities. Prior to joining ITE in October 2016, he completed a 31-year career with the Federal Highway Administration, serving in a variety of technical and leadership positions, including California Division Administrator, Associate Administrator for Safety, and Associate Administrator for Operations. Jeff holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master’s degree in Transportation Engineering from the University of Maryland. Before retiring, he was a registered engineer in the State of Virginia.
Presentation Description: Mr. Lindley’s presentation will cover both progress and challenges in the United States regarding V2X deployment and cooperative vehicle infrastructure systems, with a focus on the current policy and funding environment and challenges facing public agencies as they seek to leverage these technologies to support significant improvement in roadway safety outcomes.
Tim Leinmüller is heading DENSO’s European fundamental technology R&D department. His group is responsible for R&D in the domains of cybersecurity, microcontrollers, in-vehicle networks, and wireless communication. Tim is responsible for DENSO’s involvement in the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), where he is an elected member of the board since 2018, vice chair of the board since 2024, and previously served as chair of WG1 from 2019 to 2024. Furthermore, he is representing DENSO in connectivity and CCAM (cooperative, connected and automated mobility) related activities in ETSI, CLEPA, ERTRAC, VDA, the CCAM Partnership, and the 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA). In total, Tim is working in the connected vehicles domain for more than 20 years.
