Overview
In May 2026, the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) brought 20 transportation agencies and national partner organizations to Sacramento for two days of candid, working-level conversation about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in transportation systems management and operations (TSMO). Hosted by Caltrans, the exchange was the in-person follow-up to a 2025 virtual peer exchange and it marked a clear turn in the national conversation: from whether and why agencies should use AI to how they stand it up, pay for it, contract for it, govern it, and staff it.