An Industry Polls Its Engineers to Chart a Path Through Gridlock

ALPHARETTA, GA – September 15, 2026 – For the millions of drivers inching through morning commutes, the complex systems governing their progress are invisible and often infuriating. The world of traffic management is a place of immense contradiction, caught between the futuristic promise of artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles and the gritty reality of aging infrastructure managed by understaffed public agencies. It is into this gap that a new, significant inquiry has been launched.

Applied Information, Inc., a key player in North America’s intelligent transportation system (ITS) sector, has partnered with the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) to pose a simple but profound question to the industry's front-line professionals: "What Future Do You Want to See?" This question forms the backbone of a comprehensive industry survey, featured prominently in the September 2026 ITE Journal, that aims to cut through the noise and identify the real-world priorities for the future of traffic operations.

The Practitioner's Pulse

At its core, this initiative is an exercise in listening. While futurists and tech companies tout revolutionary changes, transportation professionals on the ground are often tasked with patching and praying, using limited budgets to keep decades-old systems functional. The survey provides a direct channel for these engineers, planners, and technicians—the people who actually operate and maintain the nation's circulatory system—to voice their most pressing challenges and needs.

"Transportation professionals are being asked to manage increasingly complex systems, often with limited staff and resources," noted Bryan Mulligan, President of Applied Information, in the official announcement. "This survey gives the people who operate and maintain those systems an opportunity to tell the industry where technology can make the greatest practical difference. We want to understand the future they want to see and the problems they believe should be addressed first."

This is not a mere corporate suggestion box. The survey’s distribution through the ITE Journal lends it significant weight. ITE, a respected community of over 18,000 transportation professionals founded in 1930, serves as a critical hub for setting standards and sharing knowledge. Placing the survey on a special cover of its flagship publication ensures it will land on the desks of the very experts whose insights are most valuable, transforming it from a simple marketing effort into a sanctioned industry-wide pulse check.

A Glimpse into the Machine

The survey arrives at a pivotal moment. The term 'intelligent transportation' is rapidly evolving beyond synchronized traffic lights. The new frontier involves a dizzying array of technologies, each with the potential to either solve or complicate urban mobility.

Artificial intelligence, for instance, is no longer theoretical. AI-powered systems are already demonstrating the ability to reduce travel times by up to 40% and cut emissions-heavy idling by a similar margin. Meanwhile, the slow rollout of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) promises a future with fewer collisions, enabled by vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication that allows cars to talk to infrastructure, other vehicles, and even pedestrians. Cloud-based platforms offer the tantalizing prospect of managing an entire city's traffic network from a single browser window.

But these technologies are not plug-and-play solutions. They require massive investment, new skill sets, and a clear understanding of which problems to solve first. The survey delves into these specifics, asking professionals to weigh in on priorities for traffic signal operations, corridor retiming, infrastructure monitoring, and maintenance. The goal is to create a priority list built not on technological hype, but on the practical needs of those who must make it all work, safely and reliably, every single day.

The Strategic Compass

For Applied Information, the survey is a profoundly strategic move. Since its founding in 2011, the company has carved out a significant niche by using Internet of Things (IoT) technology to create tangible solutions, starting with school zone safety. Its Glance® technology suite offers an integrated platform of hardware, software, and cloud services designed to manage traffic control devices.

In a competitive market populated by global giants like Siemens, Thales, and Kapsch TrafficCom, a deep understanding of the customer's nuanced pain points is a powerful differentiator. By sponsoring and publicizing this survey, Applied Information is not just gathering market intelligence; it is positioning itself as a collaborative partner dedicated to building solutions that the industry is explicitly asking for. The results, due to be published in November 2026, will almost certainly become the guiding star for the company's next phase of product development and R&D for its Glance® platform.

This approach signals a mature understanding of value creation. Instead of developing technology in a vacuum and then searching for a problem to solve, the company is anchoring its innovation strategy in the documented needs of its target market. It is a move that builds trust, strengthens industry relationships, and provides a clear roadmap for delivering resilience and performance in a sector defined by complexity.

From Data to Direction

The impact of this survey will likely extend far beyond Applied Information's next product release. When the results are published in November, they will provide a rare, data-backed snapshot of the collective mindset of North America's traffic management community. This report will become an invaluable resource for public agencies seeking to justify budget requests, for consultants advising on technology adoption, and for academics identifying new avenues for research.

If the data reveals a widespread, critical need for better infrastructure monitoring tools, for example, it could spur a wave of innovation and investment in that specific area. If it highlights a systemic lack of resources for basic signal retiming, it could provide ammunition for organizations like ITE to advocate for increased federal or state funding. The findings will spark dialogue at conferences, in technical papers, and in city planning departments across the continent.

By asking a simple question, Applied Information and ITE have started a process that could help align the trajectory of technology with the realities of public service. As cities grapple with the physical limits of their infrastructure, the industry will be listening closely in November, when the collective wisdom of thousands of engineers begins to draw the map for the road ahead.