The 2022 Automated Road Transportation Symposium Planning Committee

Jane Lappin
TRB Committee on Vehicle-Highway Automation

Ms. Lappin chairs the National Academies Transportation Research Board Vehicle-Highway Automation Committee, co-chairs the TRB Forum on Automated Vehicles and Shared Mobility, and is co-founder of the annual Automated Road Transportation Symposium, now approaching its 10th anniversary.  She is recently retired as Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs for Toyota Research Institute where she monitored global regulatory affairs related to highly automated vehicles. Previously, Jane worked for U.S. DOT Volpe Center, where she managed large research projects assessing public response to advanced vehicle technologies and the impact of those technologies on network performance. Jane served as U.S. DOT secretariat to the trilateral US-EU-JPN international research collaboration on intelligent transportation, and as the U.S. co-chair of the US-EU-Japan Automation in Road Transportation Working Group. Before discovering her true calling in transportation, Jane worked for Abt Associates in their business strategy group, for the Canadian International Development Agency evaluating women’s economic development programs in Bangladesh, and co-directing a public health survey in Haiti. She studied sociology as an undergraduate at Boston University and earned an MBA from the Simmons College Graduate School of Management, the world’s only all women’s business school. Ms. Lappin is currently consulting on automated vehicles safety, operations, and policy issues.

Steven Shladover
University of California at Berkeley PATH

Dr. Shladover has been researching road vehicle automation systems since 1973, beginning with his masters and doctoral theses at MIT. He was the Program Manager, Mobility at the PATH Program of the Institute of Transportation Studies of the University of California at Berkeley, where he worked from 1989 until his retirement in November 2017. He led PATH’s pioneering research on automated highway systems, including its participation in the National Automated Highway Systems Consortium from 1994 98, and has continued research on fully and partially automated vehicle systems since then. Dr. Shladover is an internationally renowned expert on both technological and policy issues associated with road vehicle automation.  He chaired the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems from 2004 2010, and the TRB Committee on Vehicle-Highway Automation from 2013 2019. Dr. Shladover leads the U.S. delegation to ISO/TC204/WG14, which develops international standards for “vehicle-roadway warning and control systems.”

Valerie Shuman
Shuman Consulting Group, LLC

Ms. Shuman is Principal of SCG, LLC, a DBE-certified ITS consultancy, where she partners with global industry leaders to develop new products, new markets and new ventures. Ms. Shuman has been involved with the intelligent transportation industry for three decades, leading the establishment of new wireless and automotive communities and technologies, national and international standards, and cross-industry liaison efforts to enable safer, more efficient, and more convenient systems. Ms. Shuman currently serves as Chair of the TRB CORVA Joint Subcommittee, which coordinates the breakout session program for the world’s most extensive AV research symposium; VP, Industry Programs & Standards, Teleoperation Consortium, a non-profit business league established to facilitate the interaction, and advance the interests, of the entities involved in the teleoperation ecosystem; Vice President, Industry Programs for the Connected Vehicle Trade Association; and Member of TRB's Standing Committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems. Ms. Shuman is the author of numerous papers and articles on ITS topics, a frequent public speaker, and a patented inventor.

Cynthia Jones
DriveOhio

Ms. Jones is a Project Manager for DriveOhio which the state’s center for innovation, incubation and implementation of autonomous and connected vehicle technologies. DriveOhio’s efforts are focused on the future of SMART mobility through the pillars of Safety, Mobility, Access, Reliability and Talent. Ms. Jones is managing the U.S. DOT Automated Driving Systems grant award for Ohio exploring feasibility of automated vehicles in rural areas, focused on Athens and Vinton counties. She also led deployment of the Columbus SmartCircuit shuttle in December 2018. She joined Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) in 2009 after 19 years in the private sector with finance and banking. Ms. Jones is a PMP, has a B.A. degree in Public Policy from Duke University and an MBA from Loyola College in Maryland. She is co-chair of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Research Innovation and Implementation.

Edward Straub
SAE International

Mr. Straub coordinates industry, government, and cross-functional activities related to connected and automated vehicles at SAE International. He is the SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (SAE ITC) vice president for land systems and the director of SAE International’s office of automation. He is responsible for providing a systems view of emerging automated vehicle technologies and their impact on the socio-technical landscape, operational considerations, and best practices. Dr. Straub contributes to numerous global standards activities, reports, and research initiatives related to automated vehicle technologies and deployment.  

Richard Cunard
Transportation Research Board (TRB)

Mr. Cunard, P.E. has been the Engineer of Traffic and Operations for the Transportation Research Board since 1989.

In this position, Mr. Cunard is concerned with all aspects of traffic engineering and traffic operations including: Automated and Connected Vehicles, Highway Capacity, Freeway Operations, ITS, Traffic Signals, etc.