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White House official foresees value in utility drone access, driverless car R&D

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White House official foresees value in utility drone access, driverless car R&D

The federal government can find additional ways to enable energy companies to use drones and advance the adoption and affordability of self-driving vehicles, an official in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said March 14.

Speaking at the Energy Innovation Summit of the U.S. Department of Energy held just outside of Washington, D.C., White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios said research and development that can get "new technology to the point where outside investors and industry can take over is crucial." However, Kratsios made no mention of the fact that President Donald Trump proposed to scrap DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, program for fiscal years 2018 and 2019.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., in a video recording played at the ARPA-E event, pledged that the fiscal-year 2018 spending bill he is crafting as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development will "provide record funding" for DOE's Office of Science and increase spending on ARPA-E.

Alexander reiterated a common theme at the conference that advanced technologies like the ones DOE can help advance are critical to keeping the U.S. competitive globally. "We must be careful not to lose the technological advantage we've gained from government-sponsored research and development," Alexander said.

Kratsios focused much of his speech on the value drones, self-driving cars and nuclear generation can provide the nation's economy. But he also mentioned biometrics, energy storage, gene editing, machine learning and quantum computing.

On drones, Kratsios pointed to how utilities used the technology for disaster recovery following major hurricanes in 2017. He also mentioned how the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, in November at Trump's bidding launched a three-year pilot program aimed at finding more options for integrating drones into American airspace.

Pursuant to the program, the FAA will pick at least five local, state and tribal governments to partner with the private sector to decide when and where drones can safely be used for such things as disaster response, delivering packages, examining infrastructure such as bridges, or even helping farmers inspect their crops. More than a dozen energy companies have expressed interest in participating in the pilot program.

But Kratsios also suggested the FAA could do more to allow utilities to use drones for regular operations such as routine infrastructure inspections. "Shouldn't it be available to utilities year round if local communities want them?" he said.

In the case of driverless cars, Kratsios said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's vehicle regulations are rooted in how vehicles have been built and operated for decades. He acknowledged the issue of driverless cars creates some "very, very thorny puzzles."

In the meantime, ARPA-E's "NEXTCAR" program launched in 2016 under the prior administration can make driverless vehicles more efficient and roads safer to travel, Kratsios said.

The NEXTCAR program aims to improve vehicle efficiency by equipping their software with the ability to better predict future road conditions that could impact how much fuel or electricity the vehicles consume. Among other things, it would help vehicles predict and identify upcoming traffic, weather forecasts, car accidents, and topography such as when roads cross hills or mountains. DOE has funded about a dozen projects under the program, including $4.2 million to General Motors Co.; $3.3 million to University of California, Berkeley; and $3.4 million to the University of Delaware.