Smart transportation drives the future

affect, rather than the pure capabilities of the technologies themselves. A self-driving car offers more productive hours in the day and safer roads, if implemented correctly. A decarbonized global trucking network can reduce greenhouses gases by more than 20%. Autonomous transport of goods can improve supply chains and resiliency. A high-speed magnetically levitating train allows one to work in one city while being able to return home to family at night in another. Shared mobility systems offer the potential to better utilize existing infrastructure assets.

BY DIANE ZHOU Guest Columnist

The movement of people and goods from place to place has been an inherent part of our lives throughout history. Transportation hubs have influenced the rise and fall of great cities and nations. From arterial roads built for horses and carriages emanating from the core of the Roman Empire, to ships and the waterways that powered Britain’s Industrial Revolution, to the rise of the personal vehicle and the creation of FDR’s Interstate Highway System, the key to economic influence has long resided with those who control movement across land, air, and sea. What will power the next major shift in transportation? Will it be autonomous robots, delivery drones, electric helicopters, or sidewalk robots? How do we rethink mobility to redesign the way we live in our future cities in a way that is affordable, equitable, and accessible while also being delightful and convenient? And what does smart transportation really mean?

The Economist recently reported that transportation patterns have shifted for good post-COVID, moving away from a hub and spoke system to a spi- derweb pattern with fewer, shorter journeys. Now that people travel less predictably, there is a stronger case for mobility-as-a-service and on-demand buses and shared vans. We are at an age where sensors are cheap, high-speed networks are robust, data is plentiful, and machine-learning algorithms and dashboards allow us to recognize patterns and manage movement effectively.

Smart transportation systems focus on the movement of people and goods utilizing new and innovative modes and the physical and digital infrastructure that power these systems. When thinking through smart transportation areas, it is oftentimes important to understand the outcomes these technologies will

The 2023 Edison Awards Smart Transportation categories welcomes submissions by companies working on these innovative products and services that enable the advent of the future of transportation.

Diane Zhou is a Venture Partner at Eclipse Ventures. Previously, Diana was the Senior Director of Global Business Development at Virgin Hyperloop and led the company’s go-to-market initiatives around the world to deploy and deliver hyperloop transportation projects through public-private partnerships with governments and private entities. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPA-International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School, where her focus was on the intersection of business, technology, and economic development.

Antenna Group named 2023’s Innovation Agency of Year

This year’s Edison Achievement Award Honorees truly embody innovation

Sir Jonathan Ive was the head of design at Apple,Inc. for 20+ years. He now leads LoveFrom, a creative collective of designers, architects, musicians, filmmakers, writers, engineers & artists.

Patrick Gelsinger has spent much of his career in Silicon Valley. With his leadership, Intel has become the preeminent microprocessor supplier and its expansion has led to the construction of multiple billion-dollar manufacturing plants.

For over 25 years, Antenna Group has unified industry insiders, strategic thinkers, and mission-driven marketers, PR, and public affairs professionals to amplify the stories of the world’s most exciting and disruptive companies across climate tech, real estate/ proptech, mobility and health.

Our unmatched domain expertise and global purview have enabled us to build compelling brands and achieve growth objectives with precision and creativity – all with the goal of elevating critical innovations and helping our clients’ solutions reach mass adoption (powering a new age we’re calling, the Age of Adoption). We are thrilled that this has resulted in many of our clients being recognized as Edison Award Finalists over the years, and in us receiving the inaugural Innovation Agency of the Year award.

“Antenna is privileged to work alongside the great innovators of our generation. We are eager to enable the adoption of critical, climate-saving solutions and are thankful to The Edison Awards for acknowledging Antenna’s successes, as well as those of our clients, as we advance this mission.” –

Christa Segalini, Chief Client Officer

In accepting this award, we make three promises to the community of companies driven by innovation that Antenna Group was founded to serve:

• We remain committed to telling the story of next gen climate innovation.

• We will use our expertise to propel the mass adoption of solutions that will enable a more sustainable future.

• We’re ready to tell your story.

Let’s get started.

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