Carmakers and the government have been working on a Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, and the $1.5 trillion transportation bill the House passed last week calls for advanced drunken-driving prevention technology in all new cars within five years. That bill's odds of passing in the Senate are low, but Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has sponsored legislation that includes an alcohol detection system requirement.

Google is testing a feature in several cities that shows the locations of traffic lights in its Maps app, and it plans to expand the offering in time. Apple Maps introduced a similar feature in 2019.

When self-driving cars use lidar, they often must use several units because of the narrow field of vision, and those units are expensive, writes Steve Hanley in this roundup of lidar developments. He says Toshiba's research tackles both issues, adding that the company's advances will be in compact units it will produce starting in 2022.

Uber's acquisition of Postmates will help it increase deliveries of goods, but the move is also expected to augment innovation at the company. "Uber increasing its market share for food delivery will no doubt accelerate the move to automated driving," writes Peter Brown, who also notes promising signs for advances with automated robots and flying deliveries.

Drones and other small flying machines will be part of city life soon, and they'll require infrastructure such as landing pads and an urban air traffic management system, writes Paul Cureton, who covers the changes to expect in urban environments and the opportunities these changes present.

Michigan has launched an Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, whose chief mobility officer is former Michigan Economic Development Corp. executive Trevor Pawl. The office will focus on transportation investment, job growth, sensible regulation and getting veteran companies onboard with new technology.

The 2021 ITS America Annual Meeting will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta May 17 to 20. Learn more.