The LiDAR Saving Lives Public Safety Coalition (LSL) is leading the nation’s first academia-anchored, USDOT-funded effort to design, test, and validate autonomous 9-1-1 Drone First Responder systems integrated with Satellite IoT and Next-Generation 9-1-1.

In December 2025, this vision became reality when the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Texas A&M University’s Center for Applied Communications and Networks (CACN) a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) FY25 Planning & Demonstration Grant.

“Saving Lives When Seconds Count” Demonstration Project

LSL serves as the national public-safety and connected-vehicle coalition partner for this historic program — bringing together automotive OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, satellite providers, drone companies, and 9-1-1 agencies to prove that autonomous drone-enabled emergency response can save lives at scale.

This Is Not a Research Paper

This is a real-world, USDOT-funded validation of how crashes can trigger drones, blood delivery, and real-time situational awareness — automatically — before a 9-1-1 call is ever placed.

Why This Matters

SS4A Demonstration Projects are designed by USDOT to do one thing: prove what works in the real world so it can be deployed nationwide. 

Through the Texas A&M CACN SS4A FY25 Demonstration Project, LSL and its partners will test and validate:

• Airbag-triggered satellite IoT crash detection

• Autonomous Drone First Responder dispatch

• Live video and LiDAR crash-scene intelligence into NG9-1-1

• Pre-hospital blood and medical payload delivery

• Integration with 9-1-1 CAD and Real-Time Intelligence Centers (RTICs)

This creates a new national model for how vehicles, satellites, drones, and 9-1-1 work together to close the deadly “9-1-1 time gap".

A Blueprint for National Scale

We are growing a national network of SS4A powered Drone First Responder deployments being developed with LSL’s partners across:

Arizona • California • Florida • Michigan • New Jersey • Texas • and beyond

We will validate how autonomous drones, satellite IoT, and NG9-1-1 can deliver faster awareness, faster triage, and faster lifesaving care.

From Demonstration to National Infrastructure

By anchoring autonomous Drone First Responder systems inside university-led SS4A Demonstration Projects, we will establish:

• Federal standards

• Operational playbooks

• Public-safety trust

• OEM and Tier-1 integration models

Our mission is clear: create America’s next emergency response infrastructure — one that starts at the airbag, before the 9-1-1 phone call.