Vanderbilt researchers are part of a collaborative effort funded by the U.S. Department of Energy that seeks to revolutionize public transportation in mid-sized cities like Chattanooga by using artificial intelligence to improve mobility access and financial viability.
The project – “AI-Powered Autonomy-Aware Neighborhood Mobility Zones: Equitable Solutions and Business Models for Revamping Transportation” – is led by the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) and includes Vanderbilt University as the lead on technology. Other collaborators are Pennsylvania State University, Cornell University, and Spark the Firm.
The pilot operations for the project will be conducted in a transportation improvement zone spanning 25 square miles in Chattanooga. Using AI algorithms, the project seeks to increase public transit usage and reduce reliance on personal vehicles and overall energy usage by strategically redesigning fixed-line services and integrating them with on-demand services.
Abhishek Dubey, associate professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering at Vanderbilt University, is overseeing the technology research for the project.
“Success will create a positive cycle of ridership, efficiency, and resource allocation, potentially altering mode-choice behavior in mid-sized cities across the U.S.,” he said. “The project expects to increase transit usage from 1.6% to 5% and improve energy efficiency by 10%.”
Some of the key algorithms will focus on identifying optimal zones, considering factors such as resources, revenue, passenger convenience, and equity; address both offline and online multi-modal vehicle-routing to ensure efficient intra- and inter-zone operation of transit services; and streamline autonomous vehicle (AV) operations by strategically choosing suitable areas and routes for autonomous service.
The CARTA, Vanderbilt and Penn teams have collaborated on several mobility research grants in the past that have led to a company called Mobius AI, Inc. that provides enterprise services for routing and fleet management.
Last year, Dubey was recognized for leading research that uses AI to help improve operations for Nashville’s public transportation network, as well as improve efficiency of public transportation in Chattanooga for individuals with special needs. The Nashville research won “Best Paper” at the 15th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems (ICCPS), and the Chattanooga research was presented in a paper at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI)
Contact: Lucas Johnson, lucas.l.johnson@vanderbilt.edu