Colorado wants to transform transportation through technology, and on Tuesday morning Gov. John Hickenlooper showed how in a self-driving car.

The governor climbed into a BMW Series 7 sedan at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, and demonstrated that the future of transportation is now, not tomorrow.

“It’s smarter than me, I mean it really drives itself,” the governor said after a quick ride up U.S. 36.

Gov. Hickenlooper and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) were showing off a few 21st Century vehicles in advance of Wednesday’s Transportation Matter’s Summit 2015 in Denver.

During the second annual summit, CDOT and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx will announce the launch of RoadX. This new transportation venture is supported with a $20 million commitment for its first year that is earmarked for developing and implementing solutions for crash-free, injury-free, delay-free travel across the state.

“We could be a state that waits for all of this to happen, or we could be a state that leads this effort,” said CDOT director of communications Amy Ford. “That’s what we’re looking to do with RoadX. We’re looking at a $20 million investment in the first year to deploy projects around the state. So not just in the metro areas, but also how do we take a rural road and make it a zero-death road.”

Economics

“Our state’s economic vitality is directly tied to the capacity to move people, goods and information,” said Gov. Hickenlooper in a news release Tuesday. “Yet, since 1908 the long-term planning and lengthy build-out of transportation systems has evolved into an environment and culture where innovation has declined. It’s time to change that.”

That’s why the governor drove several new technology vehicles Tuesday in Broomfield. The BMW Series 7 sedan, already available at Schomp BMW in Highlands Ranch for around $120,000, is one of those vehicles.

BMW has developed a system that makes it possible for a driver to let the car drive itself so long as he or she still has a hand lightly on the wheel. The car will do the usual adaptive-cruise-control and forward-collision-warning tricks, and show when it’s unsafe to pull out and pass. Cameras keep the car in the lane, and will maintain a safe distance from other vehicles in front and behind the car.

The governor also took a spin in a Corvette that is entirely controlled by a driver’s head motions. It was developed by Centennial-based Arrow Electronics for race car driver Sam Schmidt, who lost the use of his arms and legs in an accident 15 years ago.

“The car literally steers where he looks,” said William Pickard, an applications engineer with Arrow.

Pickard said the potential for other applications is huge.

“This is all about enhancing the human-machine interface. How the driver interacts with the car. We have technology now to detect when a driver is drowsy, or when a driver is impaired,” said Pickard. “All of this technology is focused around the driver. We see broader applications for all of this.”

Virtual

Besides the driver, CDOT plans to invest in other existing technologies that will make roads safer and ease traffic congestion.

Virtual guard rails and smart lane markings are of particular interest for more rural areas.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, about 55 percent of traffic fatalities in the U.S. involve a vehicle crossing the roadway or center line.

The concept behind virtual guard rails is that sensors which line the road can correct a vehicle and steer it back into its lane. This could work for cars and trucks. These sensors could also alert one’s smart phone with a warning.

Smart lane markings would work much the same way.

“It’ll be a trillion-dollar industry,” said Gabe Sibley, a professor of computer science and robotics at CU Boulder. “It will improve safety, it will reduce the amount of time we spend in cars. There is no downside to this, none.”

Platooning

In addition CDOT’s RoadX initiative will look into technology that allows big trucks to platoon, meaning they drive the inter states with as little as six inches between the bumpers. Platooning works through a wireless electronic communications system that tells the second truck when the first truck driver has braked and so on down the line. The second truck brakes almost instantaneously without driver intervention, as if both trucks had braked at the same time. When platooning trucks save tremendously in fuel costs.

Hydrogen

Colorado may also become the next state to welcome hydrogen fuel cell cars.

Hydrogen vehicles are only legal in California, Germany and South Korea.

Keith Wipke at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden can see these cars in Colorado’s future.

“The stick has been in the regulations,” Wipke said. “Colorado is not a ‘Zero-Emission Vehicle’ or ZEV regulation state. So we don’t have a ZEV regulation requiring the vehicles to be sold or leased here. But we do have carrots, some good ones. In fact the best in the U.S. of up to $6,000 in state tax credits to buy or lease a ZEV here.”

Wipke said Colorado needs more hydrogen fueling stations to make it happen. “We could launch a market here if we had three fueling stations – one in Denver, one in Boulder and one in Golden. Once we have that these cars will sell themselves.”

He said it takes just three minutes to refill a hydrogen-powered vehicle, which has a range of close to 300 miles.

The RoadX project will begin immediately after Wednesday’s Transportation Matter’s summit in Denver. CDOT expects the initiative to go on for several years with state and federal funding support.

Vince Winkel: 303-684-5291, winkelv@times-call.com or twitter.com/vincewinkel