Mission

AV America and Global Mass Transit are organizing the eighth edition of the conference on Autonomous Vehicles and Public Transport on January 28-29, 2026 at Marines' Memorial Club & Hotel, San Francisco.

The conference, now in its eighth edition, is continuing its role as the leading executive forum for the integration of autonomy into transit systems. What began as a forward-looking dialogue on future mobility has evolved into a strategic platform for cities, transit agencies, and industry leaders to move from pilots to scalable deployment.

The mission of the 2026 edition is to discuss recent developments, emerging trends, progress in the deployment of autonomous vehicles for public transit, policy framework, best practices to integrate AVs and public transport, potential use cases of AVs in public transport, strategies for the deployment of AVs to support transit operations, infrastructure required to deploy AVs, and labor force transformation. The conference will showcase case studies, pilot projects, and new and existing technologies for AVs. 

The conference will bring together experts from the transit agencies; federal, state, and local governments; metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs); transit operators; AV manufacturers, vehicle technology system suppliers, developers and integrators; bus manufacturers; R&D institutes; academic institutions; and not-for-profits to discuss developments and issues in policy, planning, funding, technology, market development, testing, and deployment of AVs.

Key topics to be discussed

  • Policies, guidelines, and regulations driving the development of AVs
  • AVs in public transit and the future of mobility
  • AVs for shared mobility, first and last-mile connectivity and robotaxis
  • Role of transit agencies/operators in the connected autonomous mobility future
  • Lessons from early deployments of autonomous shuttles and buses
  • Use cases for shared AV services
  • Challenges in scaling AV public transit projects
  • Transit agency activities for labor force transformation
  • Building capacity in USA: Buy American rule and constraints
  • Technology developments
  • Barriers to Level 4 and Level 5 automation
  • Role of insurance
  • Digital infrastructure requirements for AVs
  • Sensor technology, AI, and machine learning powering AVs
  • Fleet management for autonomous shuttles and fixed-route AVs
  • Automating bus yards (ABY)
  • AVs and Mobility-on-Demand
  • Automated commercial vehicles and lessons for public transit
  • Automated vehicle data principles and framework
  • AVs at airports
  • Structuring P3s for AV deployment in transit

Highlights from 2025 edition

DAYS TO GO

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When

January 28-29, 2026

Marines' Memorial Club & Hotel,
San Francisco

 

 

Planner Details