Portland One Step Closer to $50 Million to Change the Way We Get Around

The City of Portland wants to change the way we get around, envisioning a world with self-driving cars and streets that can talk to them.

And they just may get $50 million to make it happen.

"The level of excitement and energy the Smart City Challenge has created around the country far exceeded our expectations," United States Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said, announcing that Portland is one of seven finalists for the department's Smart City Challenge grant.

"After an overwhelming response – 78 applications total – we chose to select seven finalists instead of five because of their outstanding potential to transform the future of urban transportation."

The grant from the United States Department of Transportation will go to one city "to help define what it means to be a 'Smart City' and become the country’s first city to fully integrate innovative technologies – self-driving cars, connected vehicles, and smart sensors – into their transportation network.'

The grant is actually $40 million. Portland Trailblazers Owner Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc has promised up to another $10 million to promote use of electric cars.

Read the Proposal:

Portland's proposal focuses on smart street grids with transmitters that would send information to smart cars.

The streets in the pilot program would be in North and Northeast Portland.

The city would design an app that would promote public transportation and other forms of transit by sending out data collected from cars, other vehicles and from the streets.

Portland receives $100,000 to refine their proposal for the next level of competition as they aim for tens of millions of dollars.

Also in the running are Austin, Columbus, Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco.