Choices in mobility

Francisco Pereira

Future Urban Mobility projectSingapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology

(SMART/FM)

From www.robertperterson.org

From www.transport.asiaone.com

From www.greenprophet.com

From thisandthatandmoreofthesame.blogspot.com

From dailymail.co.uk

From www.wallpaperup.com

• Transportation is ultimately about people

• Transportation is ultimately about people

– Where they want to be

• Transportation is ultimately about people

– Where they want to be

– How they want to go (mode and path)

• Transportation is ultimately about people

– Where they want to be

– How they want to go (mode and path)

– When

Key point

Key point

• A holistic discussion of fuel choices should involve ripple effects on/from behavior

E.g. Electric autonomous vehicles imply(?) lighter vehicles, shorter headways, safer traffic

Will there be a behavior shift? To where?

What about the impacts on the grid?

…and there are many other changes happening

• New emergent (sharing) modes optimize capacity

• Better predictions decrease travel time

• Smoother traffic control decreases congestion

• Less human factor (adaptive CC, autonomy, coordination w/ control system) should lead to less fuel consumption...

Research agenda in SMART/FM

Behavior

Research agenda in SMART/FM

Behavior

Research agenda in SMART/FM

Behavior

Research agenda in SMART/FM

Behavior

Research agenda in SMART/FM

Behavior

Behavior sensing

HITS vs FMS

• HITS captures origins, destinations, and modes

• FMS also captures routes

• In FMS, user activity pattern varies across different days

18

FMS, MON, 06-05-2013 FMS, FRI, 10-05-2013FMS, THU, 09-05-2013

Modeling and simulation

Driverless cars

No control infrastructure

Same capacity in less space

Pervasive travel information

Different fuel choices

Fully networked vehicles

SimMobility

Difference in travel times?

Congestion levels?

Land use impacts?

Mode shares?

Environmental impact?

Safety impacts? Ripple effects (e.g. to power grid)?

Forecasting

Forecasting (real time)Traffic prediction

singapore | future urban mobility symposium | january 11-12,

2012

singapore | future urban mobility symposium | january 11-12,

2012

Comparison of Traffic Congestion Evolution

Without DynaMIT Guidance With DynaMIT Guidance

MaximumQueue Length

Without DynaMIT 4 km

With DynaMIT 1.5 km

Comparison of Queue Evolution

singapore | future urban mobility symposium | january 11-12,

2012

Wrapping up

• Discussions on fuel choices need to consider behavioral response at multiple levels

• Society and environment need both appropriate fuel choices and an optimized transportation system

• Tools and research exist to help study these factors

Francisco Pereira

Future Urban Mobility projectSingapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology

(SMART/FM)

Thank you!