Building America's 9-1-1 Drone First Responder Ecosystem Purpose-Built for the Automotive Industry
Every year, thousands of people die on America’s roads not because help didn’t exist — but because it arrived too late.
When a severe crash occurs, minutes are lost waiting for a 9-1-1 call, determining the location, dispatching responders, and understanding what has actually happened. For victims suffering traumatic blood loss, those minutes are often fatal.
The LiDAR Saving Lives Public Safety Coalition (LSL) was created to eliminate that delay.
We are leading the nation’s first coordinated effort to design, build, test, and validate autonomous 9-1-1 Drone First Responder systems integrated with Satellite IoT, connected vehicles, and Next-Generation 9-1-1— enabling real-time crash awareness and pre-hospital blood delivery before traditional responders arrive.
Our Mission
To accelerate the deployment of autonomous, satellite-connected Drone First Responders that provide:
• Live crash scene situational awareness
• Pre-hospital blood and police trauma kit delivery
• Direct integration with NG9-1-1 and Real-Time Intelligence Centers
so that every serious crash is met with machine-speed emergency response within seconds — not minutes.
From Airbag to Action — Automatically
LSL’s work is built around a simple but powerful idea:
Transforming the moment an airbag deploys into the first moment of care.
When a serious crash occurs, modern vehicles already generate precise digital signals — impact severity, location, direction of force, and occupant risk. Through satellite-enabled IoT networks, that data can be transmitted instantly — even where cellular coverage is unavailable.
LSL’s coalition is building the national architecture that allows those crash signals to:
- Enter 9-1-1 Real Time Intelligence Center (RTIC) systems in seconds
- Create an automated emergency incident
- Launch autonomous Drone First Responders
- Deliver live video, LiDAR, and medical payloads to the scene
This transforms emergency response from a caller-based system into a device-driven, autonomous safety network.
First-of-Its-Kind USDOT SS4A Demonstration Leadership
LSL is not theorizing this future — we are proving it.
In December 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Texas A&M University’s Center for Applied Communications and Networks (CACN) a $1.8M Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Planning & Demonstration Grant for the landmark:
“Saving Lives When Seconds Count” Demonstration Project
This project represents the first USDOT-funded, university-anchored, real-world validation of how:
• Connected vehicles
• Satellite IoT
• Autonomous Drone First Responders
• NG9-1-1
• Real-Time Intelligence Centers
• And pre-hospital blood and police trauma kit delivery
can operate together as a single emergency response system.
LSL serves as the national coalition partner for this historic program — uniting automotive OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, satellite operators, drone manufacturers, and 9-1-1 agencies to ensure this technology works where it matters most: on real roads, with real victims.
This is not a lab exercise.
This is federally funded national infrastructure development.
What Is Being Proven
Through SS4A Demonstration Projects like Texas A&M’s, LSL and its partners are validating:
• Airbag-triggered 9-1-1 crash response over satellite IoT
• Autonomous drone launch from real-time crash signals
• Live video and LiDAR into NG9-1-1 and RTICs
• Delivery of blood and police trauma kit supplies to crash scenes
• Automated CAD event creation and responder dispatch
The goal is simple:
put eyes, intelligence, and life-saving resources on the scene within the first 60–120 seconds after impact.
A National Blueprint
Texas A&M is the first deployment — not the last.
LSL is working with partners across:
Arizona • California • Florida • Michigan • New Jersey • Texas • and beyond
to build a national network of SS4A-powered demonstration corridors that will define how autonomous emergency response is deployed across the United States.
Each site expands the data, operational proof, and federal confidence needed to move from demonstration to permanent infrastructure.
Why OEMs, USDOT, and Investors Are Engaged
LSL operates where public safety, federal funding, and private innovation intersect.
For USDOT, we provide a scalable, standards-based model for modernizing emergency response.
For OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers, we provide the pathway for connected vehicles to become life-saving devices.
This is how new safety infrastructure is born in America.
Join the Coalition
LSL invites forward-thinking partners to help build the future of emergency response:
• Automotive OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers
• Satellite and telecommunications providers
• Drone and robotics innovators
• Health systems and blood banks
• 9-1-1 agencies and Real-Time Intelligence Centers
• Universities and research institutions
• Federal, state, and municipal agencies
Together, we are transforming the moment an airbag deploys into the first moment of care.