In advance of the state's 2020 legislative session, the Arizona Technology Council has outlined its top priorities. Among them is a focus on transportation and infrastructure development.

"Digital infrastructure is to the 21st century what roads and interstates were to the 20th century," according to the report.

"Connected cars, connected infrastructure, improved traffic signals are a piece of that. Computer systems to help the vehicles either become more fuel efficient or talk to each other in ways that can improve safety and efficiency," said Paul Lewis with the ENO center for transportation, a Washington, D.C., think-tank. Lewis agrees that digitizing transportation could be transformative for Arizona and other western states.

In their "2020 Public Policy Guide" report, the group also covers car technologies and connected cities among other topics in its transportation plan.