Smart Cities: The Future of Tech and Transportation

Imagine two photos, one beforeand one after. The before image shows New York City's Times Square in 1900, its sidewalks bustling with pedestrians and roads congested with horse-drawn carriages, plus one early model of an internal combustion vehicle. The after shows the same block from the same angle 13 years later, with automobiles dominating the landscape and not a horse in sight. "There are these tipping points where the things we accept as standard get flipped on their heads, because technology drives us to that critical mass," explains Keoki Sears, global program director for the engineering firm Jacobs and one of four speakers at a Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce talk on the future of transportation. "I think we're at that point today."