UC ITS Scholar Spotlight: Dan Sperling
Distinguished Blue Planet Prize Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy, and founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis
Tell us about the beginning of ITS-Davis.
I founded ITS-Davis about 35 years ago. From the very beginning we’ve had two major themes. One is sustainable transportation, including electric vehicles, hydrogen, low carbon fuels, cleaner burning cars and trucks, advanced mobility, sustainable communities, public transit, and active transportation. Our other theme is bringing science to policy. We’ve always engaged closely with industry, government, and non-governmental organizations, making sure our research is impactful.
More recently we’ve expanded our work on sustainable transportation internationally with centers in Europe, India, the Global South, and China.
What would you say is your most significant accomplishment so far?
My biggest accomplishment was in 2007, when Governor Schwarzenegger asked me, along with a professor from UC Berkeley, to design a low carbon fuel standard for the state of California.
We put together a research team from UC Berkeley and UC Davis and spent six very intensive months researching everything we could find about life cycle analysis of fuels and the role of oil companies and electric utilities. We interviewed a large number of stakeholders, including meetings with a number of industry and NGO delegations, including a group from Canada who explained to us the importance of oil sands in Canada, and what could be done about reducing their climate impact.
We provided our design of a low carbon fuel standard to the California Air Resource Board, and it was adopted with minor changes. It is now one of California’s most effective and important policies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Since then, it’s been adopted by Oregon, the State of Washington, and Canada, with some modifications.
Since its adoption, I’ve had a team of researchers at ITS-Davis providing technical support to all of those states and entities and continuing to do research to support amendments and enhancements to the policy.
When you first began this work, what inspired you?
My experience at UC Berkeley as a graduate student led to my focus on sustainable transportation, and especially the energy and environmental impacts. While I was a student, I worked with ITS-Berkeley, which inspired me to form an ITS at Davis. My advisors at Berkeley were Bill Garrison and Adib Khanafani, both great mentors.
Going back further, I had a professor at my undergraduate school Cornell, Arnie Meyburg, who first got me interested in transportation. And my experience in the Peace Corps in Honduras as an urban planner also had a big impact on me. All these experiences reinforced the idea that if I was going to do research, I wanted to do research that has value and impact.
What innovative research has ITS-Davis been doing?
My most recent book in 2018 was called The Three Revolutions. It was about automation, electrification, and ride sharing. We started a research program specifically focused on those three revolutions and how they’re becoming more and more integrated–or at least should be.
One of our biggest centers at ITS-Davis is the Electric Vehicle Research Center headed by Gil Tal. It has 30 employees, and is truly having an impact. Globally, they’ve led delegations to Australia, for instance, to work with the government agencies and legislators there to figure out how to design policies for electric vehicles. They’re also heading up a big research program, primarily funded by the California Energy Commission, to determine how reliable electric vehicle chargers really are and how to make them more reliable.
Another example of linking research and engagement was with China. A number of years ago, our China Center for Energy and Transportation spent considerable time with the Chinese government helping them understand how California’s policies have evolved for electric vehicles, and then helped them design their own electric vehicle policies.
Overall, the electric vehicle part of our work has been very successful. Both in terms of our research program as well as disseminating that resarch.
Another important transportation revolution, just getting started is vehicle automation. The technology has quite a long history, including substantial research at UC Berkeley in the 1990s, but interest has gone through cycles. I co-wrote an op-ed recently for The Hill saying people are missing the point with automated vehicles. We need to be thinking about all the benefits automation could provide, not just safety, but all of the social justice benefits, all of the economic benefits, and environmental benefits. But for this to happen, automated vehicles must be shared, such as the robotaxi model carrying many passengers, not just solo riders.
One of the big challenges is how we get more sharing into the transportation system, especially shared rides and making sure that automated vehicles come on line as a commerical service that emphasizes ride pooling. This is a major interest of mine for California and the U.S. as well as the rest of the world–and i’m committed to helping the policy world encourage shared and pooled AVs.
Have you ridden in an automated vehicle?
Quite a few times. The first few times there was a safety driver, but the last time, there was no one in the vehicle, just me. It was in Phoenix and it took me from the hotel to the airport. It was an unnerving experience at first, because you want to say to the car, well, are you sure you know where you’re going? We’re used to having someone to talk to. But it really did such a great job. It handled all the turns safely, including unprotected left turns. I felt quite comfortable by the time I got to the airport.
What are you reading right now?
I’m reading Shifting Gears by Susan Handy, my colleague at UC Davis and the Associate Director of ITS-Davis.
The book just came out a few months ago and it’s really very well written. She addresses whether we really need more roads and the various controversies in California these days about expanding road capacity, adding lanes, and other issues.
There’s also the question of induced travel. If you build it, will they just induce more travel, and then what have you gained? You still have the same amount of congestion and you’ve also increased vehicle use, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and cost.
What interesting shows are you watching?
The last series I watched was Drops of Gold. It’s about the wine industry in Europe and Japan. I love good wine. I am an enthusiastic participant in wine tasting. I actually watch movies about sommeliers.Some people accuse me of creating a center in Europe just so I can indulge my love of good wine and good food. Maybe there is a shred of truth to that.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I grew up on a chicken and egg farm, but now I love urban living. I like accessing everything without needing a car. My favorite zero emission vehicle is my bicycle. I gave my wife an electric bike for her birthday and she loves it.
What’s something about you that most people don’t know?
I was an avid motorcyclist in my younger days and spent a summer riding all through Europe with my brother. I’ve driven across the U.S on a motorcycle.
I am also an avid downhill skier. And I also used to love squash; it was my favorite sport, but then I had a hip replacement and the doctors said squash is the number one sport to avoid. It was so sad to give it up.
What is your superpower?
Maybe it’s inspiring and motivating lots of students and researchers to pursue ideas for making transportation more sustainable.