The “Enlisting and Leading” mechanism is an important part of the current reform of China's scientific and technological system. It is in the exploratory stage in the practice of technological innovation in the transportation industry. Summarizing the practice and proposing improvement paths have important practical value. The characteristics of transportation technology projects and the current practice of the “Selection and Appointment of Leaders” mechanism in transportation technology projects were analyzed, and the organizational implementation characteristics and existing problems of the “Selection and Appointment of Leaders” mechanism in transportation technology projects were studied. The study finds that transportation technology projects implementing the “Selection and Appointment of Leaders” mechanism can be mainly classified into three categories: government-led, government-guided, and enterprise-organized. The current practice faces major challenges such as insufficient experience, weak industry guidance, the need to stimulate corporate vitality, vague or missing institutional frameworks, and lack of clear implementation details. In light of these challenges, it is recommended to expand project approval channels from multiple dimensions, clarify thinking and strengthen industry guidance, remove inertia and enhance corporate vitality through multiple facets, improve funding, fault tolerance, and reward and punishment systems, and refine operational procedures to ensure the effective implementation of the institutional advantages.