2025 FAV Summit Highlights
A Premier Gathering for the Future of Mobility
The 2025 FAV Summit brought together industry leaders, public officials, innovators, and emerging technologies for one of the region’s most important mobility conversations. From self-driving vehicles and eVTOL to EVs, trucking, and automated traffic signals, the summit highlighted where transportation is headed next.
From Testing to Real Deployment
Florida’s role in advanced mobility has moved well beyond experimentation. The conversation is now about deployment, scale, and what comes next.
Across the summit, one message became clear: the future of transportation is more shared, more electric, more automated, and ultimately more focused on people.
The Forces Shaping What’s Next
Featured Speakers
Matt Walsh
Head of Public Policy, Waymo
Matt Walsh is Regional Head of State & Local Public Policy at Waymo, leading state and local government affairs across the eastern U.S. He previously led Northeast government relations at Accenture and served as Vice President at CMW Strategies, focusing on transportation and technology clients. Before moving to the private sector, Matt held senior roles in New York state and city government, including the State Assembly and NYC Department of Transportation. He holds a J.D. from New York Law School and a B.A. from SUNY Albany.
Jared W. Perdue
Secretary, Florida Department of Transportation
Jared W. Perdue was appointed Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022. He leads the state’s efforts to plan, develop, and operate a safe, multimodal transportation system serving all regions of Florida. Secretary Perdue has spent his career at FDOT, progressing through roles in maintenance, traffic operations, design, and transportation development before serving as District Five Secretary, where he oversaw major projects including SunRail, the I‑4 Ultimate Project, and Wekiva Parkway. Under his leadership, FDOT continues to prioritize safety and embrace innovation to support Florida’s growth. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from The Citadel.
Christine Shafik
State Connected Mobility & Technologies Engineer, FDOT
Christine serves as FDOT’s State Connected Mobility & Technologies Engineer, leading Florida’s Connected Automated Vehicle (CAV) program and related initiatives including TSM&O software, statewide arterial management, wrong-way driving, and managed lanes. With more than 18 years of service at FDOT, she has held roles in software, construction, program management, planning, and design, bringing a strong innovation and operations focus to each. She holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and is a Florida Professional Engineer with multiple certifications in management, contracts, Lean Six Sigma, and project management.
Innovation in Action
From safety-focused school transportation systems to real-world autonomous transit connections, the 2025 summit highlighted how mobility innovation is already being applied.
Student Innovation
The next generation of mobility leaders took the stage at the 2025 FAV Summit, presenting research across autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, and next-generation transportation infrastructure.From academic research to real-world application, these students are helping shape what’s next.
Digital Twin & AI for Urban Mobility
Muhammad Shahbaz, UCF
A next-generation framework for building resilient, data-driven transportation systems in rapidly growing cities.
First Mile–Last Mile Autonomous Delivery Systems
Sudipta Roy, UCF
Integrating passenger and parcel delivery through on-demand autonomous shuttle networks.
Why the Summit Resonates
What makes FAV special is not just the technology, it’s the opportunity to experience it, discuss it, and connect with the people shaping where transportation goes next.
