FPAA staff Allison Moore and Erika Dominguez attended the Borderlands Trade and Transportation Technologies Conference on Thursday, October 20th. The conference encouraged communication and connection between key industry, community, and government leaders to learn about new emerging technology in trade and transportation. The conference was composed of various guest speakers, including Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and Ms. Shelly Row from Shelley Row Associates, LLC., plus many more.  Former Mayor of Nogales, Marco Lopez addressed various trade negotiation topics, including a NAFTA update. Lopez spoke about the role Arizona plays for economic stability not only for the state but for the country. Throughout the conference there was also three sessions of panel discussions.

Session 1 addressed the emerging technologies in freight delivery, which included updates on Peloton Corporation, which is an automated vehicle technology company that specializes on solving the two biggest challenges in the trucking industry today- crashes and fuel use. Session 2 addressed the policy and legislative considerations for emerging technologies in the movement of goods. This included a presentation by William Brooks from the Department of Homeland Security-Tucson Field Office. Mr.  Brooks spoke about the Unified Inspections Program, which is a program that allows CBP and SAT to work together and allow for quicker processing times. Brooks stated that this program has cut the average waiting time from 8 hours to about 30 minutes. The program began in July 25, 2016 and after a one-year trial it was signed into agreement and was fully implemented at the Nogales Port of Entry in July 2017. The program has proven to be incredibly efficient and beneficial.

The conference concluded with session three, which included a discussion about new innovations in technology, presenters spoke about the new technology that is changing the ways people transport goods. Ms. Catherine Ralston who is economic development manager for Red Wood City introduced the robots that are being used in her home town to deliver food from local restaurants to homes or businesses.