Cooperative Driving Automation (CDA) Small-Scale Industry Prototype
Funds industry-led small-scale Cooperative Driving Automation prototypes to validate interoperability, functional safety, cybersecurity, and operational readiness in controlled testbeds and limited public-road demonstrations.
RESTRICTED TO: SMALL BUSINESS SBIR STTR
⚑ Federal contract solicitation, not a grant. · Industry-led prototype effort; universities are not the lead applicant. · Focuses on TRL 6-7 pre-production demonstration, including controlled testbed validation and limited real-world road testing. · No set-aside used.
This is a transportation engineering / applied systems prototype BAA centered on vehicle automation, V2X, cybersecurity, and roadway operations. The team’s work is on public opinion, risk communication, and policy evaluation in energy, weather, security, and education—not building or testing cooperative driving technologies—so this is not a plausible PI-level fit.
JUDGED AGAINST THE ROSTER'S PUBLICATION DOSSIER · GPT-5.4-MINI · 2026-08-25
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 90 strong | SBIR/STTR — core Hub pipeline (faculty founders + small-business partners); funds applied research; prototyping/demonstration stage; deep-tech content |
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 75 strong | technical depth: central; funds applied research |
| IPPRA | 50 partial | peripheral portfolio topic: cybersecurity; social/behavioral work is minor; funds applied research; university can only partner, not lead |
Description
UPDATE: On August 24, 2026 a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) amendment was issued, see amended BAA in the attachments section titled "693JJ3-26-BAA-0005_A00001_CDA Prototype". Additionally, the complete Q&A was posted as a PDF titled "Q A - Complete". Note that the due date for proposals was extended. BACKGROUND: USDOT envisions a future transportation ecosystem where CDA complements both human-driven and automated vehicles to improve roadway safety, mobility, and operational efficiency. While standalone vehicle automation has advanced, it continues to struggle with complex edge cases such as occlusion, complex merging, or identifying pedestrians hidden behind buildings at corners, and vehicle sensors alone cannot adequately resolve these issues. Prior USDOT-supported research projects have successfully demonstrated the technical proof-of-concept at technology readiness levels (TRL) of 3-5 for CDA applications in laboratory and closed environments. However, most new vehicles are not equipped with CDA capabilities and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) remain reluctant to integrate these technologies into production lines due to a lack of consumer awareness and unclear regulatory, policy, and institutional frameworks. This acquisition seeks to build on foundational CDA research by bridging the gap between research concepts and commercial viability. There is a critical need to develop and test pre-production, industry-led prototypes at a TRL of 6-7, to validate that the data shared between vehicles and roadside infrastructure is accurate, secure, and reliable enough to support functional safety. By demonstrating CDA technologies in operational conditions, researchers will gain a better understanding of cooperative systems and if they are more valuable in terms of improving roadway safety, than standalone automation or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies alone. PURPOSE: The purpose of this requirement is to demonstrate industry-led CDA prototypes in controlled and real-world conditions in order to generate data-driven insights that will support the development of a national strategy to deploy CDA across rural, suburban, and urban roadway systems. This effort prioritizes industry-ready CDA technology for use cases with clear safety and/or mobility benefit potential, specifically focusing on: (1) Work Zone Management, (2) Traffic Incident Management, (3) Cooperative Perception, and/or (4) Emergency/Transit Vehicle Awareness. Contractors will first validate the prototype's interoperability, functional safety, and cybersecurity in a relevant, controlled testbed environment. Following successful controlled testing, the effort will progress into a small scale real-world demonstration on public roads with mixed traffic to validate operational readiness and generate data-driven insights.
Eligibility
Applicant restrictions (federal contract). Set-aside: No Set aside used. Notice type: Solicitation. Organization: TRANSPORTATION, DEPARTMENT OF / FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION / 693JJ3 ACQUISITION AND GRANTS MGT.
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