U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy has selected 15 semi-finalist teams to advance to the next stage of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Infrastructure (ARPA-I) Ideas and Innovation Challenge (the “Ideas Challenge”). Through the Ideas Challenge, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) seeks bold, transformative solutions to enhance America’s infrastructure, improve safety, and cut costs for the Department. The winners will be awarded a total of $1 million in prizes across two stages.
“From the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk to the space age, American ingenuity has always led on the frontier of innovation in transportation,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “These projects represent the best and brightest, next generation ideas to propel us forward. I could not be more excited for the future of transportation as America prepares to celebrate our 250 years of excellence.”
For Stage 1 of this challenge, ARPA-I received 448 concept paper submissions. From those, 15 winners were selected as semi-finalists, who will be awarded $20,000 each ($300,000 total) and invited to present and further refine their ideas with business and government stakeholders at the USDOT Innovation Workshop. The Innovation Workshop (“Ideas Bootcamp”) will be held on December 9, 2025 at USDOT Headquarters in Washington D.C.
In Stage 2, semi-finalists from Stage 1 will be eligible to submit a detailed proposal and up to 10 will be selected as finalists to advance to the ARPA-I Ideas Challenge Finals in 2026. The finalists will present their project proposal to a distinguished panel of judges and audience members from the public and private sectors to compete for Stage 2 prizes that total $700,000.
The ARPA-I Ideas Challenge is a two-stage prize competition for innovators from across the private and public sectors to create a portfolio of potential breakthrough ideas in transportation technology. These ideas will inform the research and development path forward for ARPA-I, USDOT, and the transportation sector.
The original announcement and semi-finalists can be found here.