Emerging Transportation Technology and Innovation

Phase 1 of the Emerging Transportation Technology and Innovation pillar is on three themes : connected and automated vehicles, urban air mobility and advanced air mobility, and freight and supply chain technology. The four UC ITS campuses are collaboratively developing white papers in each of these areas that describe the state of the science and related policies and identify potential critical research topics related to key policy questions. In addition, this pillar will convene multi-stakeholder workshops to co-create a multi-year, multi-disciplinary research agenda that  maps future research needs and proposes strategies for fulfilling these needs. The pillar also supports seed grants to leverage existing projects and resources to advance emerging transportation technology initiatives in the three pillar focus areas.







Analyzing Cross-Border Truck Activity to Inform California’s Transition to Zero-Emission Trucks

Research Team: Stephen G. Ritchie (lead), Kanok Boriboonsomsin, Matt Barth, Andre Tok, and Yiqiao Li

UC Campus(es): UC IrvineUC Riverside

Status: In Progress

Assessing the Role of Truck-as-a-Service in California’s Zero-emission Transition

Research Team: Stephen G. Ritchie (lead), Youngeun Bae, and Craig Rindt

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Exploring Sensor Threats and Vulnerabilities in Intelligent Traffic Controllers

Research Team: Mohammad Abdullah Al Faruque (lead) and Mohamad Habib Fakih

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Assessing Safety, Risk, and Labor Issues Related to Heavy-Duty Automated Vehicles

Research Team: Mollie D'Agostino (lead), Marilia Ramos, Jiaqi Ma, and Junshan Zhang

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Exploring Techniques for Synthetic Mobility Data Generation to Protect Privacy

Research Team: Chen-Nee Chuah (lead), Michael Zhang, Samson Cheung, Michael Zhang, Ammar Haydari, and Dongjie Chen

UC Campus(es): UC Davis

Status: In Progress

Risk Assessment for Teleoperations of Level 4 Automated Driving Systems

Research Team: Jiaqi Ma (lead), Camila Correa Jullian, Marilia Ramos, and Xin Xia

UC Campus(es): UCLA

Status: Completed

Pilot Study: Freight Mobility Living Laboratory

Research Lead: Stephen Ritchie

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Pilot Study: Use of High-Resolution Satellite Data to Identify Truck Traffic On the Roads and Near Warehouses Across Multiple Regions in Southern California

Research Lead: Jun Wu

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Pilot Study: Smart Infrastructure for Automated Driving

Research Team: Jiaqi Ma (lead), Qi Alfred Chen, Xin Xia, Yunpeng Luo, Letian Gao

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Pilot Study: Demonstrate Real-World Security Threats to Connected Automated Vehicles

Research Lead: Alfred Chen

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Experiences with Autonomous Vehicle in U.S. Cities

Research Team: Junshan Zhang (lead), Mollie Cohen D'Agostino, Cooper Michael, and Prashanth Venkataram

UC Campus(es): UC Davis

Status: Completed

Safe Headway Design for Autonomous Vehicles

Research Team: Junshan Zhang (lead), Mollie D’Agostino, Jiaqi Ma, Wei Shao, Chia-Ju Chen, Zhaofeng Zhang, and Zejun Fan

UC Campus(es): UC Davis

Status: In Progress

White Paper: Supply Chain and Freight Transportation in California

Research Team: Craig Rindt (lead) and Stephen Ritchie

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: In Progress

Advanced Air Mobility: Opportunities, Challenges, and Research Needs for the State of California (2023-2030)

Research Team: Adam Cohen (lead), Susan Shaheen, Alexandre Bayen, and Jacqueline Huynh

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley, UC Irvine

Status: Completed

Risk Assessment for Security Threats and Vulnerabilities of Autonomous Vehicles

Research Team: Alfred Chen (lead) and Trishna Chakraborty

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Status: Completed

Safety Considerations for Automated Vehicles

Research Team: Junshan Zhang (lead), Mollie D’Agostino (co-lead), Cooper Michael, Marilia Ramos, and Camila Correa-Jullian

UC Campus(es): UC Davis, UCLA

Status: In Progress

Examining how Collaborative Autonomy Can Reduce Emissions and Improve Traffic Flow Through

Research Team: Alexandre Bayen (lead), Anthony Patire, and Francois Dion

UC Campus(es): UC Berkeley

Status: Completed