Think electric planes and other flying vehicles are decades off? Think again. Batteries are on the cusp of being powerful enough to propel a small plane for a short hop — say, from Silicon Valley to Los Angeles. Other flying vehicles, like electric vertical take-off and landing, are being built and piloted in remote regions such as the Mojave Desert. Electric aviation is coming, and this session will explain what transportation professionals need to know about it.

The first autonomous vehicle projects — both slow-moving shuttles on campuses and more widely deployed robotaxis — have been launched, and companies and city leaders are beginning to learn valuable lessons from these early programs. This session will explain the most important takeaways that organizations need to know as they investigate autonomous vehicle technology.

Drone delivery has been on the cusp of emerging for years, but U.S. regulations have made progress slow. At the same time, autonomous delivery bots are being piloted on city streets. What's the state of drones and robots for moving our goods in urban and rural areas and what policies are guiding these early deployments?

Gasoline, jet fuel, valuable chemical feedstocks—all can be manufactured using a variety of recycled or captured greenhouse gases. In one pioneering test, jet fuel made from waste carbon was even used to fly a Boeing 747 across the Atlantic. As availability increases and prices fall, these next-gen fuels and chemicals have the potential over time to disrupt the market for fossil fuels, impacting businesses in transportation and other sectors. Speakers in this session include entrepreneurs behind the new fuels and chemicals, as well as their first customers.