ITS Berkeley

Charging up the Central Coast: Policy Solutions to Improve Electric Vehicle Charging Access in Watsonville

Sarode, Shruti, MS
Segal, Katie, MPP
Elkind, Ethan, JD
2023

California's goal to eliminate internal combustion engine sales by 2035 poses challenges for lower- and moderate-income residents, hindering their access to electric vehicles (EVs). Barriers include limited EV charging stations, exacerbated by lower home ownership and inadequate grid infrastructure in lower-income communities. To address this, UC Berkeley School of Law's Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) partnered with the City of Watsonville. Due to its location, demographics, and ambitious policy goals, Watsonville represents a potential model and case study for...

CIRCLES: Congestion Impacts Reduction via CAV-in-the-Loop Lagrangian Energy Smoothing

Bayen, Alexandre M.
Lee, Jonathan W.
Piccoli, Benedetto
Seibold, Benjamin
Sprinkle, Jonathan M.
Work, Daniel B.
2024

The energy efficiency of today’s vehicular mobility relies on the un-integrated combination of i) control via static assets (traffic lights, metering, variable speed limits, etc.); and ii) onboard vehicle automation (adaptive cruise control (ACC), ecodriving, etc.). These two families of control were not co-designed and are not engineered to work in coordination. Recent studies have shown i) limitations of controls, and even ii) negative impacts of ACC. This project focused on the technology development, implementation and prototyping, and validation of Mobile Traffic Control (MTC). MTC...

Automated Assessment of Safety-Critical Dynamics in Multi-Modal Transportation Systems

Grembek, Offer
Ragland, David
2016

With the advent of emerging technologies, urban intersections are being increasingly equipped with various types of video-based and in-pavement sensing systems to facilitate round-the-clock monitoring and optimization of multi-modal flows. In comparison, the assessment of the safety performance of these facilities continues to be largely based on either crash history or citizen grievances. Herein lies an opportunity to apply advanced sensing platforms to proactively monitor safety-critical events of multi-modal road users. This work presents a traffic safety monitoring framework which...

Approaches for Synthesis and Deployment of Controller Models on Automated Vehicles for Car-Following in Mixed Autonomy

Bhadani, Rahul
Bunting, Matthew
Nice, Matthew
Bayen, Alexandre M.
2023

This paper describes the software design patterns and vehicle interfaces that were employed to transition vehicle controllers from simulation environments to open-road field experiments. The approach relies on a life cycle that utilizes model-based design and code generation, along with agile software development, and both software- and hardware-in-the-loop testing, with additional safety margins. Autonomous designs should consider the dynamics of mixed autonomy in traffic to safely operate among humans. The software that provides a vehicle’s behavior intelligence is often developed...

A Reliability-Based Optimization Scheme for Maintenance Management in Large-Scale Bridge Networks

Hu, Xiaofei
Daganzo, Carlos F.
Madanat, Samer
2015

Incorporating network configurations in bridge management problems is computationally difficult. Because of the interdependencies among bridges in a network, they have to be analyzed together. Simulation-based numerical optimization techniques adopted in past research are limited to networks of moderate sizes. In this paper, a simple framework is developed to determine optimal maintenance plans for large networks with many bridges. The objective is to minimize disruption, specifically, the extra travel distance caused by potential bridge failures over a planning horizon and under a budget...

A Comparative Case Study on Active Transport to and from School

Fesperman, CE
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
Salvesen, D
2008

This study investigates active-transport-to-school initiatives through the Active Living by Design Community Action Model framework. The framework outlines five strategies that influence physical activity: preparation, promotion, programs, policies, and physical projects. A comparative case study was conducted to investigate active-transport-to-school initiatives at two North Carolina schools. A group of key stakeholders from each site was interviewed (N = 16), including principals, physical education teachers, public safety officers, city planners, regional transportation planners, city...

Viability Theory: New Directions

Aubin, Jean-Pierre
Bayen, Alexandre M.
Saint-Pierre, Patrick
2011

Viability-Based Computation of Spatially Constrained Minimum Time Trajectories for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle: Implementation and Experiments

Tinka, A.
Diemer, S.
Bayen, Alexandre M.
2009

A viability algorithm is developed to compute the constrained minimum time function for general dynamical systems. The algorithm is instantiated for a specific dynamics (Dubin's vehicle forced by a flow field) in order to numerically solve the minimum time problem. With the specific dynamics considered, the framework of hybrid systems enables us to solve the problem efficiently. The algorithm is implemented in C using epigraphical techniques to reduce the dimension of the problem. The feasibility of this optimal trajectory algorithm is tested in an experiment with a light autonomous...

System Optimum and Pricing for the Day-Long Commute with Distributed Demand, Autos and Transit

Daganzo, Carlos F.
2013

The day-long system optimum (SO) commute for an urban area served by auto and transit is modeled as an auto bottleneck with a capacitated transit bypass. A public agency manages the system’s capacities optimally. Commuters are identical except for the times at which they wish to complete their morning trips and start their evening trips, which are given by an arbitrary joint distribution. They value unpunctuality – their lateness or earliness relative to their wish times – with a common penalty function. They must use the same mode for both trips. Commuters are assigned personalized mode...

Synergies of Combining Demand and Supply-Side Measures to Manage Congested Streets

Itani, Ibrahim
Cassidy, Michael J.
Daganzo, Carlos
2021

An agent-based, multichannel simulation of a downtown area reveals the impacts of both time-shifting traffic demand with congestion pricing, and supplying extra capacity by banning left turns. The downtown street network was idealized, and loosely resembles central Los Angeles. On the demand-side, prices were set based on time-of-day and distance traveled. On the supply side, left-turn maneuvers were prohibited at all intersections on the network. Although both traffic management measures reduced travel costs when used alone, the left-turn ban was much less effective than pricing. When...