Leading the Way with Resilient Mobility
Launched in 2021, RIMI is a 5-year initiative aimed at addressing California’s immediate transportation challenges coming out of the COVID pandemic, while laying a foundation for sustainable, resilient, and equitable mobility solutions. The RIMI research program is organized around three core pillars: carbon neutral transportation, public transit and shared mobility, and emerging transportation technology and Innovation. Equity and jobs serve as cross-cutting themes across the three pillars.
Building upon the Driving California’s Transportation Emissions to Zero report published in 2021, this pillar explores strategies for achieving California’s transition to a carbon-neutral transportation future, including transitioning all vehicles to zero-emission, preparing the power grid for increased electrification across the transportation sector, improving the efficiency of freight and logistics, making it easier for people to drive less, and more.
The pandemic had a devastating effect on public transit and shared mobility (e.g., ride hail, micromobility). To help guide the recovery and resilience of public transportation in California, this pillar explores innovative approaches to finance and operations, the cause of ridership declines and policy levers to bring riders back, strategies to make public transportation more resilient and adaptable, the role of these modes in meeting California’s climate goals, the future of private shared mobility, and related topics.
New technologies and services, such as connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) and advanced air mobility (AAM), will fundamentally transform mobility. To help California prepare, researchers are exploring CAV security vulnerabilities, the integration of CAVs into transportation systems, regulatory hurdles for AAM, operational safety of automated driving systems, smart infrastructure solutions, freight monitoring to track truck activity and environmental impacts.
