Project Summary
The overarching goal of this research is to improve sustainability, livability, accessibility, and mobility (SLAM) throughout metropolitan regions via supporting infrastructure investment planning and transport policies, in order to seize the potential SLAM benefits of connected automated vehicles (CAVs) and mobility service providers (MSPs; e.g. Uber and Lyft). To meet this goal, we plan to develop multi resolution regional transport system modeling tools that are sensitive to transport policies (e.g. congestion pricing, sharing incentives) and infrastructure investments (e.g. 5G and/or DSRC, protected left-turns, lane striping) and explicitly capture MSPs and CAVs. We also plan to develop optimization models for proactive infrastructure investments to maximize the SLAM benefits of CAVs, rather than reactively upgrading infrastructure. The objectives of the project's planning phase include (1) identifying the modeling needs of our community partners to determine the proper scope and scale of a research project; (2) forming the best team of interdisciplinary researchers; (3) refining our methodological approach; (4) prototyping regional transport models with MSPs and CAVs; and (5) prototyping optimization models for infrastructure investments. The planning grant's major activities include meetings with our main community stakeholder, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), other regional planning agencies, and cities who will implement infrastructure upgrades, to determine modeling needs on four interrelated topics: MSPs, CAVs, infrastructure, and policy. We also plan to host a workshop exploring the intersection of these four topics with researchers and practitioners from academia, planning agencies, and technology companies.
