These Six Trends Will Define ITS in 2026
As cities accelerate investments in intelligent transportation systems (ITS), the industry is entering a new phase. The focus is shifting away from experimentation and toward accountability, from proving concepts to proving outcomes.
Based on what the Derq team is seeing across active deployments, procurement trends, and real-world data, here are six predictions we believe will define ITS in 2026.
1. Near-miss reduction (not crash counts) will define safety performance.
Crash data will remain necessary, but near-miss trends will increasingly define success. The clearest signal of whether a safety program is actually working will be reductions in near-miss events, which indicate prevention by capturing critical safety precursors before crashes occur.
In 2025 alone, we recorded nearly 900,000 near-miss events worldwide, a statistically powerful indicator of safety risk and proactive intervention opportunities.
2. AI will expand from analytics to operations.
Transportation AI will move beyond reporting and analytics to actively support real-time operations, recommend countermeasures, dynamically adjust signals, and trigger warnings under agency oversight.
3. V2N will complement V2X and become the coordinating safety layer in ITS.
Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) connectivity will move from pilot programs to production, acting as the system-wide coordination layer that aggregates network-level data to enable real-time cross-corridor safety improvement and traffic optimization beyond localized V2X communications.
4. Cities will move past asking if video analytics work and start demanding proof of how well they work.
RFPs will increasingly require validated accuracy, auditability, and repeatable real-world performance standards for video analytics and AI technology.
5. USDOT funding will increasingly reward validation, not just pilots.
Pilot success stories alone will no longer be enough. The USDOT and partner agencies will demand standardized, real-world performance validation before scaling technologies in future phases.
6. Vision Zero will become a filter, not a justification.
Cities with serious long-term safety plans will reject tools built for annual reporting in favor of systems that operate continuously and predictively. Vision Zero won’t justify investment anymore. It will shape what gets rejected.
The bottom line
Together, these shifts point to a more mature ITS landscape—one where proof, performance, and prevention define success.
Want to understand what these shifts mean for your city or agency?
Talk with a member of our team to explore how predictive safety insights can support smarter, data-driven transportation decisions.
About the Authors:
Dr. Georges Aoude and Karl Jeanbart are co-founders of Derq, an MIT spinoff helping agencies improve safety and optimize traffic flow for all road users. Derq’s award-winning technology is deployed across the U.S., Canada, and the GCC region, with 20 patents and global recognition from leaders in AI and mobility.