VTA is collaborating with Microsoft Silicon Valley, Knight Foundation, Joint Venture Silicon Valley, the Tech Museum of Innovation, and Code for San Jose to host Hack My Ride 2.0, a three-month app challenge focused on improving transportation in Silicon Valley. We'll kick off the challenge with a transportation hackathon on June 6, the National Day of Civic Hacking.
Like the Hack My Ride hackathon we hosted last October, VTA wants to tap the talents of Silicon Valley technologists to create innovative technology with the potential to improve the transportation system.
Registration will be required, and details about how to reserve your space will be available soon.
If you’d like to participate in the hackathon or get updates about the app challenge rules, prizes and ways to enter, subscribe to Hack My Ride 2.0 updates. Subscribers will be the first in line when we open up registration and will also receive information about the app challenge. You can also join VTA’s Transportation Innovation Lab Meetup group.
Hackathon
At the hackathon on June 6, VTA and our partners will invite you to generate ideas and proofs of concept based on Santa Clara County’s transportation challenges and transit customers’ needs. You’ll have a chance to present those projects at the end of the hackathon.
Because space is limited, we will require a refundable deposit in order to reserve your seat at the hackathon. When you arrive on June 6, we will refund you the entire deposit.
VTA will also share information during the hackathon about the open data shared in our Open Data Portal at data.vta.org, as well as other resources that may help you. VTA is looking into a pilot test of Bluetooth beacon technology and will share specs about the beacons we choose so participants can incorporate them into their apps.App Challenge
After the hackathon, you’ll have three months to polish, refine, test and improve your code during the app challenge. We’ll also ask your help spreading the word beyond Santa Clara County so our transportation system can benefit from the brightest minds around the world.
Your final submission to the app challenge will need to be a working app that judges can try out and evaluate. We plan to announce the winners of the app challenge in late October.
