Mobility Management
In the era of autonomous vehicles, mobility management will move beyond establishing and operating fixed route transit systems to offering diverse transportation services and providing central control to signals and routing in a networked urban transit environment.
Imagine a transportation system in which vehicles can communicate with one another, their environment, and the infrastructure; understand and predict the movement of other vehicles and pedestrians, and make real-time decisions based upon this data.
In this integrated system, autonomous and connected vehicles could sense and warn others of conditions ahead, and roadways could alert vehicles to hazardous conditions. Traffic problems could be communicated to a central control where signals could be modified to address current conditions in real time and autonomous vehicles could be rerouted to avoid backups. In this landscape, robust data becomes available for traffic planners, and vehicle throughput can be optimized.
To realize this future integrated system, research will be focused on vehicle and pedestrian modeling and management for safety, efficiency, and predictive control.
Related websites
Smart Highway Infrastructure (pdf)